Week of November 17-21

2025

Faculty Affairs: New guide to support colleges, departments conducting faculty searches

Faculty Affairs has published a teaching and research (T&R) Faculty Search Guide to support Virginia Tech colleges and departments in conducting thoughtful, rigorous, and effective faculty searches.

Effective searches are essential to recruiting and retaining outstanding scholars, advancing Virginia Tech’s mission, and achieving our aspirations for global distinction. The new Faculty Search Guide provides:

Principles for faculty searches grounded in fairness, merit, and excellence.
Step-by-step guidance on initiating and conducting a search, from forming committees to posting positions to evaluating candidates.
Best practices for active recruiting, as well as holistic candidate assessment and equitable evaluation.
Practical tools and resources including checklists, sample charges, and summaries of search chair and committee duties.

In addition and in collaboration with with our Human Resources and Civil Rights Compliance and Prevention Education (CRCPE) partners, Faculty Affairs is revising search committee training, which will align closely with the new guide.

For more information and further details, view the downloadable Faculty Search Guide or email Faculty Affairs.

OIA: Faculty, staff invited to virtual series focused on community engagement

Virginia Tech’s campus community is invited to participate in a series of free virtual workshops hosted by the Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC), a national organization dedicated to building strong university-community partnerships.

As one of about 60 ESC member institutions, Virginia Tech offers faculty, staff, and students exclusive access to these upcoming sessions, which focus on advancing and institutionalizing community-engaged scholarship.

From Framework to Practice: Strategies for Modernizing and Institutionalizing Engaged Scholarship in Research Universities, January 28, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
A Comprehensive Promotion and Tenure Toolkit for Engaged Universities, February 10, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Community Engagement and Impact, Impact, Impact: A Co-Curricular Model for Co-Creating Change, March 18, 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Building Capacity for New Faculty/Graduate Students for Community-Engaged Research; April 10, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

For more information and to register, read this ESC workshops campus notice or visit Outreach and International Affairs' (OIA) Office of Engagement website.

Global Education Office: Reminder of updates to Policy 1070-Global Travel Policy

Virginia Tech, through the Global Education Office (GEO) and the Global Travel Oversight Committee (GTOC), reminds faculty and staff of recent updates to Policy 1070: Global Travel that provides support to faculty, staff, and students taking part in university-supported travel outside of the United States.

Recent updates to Policy 1070 include the following:

Travelers are now required to report incidents while abroad using Global Safety and Risk Management as a one-stop-shop for reporting requirements and support. Incidents include injury, illness, damage to university property, robbery, burglary, vehicle accidents, assault, harassment, and/or arrest.
More clarity in what is considered a “high risk” destination.
Improved support for faculty planning non-credit or co-curricular student travel.
Updated list of definitions.

Fiscal personnel, business managers, departmental leadership, and anyone who engages in university-supported international travel should familiarize themselves with the recent updates to Policy 1070.

For more information on GEO support and resources, read this campus notice on Policy 1070 updates or visit the Global Safety and Risk Management website.

Facilities: Updated traffic, pedestrian impacts due to campus construction projects

As a result of numerous capital construction, renovation, and maintenance projects on the Blacksburg campus, the Division of Facilities reminds university employees to expect periodic road, building access, and pedestrian route closures and delays in limited areas throughout the semester.

Below is an updated list of projects and areas where impacts may occur:

For more information including an interactive map of impacted areas, read location-specific campus notices in VT News or email Virginia Tech Facilities.

ICYMI: New, updated tutorials on shared governance system available online

To assist faculty and staff in understanding Virginia Tech’s shared governance structure and how it serves stakeholders across the university, the Office of Policy and Governance has created a series of self-paced online tutorials that outline the history of and guiding principles for effective governance, and the role that faculty, staff and student representative bodies play in the process.

New and updated modules available to faculty and staff are as follows:

For more information and to access these and other valuable resources, visit Virginia Tech’s shared governance system website.

Additional Resources and Updates

Newsletter Spotlight: Research Services Newsletter (University Libraries)

Please submit a Google form or email Provost Communications for comments or recommendations to improve the Weekly Communications Update or to share faculty, staff, and academic program personnel information.

Visit the provost’s website frequently for new and updated university information. All members of the campus community should also read their VT News daily email for further important updates, notices, and resources.