September 2023
With the fall semester underway, University Operations is at full tilt supporting our students, staff, and faculty. Many of you worked tirelessly over the summer preparing facilities, beautifying the campus, working with the state on our funding priorities, onboarding our newest Hokie team members, keeping us safe and prepared, and supporting the back-of-house responsibilities that make all our efforts possible. The beginning of the semester also marked the completion of four major capital projects now open to campus: the Data and Decision Sciences Building, the Corps Leadership and Military Science Building, the Upper Quad North Residence Hall, and a renovated Slusher Hall.
My sincerest thank you to each of you for the role you played to ensure a successful kickoff of the 2024 academic year!
At the August Board of Visitors meeting, the Board toured the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute (FBRI) and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (VTCSOM). Board members received exciting updates on the success and future plans of the health sciences domain - an area of critical importance to the university’s goal of becoming a Top 100 global research institution. The finance team also provided the Board with an update on our positive financial position, capital outlay plan, and six-year academic-financial plan. And just as the Board began meeting, we received news that state budget negotiators had reached a compromise on the FY24 budget. The new budget brings good news for Virginia Tech with incremental base funding for our educational and general (E&G) programs, student financial aid support, and authorization to begin the planning and design of a capital expansion for VTCSOM/FBRI as well as improvements to outdated facility replacement at the Center Woods research complex, which is critical to our Agriculture and Cooperative Extension programs. The state also approved an additional two percent compensation pool, effective December 10, 2023. We will update the Board of Visitors on the impacts of the recently approved state budget at a special meeting of the Board.
Leadership from across University Operations also met in August to begin the work of setting a strategic vision for our shared work. With a number of important initiatives on the horizon, the team came together around a set of core values shared across all units of University Operations. These are the values that serve to guide each of us in all that we do:
Aligning strategically with the university
Enhancing operational collaboration, efficiency, and excellence
Improving the customer (students, faculty, and staff) experience
Stewarding the university’s resources
Valuing our employees
The University Operations leadership team agreed that these values should and do guide our work and create a common structure by which we can connect and collaborate going forward. These core values serve as a north star as we navigate growth and change at Virginia Tech and within University Operations.
A significant change for us is the recently announced retirement of Ken Miller, our vice president for finance and university treasurer, who will retire in the spring of 2024. Ken is a critical part of our leadership team, spending more than 35 years advancing these core values at Virginia Tech. Please join me in thanking Ken for his numerous contributions to Virginia Tech as we wish him a well-deserved retirement.
As Autumn begins, there’s renewed excitement in the air. As you’re jumping to “Enter Sandman,” looking for the slight hint of color beginning to emerge along the tree line, or sipping your favorite fall pumpkin, apple, or chocolate beverage, I hope you will also take a few minutes to reflect on how the work of your unit connects within the broader context of University Operations and Virginia Tech’s strategic direction. There is no place like Virginia Tech, especially this time of year. Go Hokies!