To the university community,

Welcome to the 2025 fall semester! I hope you had an enjoyable summer and are ready for a new academic year. It is exciting to see Hokies filling our campuses in Blacksburg, Roanoke, Alexandria, and other locations across the commonwealth and beyond, ready to take on new challenges and serve our communities.

We have an impressive entering class this year that is already making its mark. First-year students will represent a record number of Virginia high schools as well as 48 states and 82 countries. Our global reach is at an all-time high, thanks to our active work to broaden interest in Virginia Tech around the world.  

Those of you returning to our Blacksburg campus will notice some changes. We made significant progress on our new, accessible pathways in the North Academic District by Pamplin, McBryde, and Patton halls, and we look forward to seeing the finishing touches completed later this year. It’s also hard to miss the construction crane currently towering over campus to support the construction of Mitchell Hall. We will also start construction on the new business building later this fall.

This month, we welcome our new senior vice president for Advancement, Tom Wamsley and thank Charlie Phlegar for a decade of service and success as he begins his well-deserved retirement. The Boundless Impact Campaign is two years ahead of schedule, recently surpassing our revised target of $1.872 billion and close to our goal of engaging 120,000 Hokies.  

Virginia Tech is fortunate to have a talented team of leaders throughout the university working collaboratively with our Board of Visitors, local and state government partners, industry, alumni, supporters, and friends to advance and accelerate our progress toward the Beyond Boundaries vision. 

As Executive Vice President and Provost Cyril Clarke prepares to return to the faculty at the end of the fall semester, we extend our thanks and appreciation for his outstanding service as our chief academic officer. A search committee for Virginia Tech’s next executive vice president and provost has been convened and is set to conclude work by the end of the calendar year.

While it is still too early for accurate numbers, it appears that our extramural research expenditures will reach another record high for fiscal year 2025, and FY26 is starting strong with new awards. We recently ranked fourth among university Patent Powerhouses in a survey by IEEE Spectrum based on the number, quality, and impact of the patents we produce. The top three are Harvard, MIT, and the Harvard/MIT Broad Institute, so we are in good company.

The summer brought historic changes for college athletics, detailed in this overview by Director of Athletics Whit Babcock. The changes will bring new challenges and opportunities, and we are committed to supporting our student athletes and competing at the highest level. On that note, get ready to start jumping in Lane Stadium on Sept. 6 to kick off our first home game of the season against Vanderbilt!

Have a great fall semester and let’s go Hokies!

Tim Sands,
President

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