Tom Brown to direct Office for Student Life at Virginia Tech

James Thomas "Tom" Brown of Blacksburg, Va., former interim director of the Office for Student Life and Advocacy, has been named director of the office, which has been renamed the Office for Student Life. The newly named office is responsible for multicultural programs, student advocacy, orientation, parent programs, and response to student emergencies.

"Tom Brown has done an outstanding job this year. He is moving Student Life forward in many ways, including strong support for multicultural centers and programs and improvements in summer orientation. The new initiative to improve programs for parents should meet real needs and better position Virginia Tech for the future," said D. David Ostroth, associate vice president for student affairs, in announcing the appointment.

After joining the Division of Student Affairs in 1994, Brown served as assistant and, then, associate dean of students. When the Dean of Students Office was abolished in 2003, he was named interim director of the new Office for Student Life and Advocacy before his recent appointment as director of Student Life. During his 26 years with the university, he also worked for Virginia Tech Cooperative Extension and the Virginia Tech Alumni Association.

Brown, who holds bachelor's degree from Virginia Tech and a master's degree from the University of Virginia, is a former chair of Virginia Tech's Academy of Leadership Excellence and former regional chair of Mid-Atlantic States for National Orientation Directors Association. He currently represents the university on the Business Relations Advisory Council for the Town of Blacksburg and is a member of Tech's Commission for Student Affairs.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top 30 research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.