James D. Arthur honored with emeritus status
James D. Arthur, professor of computer science in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the “professor emeritus” title by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
The title of emeritus is conferred on retired full professors and associate professors, administrative officers, extra-collegiate faculty with continued appointment, and senior extension agents 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 since 1983, Arthur has made significant contributions in the areas of software quality assessment and independent verification and validation. He wrote more than 80 peer-reviewed publications, including the book, "Managing Software Quality: A Measurement Framework for Assessment and Prediction." In addition, he served in a number of national technical societies, organized Department of Defense sponsored workshops and cross-disciplinary panel sessions, served as associate editor of the Software Quality Journal, and as guest editor for the Annals of Software Engineering.
In the classroom, Arthur taught a wide range of computer science courses from freshman to advanced graduate level courses. In addition, he advised and counseled numerous undergraduate and graduate students in the computer science program, served as first-year graduate student advisor, graduate advisor for nine doctoral students and 34 master’s students, and served on many other master’s theses and doctoral dissertation committees.
His dedication to teaching was acknowledged with the University Alumni Teaching Award, two College of Arts and Sciences teaching awards, three Department of Computer Science teaching awards, and induction into the Virginia Tech Academy of Teaching Excellence, for which he served as its chair and vice chair.
In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Arthur served as interim department head of computer science, interim director of the Systems Research Center, chair of the University Alumni Teaching Award Committee and the University Alumni Advising Award Committee, co-organizer of the Graduate Teaching Assistant Workshop, and as a member of the College of Arts and Sciences Restructuring Committee.
Arthur received a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a master’s degree from the University of Houston, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Purdue University.
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.
