Council for Advancement and Support of Education honors alumnus for outstanding service to his school

23 Apr 2008

William E. Skelton, 1940 graduate of Virginia Tech, is the recipient of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s Ernest T. Stewart Award for Alumni Volunteer Involvement. This award is the highest honor the council gives to an alumni volunteer. With nearly 3,400 members, it is one of the largest international associations of educational institutions.

Skelton has dedicated nearly 70 years to serving Virginia Tech and the surrounding community in various roles, including volunteer fundraiser, reunion organizer, leadership board member, and campaign chair. He led the effort to build an alumni conference center at Virginia Tech, serving as chair of a committee that oversaw the planning, design, and fundraising for the $45 million center, which included an attached hotel. The complex was named the Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center, to recognize the tremendous service to the university by Skelton and his wife Margaret.

Skelton is a former dean of the Extension division at Virginia Tech who began his career at the university as director of 4-H programs and Virginia Cooperative Extension. After his 40 years of outstanding volunteer service to the Smith Mountain Lake 4-H Educational Conference Center, the center was renamed in Skelton’s honor in 2004.

Skelton’s volunteer work is not limited to Virginia Tech and 4-H. His service to Rotary includes serving as club president, district governor, president of Rotary International, and numerous international leadership assignments. Skelton continues to serve in the organization, and has been honored for his role in helping to launch PolioPlus, Rotary’s massive project in support of the worldwide eradication of polio.

“Virginia Tech allowed me the flexibility to serve as a leader within Rotary International while I was working for the university, and I’ve always appreciated that,” Skelton said. “It made me want to do the best job I could on projects for Rotary, for 4-H, and for the university itself.”

According to Elizabeth Flanagan, vice president for development and university relations at Virginia Tech, who nominated Skelton for the Ernest T. Stewart Award: “No other person affiliated with the university has touched the lives of more alumni and friends of Virginia Tech than Dr. William E. Skelton. Dr. Skelton personifies the motto of Virginia Tech: Ut Prosim (That I May Serve).”

Former Virginia Tech President T. Marshall Hahn Jr., who led the university during much of Skelton’s tenure there, said Skelton’s “tireless efforts on behalf of Virginia Tech, the Skelton 4-H Center, Rotary International, and many other organizations have made it possible for generations of Virginians to aspire to greater learning, teaching, and living.”

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education will honor the five individuals during a July 14 luncheon at its Summit for Advancement Leaders conference in New York City.