President Tim Sands to step down in the coming months | Virginia Tech News

After 12 years of service to the college neighborhood and the Commonwealth of Virginia, and a profession devoted to the development of science and the influence of public larger training, Virginia Tech President Tim Sands intends to step down in the coming months. Sands made the announcement Thursday in a letter addressed “to Hokies everywhere.”

“There is no better role in higher education than to serve as the president of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,” Sands mentioned. “Stewarding Virginia Tech as president has been the most fulfilling experience of my career.”

Sands mentioned it was the proper time to start the means of stepping apart and supply the subsequent president the alternative to “take the baton at full stride” and proceed Virginia Tech’s vital progress and momentum, telling the neighborhood that “together we have transformed Virginia Tech for the better.”

During his tenure, the college skilled a 30 % enhance in undergraduate enrollment, 200 % enhance in functions, 70 % enhance in extramural analysis expenditures, and 185 % enhance in the college’s endowment.

In sharing his plans with the rector of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, John Rocovich, Sands mentioned he was dedicated to serving till his successor was in place to guarantee a easy transition.

“I am deeply grateful to President Sands for his leadership and tireless dedication to our university and his vision for what we can accomplish in service to our students and the commonwealth,” Rocovich mentioned. “His drive to expand Virginia Tech’s impact through collaborative engagement with our communities and partners, and his steadfast commitment to public higher education have positioned us well for the future ahead. President Sands’ leadership in establishing the Virginia Tech Carilion Academic Health Center and the Innovation Campus will yield huge dividends to Virginia Tech for 100 years.”

Sands turned president of Virginia Tech on June 1, 2014, after serving as provost and appearing president of Purdue University. In his set up deal with on Oct. 17, 2014, he known as on the college neighborhood to advance its influence on the commonwealth by creating the “binary star” created by the college’s foremost campus in Blacksburg and educational applications, alternatives, and partnerships in the larger Washington, DC, space. Four years later, Virginia Tech introduced plans to construct an “innovation campus” in Alexandria as a signature a part of the larger training bundle that introduced Amazon’s HQ2 to Northern Virginia and continues to develop know-how expertise for the area.

The Alexandria constructing, now often known as Academic Building One and residential to the new Institute for Advanced Computing, is a part of Virginia Tech’s vital progress throughout the commonwealth beneath Sands’ management. Fifteen main new development tasks have been launched since 2014 totaling 1.9 million sq. ft.

The North Academic District of the Blacksburg campus is the website of the largest transformation impacting college students at practically 500,000 sq. ft. It contains the Data and Decision Sciences Building, Hitt Hall and the Perry Place eating facility, the Undergraduate Science Laboratory, the New Classroom Building, and the New Business Building.

The Upper Quad additionally skilled vital enlargement and enchancment with the development of Pearson Hall East and West, Upper Quad Hall North, and the Corps Leadership and Military Science Building.

Virginia Tech’s ongoing partnership with Carilion Clinic has been transformative in the Roanoke area with the growth of the Health Sciences and Technology campus. The transition of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine from an unbiased establishment to the college’s latest school is advancing a sturdy and rising educational well being care presence. The enlargement of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, with greater than 40 faculty-led analysis groups in 260,000 sq. ft of laboratory and instructing area, doubled the college’s financial influence in Roanoke from $214 million in 2017 to $475 million in 2025.

Other new buildings which are full or at present beneath development embody Mitchell Hall, the Creativity and Innovation District residence corridor, the Beamer-Lawson Indoor Practice Facility, and the Dairy Science Complex at Kentland Farm.

Additional highlights of Sands’ management embody:

• Establishing the Beyond Boundaries visioning initiative to interact and encourage the college neighborhood to think about Virginia Tech’s position as a public land-grant college in 2047 and past and lay the groundwork for a brand new strategic plan
• Launching Virginia Tech’s sesquicentennial celebration to honor and replicate on the college’s historical past and encourage conversations about the future
• Successfully navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by partaking well being care, authorities, and neighborhood companions all through the area and leveraging the experience of Virginia Tech scientists, researchers, and labs to assist well being care wants throughout the commonwealth and advance world understanding of how the virus is unfold
• Achieving the preliminary $1.5 billion objective for Boundless Impact: The Campaign for Virginia Tech, partaking greater than 117,000 alumni, and subsequently surpassing the $1.872 billion expanded objective two years forward of schedule
• Increasing the college’s endowment from $800 million to greater than $2 billion, offering crucial sources to make investments in Virginia Tech’s influence and excellence
• Launching the Partnership for Progress initiative to collaboratively determine and deal with shared challenges and alternatives for Virginia Tech and the surrounding area and to create a visionary, actionable street map to improve high quality of life
• Establishing Virginia Tech Advantage to take away obstacles for in-state college students with monetary want, supporting emergency sources in addition to analysis, study-abroad and internship alternatives
• Advancing Virginia Tech Global Distinction as the college’s dedication to institutional excellence throughout analysis, instructing, and engagement, making the college a vacation spot for the finest college, college students, and companions who will pursue options to the world’s most advanced issues
• Championing the initiative to advance Virginia Tech Athletics’ success and influence to elevate the college’s nationwide visibility, protect its position as a regional financial engine, and reinforce its worth as a singular scholar management expertise

Of all the college’s accomplishments over the previous 12 years, Sands is most pleased with the greater than 100,000 Hokies who earned their levels, saying the legacy of Virginia Tech’s motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), lives on in them and the influence they are going to have on generations to come.

Sands and his spouse, Laura P. Sands, plan to stay in the space. “Laura and I will always be Hokies,” he mentioned. “We plan to stay rooted in Blacksburg as this is most definitely home.”