Patricia Hyer honored with emeritus status
Patricia Hyer, associate provost for academic administration at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the “Associate Provost Emerita” title by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
The title of emerita may be conferred on retired professors and associate professors, administrative officers, librarians, and exceptional staff members who are specially recommended to the board of visitors by Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board of visitors receive an emeritus certificate from the university.
A member of the Virginia Tech community for 23 years, Hyer was instrumental in helping the university to become an inclusive institution with wide-ranging policies and programs that support its commitment to diversity.
She played an instrumental role in establishing the Women’s Center at Virginia Tech and was co-author and co-principal investigator of a $3.5 million National Science Foundation Advance grant that promoted institutional transformation for women faculty in science and engineering. She championed new and revised work-life policies, dual-career hiring, child care, department head training, and institutional data analysis.
Hyer served as state coordinator for the Virginia Network of Women in Higher Education, a statewide organization for female administrators in higher education. She served on the state executive board of the Virginia Network, as well as on the national network executive board of the American Council on Education’s Office of Women in Higher Education.
Her leadership and commitment were recognized by her peers as the first recipient of the Virginia Tech Woman of the Year Award, as recipient of the Academy of Leadership Excellence Outstanding Leader of the Year Award, as Virginia Tech’s Woman of the Decade, as recipient of the University Change Agent Award from the Women in Engineering Program Advocates Network, and with her selection as Fellow in the Association for Women in Science.
Hyer received her bachelor’s degree from Hillsdale College, a master’s degree from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
