Va. Tech: A University on a Roll
Virginia Tech started from humble beginnings as a public land grant college soon after the Civil War. Its 132 students were organized into a corps of cadets for military training, a continuing tradition at the university. The college didn't begin to graduate more than 100 students with a bachelor's degree until a half century later. But it began to grow following World War II, in part because of the G.I. Bill, and continued to expand in the 1960s and 1970s.
And ever since, the university has been on a roll.
The university of 28,470 students (6,471 of whom pursue graduate degrees) in rural Blacksburg, over three hours from Richmond, regularly ranks among the better engineering and agricultural programs in the country, and has expanded notably in size and research ambitions. U.S. News ranked Virginia Tech 34th among national public universities and 77th overall in the country, and its undergraduate engineering program ranked 17th.
The university last year announced an ambitious plan to double the amount of research on campus by 2012 and spend about $1 billion on nearly 3 million square feet of construction in the next decade.
Most people across the country probably know the university as a sports powerhouse. The Hokies football team is a regular pick for college bowl games, and head coach Frank Beamer is one of the winningest Division 1 coaches around. Quarterback Michael Vick (the 2001 top pick in the NFL draft and current quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons) brought the university constant attention. The men's basketball team has also been scooting up national rankings in recent years.
The university accepts about 70 percent of applicants and is nearly 60 percent male and 83 percent white. The student body is 5 percent African-American, 7 percent Asian, and 2 percent Hispanic. The university is not without critics. In recent years, despite efforts to boost minority enrollment and recruit minority faculty, it has seen its African-American student population drop. The lack of minority representation has led to protest on campus, including one a year ago during which students chanted: "Virginia Tech is allergic to faculty of color."
Meanwhile, the university has kept up with its tradition of military service. It is one of only three in the country–along with Texas A&M University and North Georgia College and State University–with a corps of student cadets training full time for the military. Membership in the corps was required for all "able-bodied males" until 1964, when it became optional. And the small town of Blacksburg has also fueled a loyal alumni base known as "Hokie Nation."
The shooting Monday was the second in the past year that led to a lockdown on campus. In August, a jail inmate who had escaped shot and killed a deputy sheriff and another security guard near the campus; police eventually caught the gunman, William Morva, in the woods near the university.
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