Paul L. Knox, dean of Virginia Tech Honors College, to retire after nearly four decades of service

Paul L. Knox, dean of the Virginia Tech Honors College since 2016, will retire effective spring 2025 after nearly 40 years of service to the university.

Knox is the founding dean of the Honors College, having transformed the former University Honors Program into a formally recognized college. Under his leadership, the Honors College has distinguished itself nationally with an innovative curricular structure and pedagogy.

“Throughout his career, Paul has distinguished himself as an outstanding academician, leader, and an unwavering advocate for students and their engagement in collaborative discovery,” said Executive Vice President and Provost Cyril Clarke. “The impact he has had on the lives of so many at Virginia Tech and the opportunities he has created are truly immeasurable.

“I wish Paul all the best in his retirement and sincerely thank him for his service and contributions to our university.”

The distinctive pedagogy and curriculum that the Honors College offers is formulated around the idea of collaborative discovery, which Knox prioritized during his tenure as dean. By cultivating an academic space that prioritizes transdisciplinary collaboration, the Honors College allows students the chance to break through disciplinary silos and develop the transdisciplinary capabilities required to address complex global challenges.

Studio- and workshop-based pedagogy is another hallmark of the Honors College that Knox has worked to build. The Honors SuperStudio, first offered in 2020, was conceptualized in collaboration between Knox and Honors College faculty. This successful studio-based curricular experience brings together multiple advanced courses, each of which focus on a different aspect of a complex challenge and all of which work together toward possible coordinated solutions.

Under Knox’s leadership, the Honors College launched a minor in collaborative discovery, the first time that the Honors College has offered a transcriptable academic program. The minor comprises a full suite of Honors College courses grounded in transdisciplinary collaboration, research practices, and experiential learning.

Collaborative discovery in the Honors College emphasizes experiential learning and the critical skills taught through engaging in real-world contexts with industry, campus, and community partners. Supported by endowments from David Calhoun and The Boeing Corporation, the Honors College has been provided a rare opportunity to bring transdisciplinary and experiential learning to a growing and more diverse population of students.

Prior to joining the Honors College, Knox served in various other roles at Virginia Tech, taught geography at Dundee University in Scotland, and held visiting positions at Christchurch University, New Zealand; the University of Wisconsin, Madison; and the University of Oklahoma.

In 1985, he came to Virginia Tech as a professor of urban affairs and planning. In this role, he was recognized with the College of Architecture and Urban Studies — now the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design — Teaching Award.

Knox was appointed University Distinguished Professor in 1996 and has maintained a high level of scholarship while serving as a senior administrator. He has written more than 25 books, which have been translated into Italian, German, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Persian, and Greek, and more than a hundred articles and book chapters.

In 1997, Knox was named dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, where he served until 2006. Knox’s accomplishments in this role were numerous and impactful, leading the college to be placed as one of top five colleges of its kind in the nation in terms of research funding.

Knox established the Myers-Lawson School of Construction, the former School of Architecture + Design, and the School of Public and International Affairs. He also introduced the interior design and art and art history programs to the college.

In the greater Washington, D.C., metro area, he established the Metropolitan Institute and added planning and landscape architecture to the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center. Internationally, he established strategic partnerships with the Academy of Architecture of the Università Svizzera Italiana, the University of Stuttgart, and the Politecnico di Milano.

While dean, annual giving to the college steadily increased, establishing the first fully endowed professorships in the college and increasing the number of scholarships and awards available to students.

In 2006, Knox transitioned to a role as senior fellow for international advancement, reporting directly to the president. Knox was responsible for the academic programming and administration of Steger Center for International Scholarship in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland. He oversaw the renovation and extension of the center, expanding it significantly and adding outdoor spaces which are now used for programs.

As a senior fellow, Knox led the planning process that produced the university’s 2012-18 strategic vision, titled A Plan for a New Horizon. The plan emphasized enhancing research and innovation; fostering creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking; and positioning Virginia Tech as a dynamic and distinctive community.

From 2008-09, Knox served as interim director of the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute.

He also established the Virginia Tech Global Forum on Urban and Regional Resilience, which went on to be invited to panel discussions in Davos, Switzerland.

Currently, Knox is the co-leader of a national consortium of honors deans that have developed The Justice Challenge, a multiyear student program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Centered on the themes of food justice, climate justice, and sustainable agriculture, the program consists of in-person experiential learning as well as online colloquia that seek to give ambitious students the foundational knowledge needed to begin to address these global challenges.

Knox is a member of Virginia Tech’s Ut Prosim Society and serves on the editorial board of seven international journals.

He and his wife, Lynne Taylor Knox, have personally established an undergraduate study-abroad scholarship called the Paul and Lynne Knox Study Abroad Scholarship. This scholarship supports Honors College students who plan to study abroad. Preference is given to students who have demonstrated financial need and who are attending a program of study at the Steger Center for International Scholarship.

Some of his more recent books include “London: A History in 25 Buildings,” “Better by Design? Architecture, Urban Planning, and the Good City,” “Metroburbia: The Anatomy of Greater London,” “London: Architecture, Building and Social Change,” and “Atlas of Cities,” which received the Association of American Geographers’ Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography.

He is currently working on “Lost in Transformation: London’s History in 25 Lost Buildings” and on “Game Changers,” commemorating the 50-year anniversary of the women’s basketball program at Virginia Tech.

A national search has been launched for the next dean of the Virginia Tech Honors College.