Virginia Tech History Resources: Academics
Researching Academics
This section is divided based on the current divisions of the nine academic colleges of Virginia Tech, as of 2020. Academic units include programs, departments, and schools within each college as well as administrators, faculty members, and others associated with each college. Each college's page includes information on the history and units the college may have subsumed. There is also a page for the provost, who oversees the academic deans and colleges.
General Histories and Exhibits
General Histories and Exhibits
The following pages document the history of the colleges of the university, including their associated departments and schools.
- "Instruction, Degrees, and Commencements" on the Virginia Tech History websiteThis website contains a thorough history of several facets of the university's history, including information on the colleges and schools, deans, degrees awarded, commencement speakers, and more.
- College and Departmental Histories at Virginia Tech (Archived)This exhibit contains links to videos and webpages about different departments' histories from the colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Enginnering, Liberal Arts & Human Sciences, Natural Resources and Environment, and Science. (Some links may be broken as this is archived on Archive-It.org and dates to 2011.)
- 125th Anniversary of Virginia Tech (Archived)
This exhibit was created as part of the university's 125th anniversary in 1997. There are articles, a timeline, and photographs documenting the university's early history, students and alumni, administration, Corps of Cadets, and campus, including maps, buildings, and aerial views. SCUA is currently converting legacy exhibits like this to an updated exhibit. (Some links may be broken as this website is archived on Archive-It.org and primarily dates to 1997, but includes events thru 2014.)
General Collections
Record Groups and Collections
Record groups may include posters, flyers, photos, organizational records, and more. Materials are divided into assigned Record Groups based on the organization or group and designated by the prefix, RG. The following resources include all colleges of the university, including ones that no longer exist.
- Record Groups in the University ArchivesThis list includes the major overview of the University Archives' Record Groups. Record Groups are the official records of the university held by Special Collections and University Archives. This includes official records, newspaper clippings, and printed material. There are two versions, a spreadsheet for sorting and filtering and a document that includes a page per RG number.
- Record Group Vertical FilesThe Record Group Vertical Files contain newspaper clippings, pamphlets, brochures, posters, flyers, and more related to departments, schools, colleges, and administrative offices in the university, including press releases, courses, buildings, public events, and more.
- Directory of Administrators and New Faculty, Ms2005-004The collection was originally housed in and apparently used by the Office of the President, while James D. McComas was president of Virginia Tech from 1988-1993. Collection consists of one-page vitas and photographs of administrators and new faculty in 1988 at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, representing the Pamplin College of Business, the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Architecture and Urban Studies, Arts and Sciences, Education, Engineering, and Human Resources. It also includes the Cooperative Extension and Continuing Education and numerous Vice President offices.
- Warren Strother Collection, Ms2004-005Collection contains official correspondence between Dr. T. Marshall Hahn and various Virginia Polytechnic Institute departments, 319 oral history interviews on cassette tapes, and 48 transcribed interviews. These materials focus on Dr. Hahn’s administration of VPI and were used to create a book entitled From VPI to State University: President T. Marshall Hahn, Jr. and the Transformation of Virginia Tech, 1962-1974 written by Warren Strother and Peter Wallenstein. Interviewees include Virginia Tech faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, and university supporters.
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Land & Labor Acknowledgement
We thank the American Indian & Indigenous Community Center for providing this statement:
Virginia Tech acknowledges that we live and work on the Tutelo / Monacan People’s homeland and we recognize their continued relationships with their lands and waterways. We further acknowledge that legislation and practices like the Morrill Act (1862) enabled the commonwealth of Virginia to finance and found Virginia Tech through the forced removal of Native Nations from their lands, both locally and in western territories.
We understand that honoring Native Peoples without explicit material commitments falls short of our institutional responsibilities. Through sustained, transparent, and meaningful engagement with the Tutelo / Monacan Peoples, and other Native Nations, we commit to changing the trajectory of Virginia Tech's history by increasing Indigenous student, staff, and faculty recruitment and retention, diversifying course offerings, and meeting the growing needs of all Virginia tribes and supporting their sovereignty.
We must also recognize that enslaved Black people generated revenue and resources used to establish Virginia Tech and were prohibited from attending until 1953. Through InclusiveVT, the institutional and individual commitment to Ut Prosim (that I may serve) in the spirit of community, diversity, and excellence, we commit to advancing a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community.