Faculty members honored as Alumni Distinguished Professors
At its quarterly meeting held Tuesday, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors set tuition and fees for the 2024-25 academic year.
Board members voted to set tuition for resident undergraduate students and mandatory fees at $15,950 annually for next year. Complete information on 2024-25 tuition and fees can be found on the Virginia Tech News website.
In his remarks to the board, President Tim Sands noted the responsible and effective use of artificial intelligence (AI) will remain a primary topic of interest for university leadership for the foreseeable future. The university has initiated the process of appointing and charging an AI Working Group, and Virginia Tech has been engaged with the Virginia Council of Presidents, the governor’s office and national organizations in developing initial guidelines and identifying opportunities for education and investment.
Sands also commented on the rapidly changing landscape of college athletics and noted that the university continues its work to position itself for the strongest possible future in athletics given the many factors beyond the university’s control.
In other news, in remarks made during the Finance and Resource Management Committee on Monday, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Amy Sebring acknowledged the upcoming retirement of Vice President for Finance Ken Miller, who has given almost 36 years of service to Virginia Tech. She also provided the board with updates on several current issues including the potential for leveraging AI in university operations and the reinvestment exercise that campus leaders have been working as part of a multiyear process of optimizing the use of current resources.
Sebring also updated the committee on the status of two vice president searches: Simon Allen will begin on May 6 as the university’s next vice president for finance and CFO and on-campus interviews with candidates for the vice president of campus planning, infrastructure, and facilities position will begin later this month.
Also on Monday, Senior Vice President for Advancement Charlie Phlegar updated board members that, for the third consecutive year, alumni giving participation remained at 22 percent, a historic achievement among public universities in the United States. Phlegar also noted that the university has surpassed the original Boundless Impact capital campaign of $1.5 billion goal and that he expects the revised goal of $1.872 billion will be achieved two years before the campaign’s conclusion.
In remarks at the Academic, Research, and Student Affairs Committee, Executive Vice President and Provost Cyril Clarke provided an update on the Northern Virginia Steering Committee chaired by Julie Ross, the Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Dean of Engineering. The committee was charged to review and assess the instructional, research, and outreach activities in the area with a special emphasis on those activities that leverage opportunities afforded by operating in the nation’s capital. Clarke noted significant progress has been made and anticipates a detailed report at the next board meeting.
Clarke also noted that the searches to replace Maj. Gen. Randal D. Fullhart, the retiring commandant of the Corps of Cadets and Alan Grant, dean for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, are progressing and finalists will be visiting campus before the end of the semester. He thanked them for their many years of dedicated service to the college and university.
Clarke also provided a brief enrollment management update. With with a record number of applications received this year, as of April 7, freshman enrollment is very close to target — about 100 fewer acceptances than last year to date, which had the same target of 7,085. He also noted a decline in acceptances from traditionally underserved students, including underrepresented minorities, first generation, Pell, and veterans, and delays in Institutional Student Information Records resulting from changes to the FASFA application process has complicated admissions modelling as well as timing of financial aid packages.
The board announced the selection of the two student representatives for the 2024-25 academic year. Leslie Orellana, a senior majoring in real estate in the Pamplin College of Business and building construction in the College of Engineering, will be the undergraduate student representative. William Poland, a master’s degree candidate in electrical engineering in the College of Engineering, will be the graduate and professional student representative.
Each will serve a one-year term beginning July 1. A story introducing the new student representatives to the community will be published later this month in Virginia Tech News.
The board also honored three faculty members — Anthony Kwame Harrison, the Edward S. Diggs Professor in Humanities with a joint appointment in Africana Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences; Raman Kumar, the R.V. and A.F. Oliver Professor of Investment Management in the Pamplin College of Business; and Patricia Raun, professor of theater arts at the School of Performing Arts in the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design — as Alumni Distinguished Professors. The professorship is a preeminent faculty appointment recognizing those who demonstrate extraordinary accomplishments and academic citizenship through substantive scholarly contributions across all three of Virginia Tech’s core mission areas of teaching, research or creative activity, and engagement.
In addition, resolutions appointing 11 faculty members to endowed chairs, professorships, or fellowships; 36 individuals to emerita or emeritus status; and 84 faculty research leaves were approved by the board.
Individual stories on the new Alumni Distinguished Professors, the professorship and fellowship appointments, and emerita/emeritus honors will be published in Virginia Tech News.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors will be June 10-11 in Blacksburg. More information on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors may be found online.
Mark Owczarski for Virginia Tech
