Board approves New Business Building, sets tuition at quarterly meeting
The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors approved design plans and authorized construction of the New Business Building, the second academic facility in the Global Business and Analytics Complex, at its quarterly meeting held today.
The 92,000-square-foot building will support Pamplin College of Business’s relocation and growth, offering spaces for experiential learning, interdisciplinary research, and industry partnerships. Connected to the Data and Decision Sciences Building, it will feature the Apex Center for Entrepreneurs, Hokie Hospitality Lab, and student-focused innovation hubs. Read about the project.
In other business, the board voted to set next year’s tuition and mandatory fees for Virginia undergraduate students to $16,526 annually and $38,977 annually for out-of-state undergraduate students, pending the outcome of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed 2.5 percent cap on tuition increases. If the cap is approved, tuition will be adjusted accordingly. Complete information on the board’s approval of 2025-26 tuition, fees, and room and board is available.
The board also introduced and approved a resolution affirming the university ensure that all its programs, policies, practices, and actions comply with the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other federal civil rights laws. The resolution also directs the university to dissolve the Office for Inclusive Strategy and Excellence and transfer compliant programs to new organizational homes in order to align with recent executive orders and other federal guidance that colleges and universities have received in recent weeks. The board approved this resolution.
The resolution was reviewed and amended on Monday by the Academic, Research, and Student Affairs Committee following a presentation on the guiding principles that form the framework of all university policies and practices.
A resolution initially introduced to both the Finance and Resource Management and Buildings and Grounds committees was modified and became two distinct resolutions. The first revised resolution sought to rescind board action taken on Nov. 13, 2022, in which the 2022 Student Life Village master plan was added as a supplement to the campus master plan. That resolution was approved.
The second resolution stipulated that Slusher Hall not be demolished but instead be renovated. This resolution was not approved in committee.
“The conversation today is not about restricting housing on campus," Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said. “It is about ensuring that the board and the administration have been diligent in considering, and reconsidering, all of the options to achieve affordable, high-quality housing that supports the academic and social success of our on-campus student population. I welcome that discussion and the creative solutions that will result.”
During Monday’s board information session, Julie Ross, the Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Dean of Engineering, shared an update on the university’s future vision and growing presence in the greater Washington, D.C., metro area. She reported on the successful opening of Virginia Tech’s new academic building in Alexandria. This furthers the university’s growing network of innovation in the D.C. area with an emphasis on partnerships that integrate academia, industry, and government to drive cutting-edge research and workforce development.
Work continues under her leadership with the Northern Virginia Steering Committee that is guiding the effort to plan the future vision of instruction, research, and outreach in the region. Efforts focus on university-level strategy and sites, including the new Academic Building One in Alexandria, the Virginia Tech Research Center—Arlington, and the upcoming Coalition for Smart Construction in Falls Church, which is set to open in 2027.
Organized into three phases - vision and positioning, organizational planning, and implementation – progress includes the adaptation of a new vision and mission, the formation of a new Institute for Advanced Computing, and the hiring a vice president for the greater D.C. area to oversee regional operations, Ross said. Steering committee work groups have also been formed to consider tuition models for graduate programs, student housing, space management, and transportation.
On Tuesday, the Academic Resource and Student Affairs Committee approved a resolution in support of creating a Bachelor of Science in geography to complement its existing Bachelor of Arts in geography, reflecting the field’s growing emphasis on technical skills such as GIS, remote sensing, and geospatial analysis. The new degree will better align with workforce needs and peer institutions. The proposal now moves to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia for approval.
The board announced the selection of the two student representatives for the 2025-26 academic year. Thomas Feely, a junior majoring in construction engineering and management in the College of Engineering, will be the undergraduate student representative. Katherine Drinkwater, a Ph.D. degree candidate in engineering education, also in the College of Engineering, will be the graduate and professional student representative.
Each will serve a one-year term beginning July 1. A story introducing the new student representatives to the community will be published later this semester in Virginia Tech News.
The board also honored faculty members Shuhai Xiao and Katrina Powell with distinguished professorships.
Xiao, the Patricia A. Caldwell Faculty Fellow in the College of Science and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, was named a University Distinguished Professor. The University Distinguished Professorship is a pre-eminent faculty rank bestowed upon members of the university faculty whose scholarly attainments have attracted national and/or international recognition.
Powell, founding director of the Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies and professor of rhetoric and writing in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, was named an Alumni Distinguished Professor. The professorship is a preeminent faculty appointment recognizing those who demonstrate extraordinary accomplishments and academic citizenship through substantive scholarly contributions across all three of Virginia Tech’s core mission areas of teaching, research or creative activity, and engagement.
In addition, resolutions appointing 15 faculty members to endowed chairs, professorships, or fellowships; 19 individuals to emerita or emeritus status; and 90 faculty research leaves were approved by the board.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors will be June 2-3 in Blacksburg. More information on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors may be found online.