A Message from Amy Sebring

As you take a few minutes to read through this newsletter, I hope you will also take a moment to reflect on and celebrate what we continue to accomplish together. Often much of what we do happens quietly behind the scenes, in ways that are essential to the success of our students, employees, and community. Thank you for showing up in both big and small ways to continue pushing Virginia Tech forward. 

We find ourselves in a moment of change. Often, change isn’t linear — rather, it comes in bursts that create opportunities. Although we can’t always see change in the moment, the changes we are undergoing in higher education seem to me to be more evident than most. From the changing demographics of our pool of prospective students, the rapidly evolving technological environment that both propels and is propelled by our research programs, and the upcoming change in leadership the university will undergo as we welcome our 17th president to campus, it feels to me like we’re in one of those bursts of change! And, in this moment, Virginia Tech has an opportunity to position itself for a future that is likely to look different while holding fast to the principles that are critical to our land-grant mission and our commitment to Ut Prosim. 

Within University Operations, we continue to be guided by our strategic focus areas:

  • Improving Business Processes;
  • Stewarding Resources;
  • Fostering a Thriving Community;
  • Building Research Resiliency/Capacity; and
  • Driving Data-Informed Decisions.

These areas of focus are integral in providing the enabling infrastructure that supports all facets of our mission and propels our strategic priorities forward.

In this edition, I want to highlight the launch of our latest addition of enabling infrastructure: HokieAI. This tool ties into all five of our strategic focus areas. It is an important step forward for the university, giving students and employees access to secure, university-supported AI tools. More broadly, it reflects Virginia Tech’s continued commitment to using technology in ways that are responsible, ethical, and centered on people. The University Operations Highlight is intended as an update on several key efforts underway related to AI use at the university. It is also intended to provide you with links that will help you identify how to access the tool, where you can learn more, and opportunities to engage with peers across the university in this work. 

For some of you, the use of AI is already second nature. For others — me included — we continue to learn together. I encourage you to approach these tools with curiosity, good judgment, and confidence in the value of your own experience and expertise. I encourage you to explore how AI tools can help you work smarter, better, and faster in ways that enhance the care, creativity, and insight that you bring to our work every day. These resources may be helpful to you as you learn more about AI:

No doubt, technology will be an important part of the current “burst” of change. And yet, people remain our greatest strength. Take time to celebrate your accomplishments. Take time, too, to recognize your colleagues, including those like Kim O’Rourke and others who are celebrating upcoming retirements after years of service to the institution. Please join me in congratulating her and others as they look forward to their next chapter.