Darrell Sheppard receives 2013 Staff Career Achievement Award
Darrell Sheppard, retired police sergeant in the Virginia Tech Police Department, has received the university's 2013 Staff Career Achievement Award.
Sheppard retired from Virginia Tech in 2012 after 28 years of service.
Created in 2011 to recognize retiring staff members, the Staff Career Achievement Award is presented annually to up to five individuals who have distinguished themselves through exemplary performance and service during their university career. Nominees must have served a minimum of 10 years at Virginia Tech. Each recipient is awarded a $1,000 cash prize.
Sheppard joined the university community in 1984 as part of the facilities’ grounds crew. He became a grounds crew supervisor in 1996 and held that position until he was hired by Virginia Tech Police in 2000.
“Darrell applied the knowledge he gained from his previous police science classes at New River Community College and his supervisory experience working in the grounds crew,” said Wendell Flinchum, chief of police for Virginia Tech.
Sheppard became a field training officer for new academy graduate and was certified as a bicycle officer. In 2008, Sheppard received a department commendation for his outstanding work in leading and improving the bicycle unit. In 2009, he was promoted to sergeant and supervised a patrol shift until his retirement.
Sheppard received many letters of appreciation from parents, the department, and the public for his work.
“Darrell exemplified the type of employee that makes Virginia Tech the special place it is,” Sherwood Wilson, vice president for administration.
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.
