Graduate students settle into new Innovation Campus Academic Building One

Cathy Grimes

7 Feb 2025

Graduate students chat and eat pizza in the atrium of the new Innovation Campus Academic Building One in Alexandria on the first day of the semester. The Boeing Auditorium is on the right and tall glass windows are on the left. — Graduate students take a pizza break on the first floor of Innovation Campus Academic Building One in Alexandria on the first day of the spring semester. Photo by Craig Newcomb for Virginia Tech.

Below-freezing temperatures and an icy breeze failed to cool graduate students’ enthusiasm during the first days of classes at the Innovation Campus Academic Building One in Alexandria.

Students flocked to T-shirt giveaways in the atrium, ate pizza and ice cream, and a took chance to grab a cup of hot cocoa and chat with Graduate School Associate Dean Barbara Hoopes during the first two days of the semester. They also met in the first-floor Boeing Auditorium to spend time with therapy dog Allen and work on mindfulness projects with Cook Counseling Center’s embedded psychologist, Julie Kaplan. And they gathered in small groups throughout the building to compare notes, take photos, study, and explore.

Several visited the terrace on the eighth floor to snap photos of the view and the sunset, in spite of the cold. Throughout each day they gathered in the building’s many huddle rooms or chatted in the expansive atrium lobby when they were not in classrooms.

'More room to think'

Master of Business Administration student Christopher Estrada called the building phenomenal. “There’s such a big difference from the Northern Virginia Center,” he said. “The energy here is so high. It feels like there is more room to think in this space.”

Sanjana Mehta, a student in the Master of Science in business administration in global business analytics program (MSBA-GBA), said the building's energy "is great.” Many students and staff members commented on the building’s airy feeling provided by floor-to-ceiling exterior windows and interior offices with glass walls facing the views.

Students in the MSBA-GBA program spent a year on the main campus in Blacksburg and now are in Alexandria. Soham Vasudeo said the difference was striking because of Alexandria's proximity to a major metropolitan area. “Now we are a few Metro stops from D.C.,” he said.

Isha Ghatule, also in the MSBA-GBA program, said her favorite spaces are the huddle rooms on almost every floor. “They are so awesome. You can use them as long as you like.” Ghatule also said the building's decks provide additional spaces for the students to use when the weather is warmer.

MBA student James Bodnar loves the university library on the fifth floor. “It’s to die for,” he said. "The views and the resources are amazing.”

Hospitality and tourism management student Niharika Adhikari is among students who volunteered to be ambassadors who give tours of the building to visitors and students. Looking at her classmates who were sipping cocoa and chatting, she said, “I’m really excited about the second semester.”