It was time to take a trip back home.

While my formal home for me was in Norfolk, Virginia – I got all of my engineering degrees at Virginia Tech located in the picturesque mountain town of Blacksburg, Virginia in the late 1980’s. This was where Noel and I met, where our oldest son was born, and where my formative years in academia started.

It is not really possible to be an involved and engaged alumnus when you work at another university – especially as a President who lives and breathes where you work. So, when the email came this past December inviting me to participate as a volunteer for our 40th year class reunion (Class of 1986) – how could I say no.

So – we blocked off our calendar and made plans to be back in Blacksburg for a 3 day alumni immersion experience celebrating the Virginia Tech of yesterday and learning about the Virginia Tech of tomorrow. We were joined by members of the 50th reunion class – and there was quite a bit of gray hair in the audience at the different events (including mine I might add).

After arriving in Blacksburg, Noel doing a Zoom meeting from the hotel lobby and getting checked into our room – we set off for downtown for our first event.

We started our experience watching a historical movie done with the local PBS station on the role that southwestern Virginia played in the American Revolution. It was well done and we look forward to re-watching it back home in Washington.

Over the next three days we met with department heads from Electrical and Computer Engineering and Engineering Education. We had a coffee with a development officer from the Virginia Tech Foundation. We heard from outgoing President Tim Sands on his vision for the future of our institution. We enjoyed lunch and dinner at two of our all-time favorites when we were students – MacAdoos for lunch and the Farmhouse for dinner. Finally, we got to hear from some of the Olympic sport coaches on the impact NIL has had on competing in the ACC in volleyball, tennis and wrestling. As an alumnus, it was fun to hear about all of the progress being made – as well as the challenges and opportunities facing the Virginia Tech of tomorrow.

We were tired as we left as there was so much to take in over just a couple of days. I now have a greater appreciation of what it is like when alumni from Kansas State and Washington State left events where I was the person describing the future directions of the institution.

Finally, I was also struck by how similar these three institutions (Kansas State, Washington State and Virginia Tech) are. I truly believe that land grant universities are different than others. These common characteristics include a strong focus on making a difference in the state, on producing work ready graduates, and a need to be innovative in finding ways to make progress through partnerships. All three schools have a bit of a “chip on our shoulder” attitude to keep working and keep evolving. All three also “punch above their weight” – and have done so for decades.

We were pretty exhausted by the time we got back in the car. Noel and I were both inspired and proud of our Alma mater. It was a lot of fun to wear maroon and orange all week and to celebrate with fellow Hokies being part of the bigger Virginia Tech family.

We can’t wait to go back!

One more thing ….

Go Hokies!