PHOTO BY RICK FURR
The Rotary Club of Christiansburg-Blacksburg presented its 2025 Citizen of the Year Award to Dr. Patricia Hyer at its April meeting.
The Citizen of the Year Award honors a non-Rotarian whose voluntary acts and services have made the Christiansburg-Blacksburg area a better place in which to live. Hyer’s career at Virginia Tech and volunteerism and service since retirement have unquestionably improved lives throughout the New River Valley and beyond. She is an outstanding example of the Rotary motto of Service Above Self.
Hyer received her PhD from Virginia Tech in 1983. As a student studying affirmative action for women faculty in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were few women faculty members and little career support for them. Hyer and her husband Mike moved from Blacksburg when her PhD was complete but returned when Mike was offered a job in 1987.
Though she was hesitant to return to Virginia Tech based on her previous experience, Hyer ultimately spent her 23-year career working tirelessly to improve the trajectory and support for women faculty. She helped establish the Virginia Tech Women’s Center. She championed institutional transformation for women faculty in science and engineering with new and revised work-life policies, dual career hiring, childcare, department head training, and institutional data analysis. She served as the State Coordinator for the Virginia Network of Women in Higher Education, and on the National Network Executive Board of the American Council on Education’s Office of Women in Higher Education.
Hyer retired from Virginia Tech in 2010 as Associate Provost Emerita (for Academic Administration) and has not been idle in retirement! She has continued to participate in community and women’s organizations in the New River Valley focusing on issues such as aging, reproductive rights, and voting rights through organizations such as the Virginia Tech Life Long Learning Institute, AARP Blacksburg, the Community Foundation of the New River Valley, Our Bodies Our Choice, and the League of Women Voters.
Hyer and Dr. Jerry Niles created the Virginia Tech Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) in 2015 where Dr. Hyer is the volunteer Executive Director today. LLI has grown from 13 to 65 courses per year and to nearly 500 members and 150 volunteers over the last 10 years. Hyer has chaired the program committee, helped to recruit volunteers, initiated LLI group travel and generally enhanced the experience of retirement in the New River Valley. She considers her work with LLI as a calling. Friend and volunteer colleague Dr. Carolyn Rude says of Dr. Hyer, “All of us hope to make a difference in the world; Pat really has.”
Hyer has been the President of the Community Foundation of the New River Valley’s Board of Directors since 2020 and on the board since 2016. She has presided over the board during a time of great growth of the organization. As a steward of the community’s philanthropy, Hyer understands the importance of spending those funds carefully in ways that enhance the quality of life for New River Valley residents.
Dr. Jessica Wirgau, CEO of the Community Foundation of the New River Valley considers her a mentor and says that Hyer strives for everything the Foundation does to be as effective and sustainable as possible.
Hyer who received the 2025 Citizen of the Year Award from the Rotary Club of Christiansburg-Blacksburg after a weekend of volunteer activities said, “Sometimes it’s tiring to be a good citizen, but it reminds me how rich this community is with collaborations and people who want to get involved. It is easier to do this work, because people do it with me.”
The Rotary Club of Christiansburg-Blacksburg has exemplified the Rotary motto of Service Above Self in the community for over 100 years. Local leadership recognition, youth development programs, and community service projects as well as participation in Rotary International programs such as PolioPlus exemplify this motto. For more information, find @ChristiansburgBlacksburgRotary on Facebook.
