Message from Provost Cyril Clarke: Welcome to 2024-25 Academic Year

Dear colleagues,

As we wrap up the first week of the fall 2024 semester, I want to welcome you back to campus and express my sincere appreciation for your partnership in and dedication to advancing our shared goals for academic and research excellence, student success, and service to our constituents. Whether you are new to Virginia Tech, have been engaged in research or scholarly activities during the summer, or are returning from a well-deserved break, I hope this message finds you well and ready for the academic year ahead.

We have continued to work diligently and collaboratively throughout the summer months to advance several university initiatives, priorities, and opportunities designed to highlight your research and scholarship, and build upon areas of strengths for our institution.

• Virginia Tech Global Distinction – Virginia Tech Global Distinction is the university’s commitment to excellence, driven by research to elevate the land-grant mission and position the university as a destination for world-class faculty, students, and partners.
• Virginia Tech Advantage – Virginia Tech Advantage represents a leading strategic priority of Virginia Tech and President Sands to provide a high-quality educational experience to all students, regardless of income.
• Goals and priorities for Virginia Tech’s Academic Enterprise – In partnership with faculty, staff, and the academic community, our strategic themes, goals, and initiatives support the progress of the visionary concepts of Beyond Boundaries.
• Destination Areas 2.0 – Teams of faculty have come together to target transdisciplinary discovery, learning, and outreach efforts that yield solutions to complex problems and sustain and/or establish a global position in a specific area of interest.
• New college and unit leadership – Join me in welcoming and congratulating CALS Dean Mario Ferruzzi, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Juan Espinoza, and interim Corps of Cadets Commandant Brig. Gen. Dwayne Edwards. Maj. Gen. William Seely will join us in the spring as the new commandant of the Corps of Cadets.
• Northern Virginia realignment and opening of Innovation Campus – The first academic building on the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus will open in 2025. Students in the Washington, D.C., area will continue to attend classes at the Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church through the fall semester.
• Advancing health sciences and technology– Through partnerships with Carilion Clinic and Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., we continue to address today’s health care challenges and to support innovative “bench to bedside” research.
• Experiential learning – Virginia Tech continues its commitment to extend traditional instruction beyond the classroom to tackle problems and work in context through undergraduate research, internships, study abroad, and service learning.
• Shared governance – Process of decision-making concerning policies and institutional operation with representation of constituent groups at all levels.
• IT Transformation – The IT Transformation Program is a comprehensive effort to reshape and strengthen IT operations, career pathways, security, and services across Virginia Tech.

The value and importance of partnership with faculty, staff, and administrators across the campus on these and other commitments cannot be overstated. I will continue to share information and updates with you as often as possible through the Weekly Communications Update. Please know that the Provost’s Office, along with leadership and governance groups across the university, is here to support you in your teaching, research, and outreach activities.

Thank you once again for all you have accomplished on behalf of our university and for your steadfast dedication to and advocacy for our students. I hope this year will be one filled with growth, opportunity, and success for you and your colleagues.

Sincerely,

Cyril