Dean's Perspective

To honor the legacy of John Hosner (1925-2018), who has been recognized as the honorary founding dean of the College of Natural Resources and Environment, Tenna Hosner has endowed the John F. Hosner Distinguished Lecture series. The endowment will enable us to bring global thought leaders to Virginia Tech to address the importance and promise of renewable natural resources. As Hosner was a visionary —and a force of nature — this gift from his wife of more than 40 years is the perfect way to honor John Hosner in perpetuity. Thank you Tenna for your continued support of the college in this impactful way.

We celebrate and thank recently retired faculty Eric Hallerman, Earl Kline, and Stephen Schoenholtz for their combined nearly 100 years of service to the college. Your influence on our students, on your disciplines, and on the college’s research, teaching and service are greatly appreciated. Thank you for all you’ve done!

I am most proud of the recent recognition of the college’s Advising Center and our entire advising, recruiting, and employer relations staff as a University Exemplary Program! I am thankful and proud of their work to support our students. In the past seven years, CNRE units have been recognized three times as campus exemplary departments or programs.

We have received Commonwealth of Virginia capital planning and construction resources to construct a building in our Center Woods complex, located adjacent to campus. A project many years in the making, we appreciate the support of the senior administration, government relations staff, and the Governor’s Office to achieve funding. Construction will start in late 2024. In support of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, the building will house labs, offices, a large meeting room, storage space, a shop facility, and space for the Conservation Management Institute. Our next capital planning priority is to build an addition to the Brooks Forest Products Center for the Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design.

We celebrated commencement in May on a beautiful afternoon. On the pages ahead, you’ll read about a mother and son who graduated together. Two of our spring meteorology graduates will soon be seen on television in Roanoke, Virginia, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

This spring, we also held our annual Awards Celebration, Dean’s Advisory Council meeting, Graduation Celebration and tree planting, and many other activities. It is truly energizing to work on a university campus, and it is extremely gratifying to work in this college. Our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends of the college continue to make important impacts and contributions to the commonwealth and to the world through their efforts.

We are planning to celebrate 100 years of forestry at Virginia Tech in 2025, as well as the 50^th anniversary of the Department of Geography. We are prepared, positioned, and ready to make outstanding contributions for the next 100 years.

We hope to see you on campus one day soon. Thank you for your interest and support of our faculty, staff, and students.

Warm regards,