Virginia Tech History Resources: Graduate School
About the Graduate School
About the Graduate School
The university introduced graduate work in 1891, and the first Dean of the Graduate Department was installed in 1907. In 1920, the dean of the graduate department was eliminated, and the role merged into the Dean of the College. In 1923, a Committee on Graduate Programs and Degrees was formed with a chair (renamed director in 1936). The office of the Vice-President assumed the duties of the Director of Graduate Studies in 1949; then in 1963, the title was changed to Vice-President and Dean of Graduate School. The Dean of the Graduate School became a full-time position in 1965. From 1983 to 2001, the Research Division and Graduate School were combined into the Office of Research and Graduate Studies. The head of the Graduate School was known as the Vice Provost and Dean for Graduate Studies from 2002 until 2008, when it became the Vice President and Dean of Graduate Education.
About the Dean of the College
In 1919, the president reorganized the college. Part of the reorganization was the elimination of the deanships of the general faculty, the graduate department, the academic department, and the applied science department. To replace the deanships, the position of Dean of the College was established. The position was abolished in 1949.
About the Office of the Vice-President
In the fall of 1945, the State Legislature authorized the Board of Visitors to create the Office of Vice-President. The office was combined with the the Director of Graduate Studies from 1949 through 1965. A reorganization in 1966 eliminated the office of Vice-President and created two offices from the one, Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Vice-President for Administration.
About the Office of Research and Innovation
The Virginia General Assembly established a University-wide Research Division in 1966. The Division combined the activities of the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Engineering Experiment Station. From 1983 to 2001, the Research Division and Graduate School were combined into the Office of Research and Graduate Studies. The Division was renamed the Office of Research and Innovation in 2016.
Online Resources
- "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.
- Virginia Tech Governance Minutes Archives (Archived)This exhibit is a list of minutes of university administrative groups, some of which were digitized and maintained by Special Collections and University Archives and some were maintained by the group itself. (Some of the links may be broken as this is archived on Archive-It.org and dates to 2013.)
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations (ETDs) Research GuideThe ETD Guide includes information on how to find both online and print copies of theses and dissertations from Virginia Tech.
Collections
Record groups may include posters, flyers, photos, organizational records, and more. Materials are divided into assigned Record Groups based on the office, division, or unit and designated by the prefix, RG. For example, materials relating to the Graduate School are identified as RG 22/x, the Office of the Vice-President as RG 3/x, the Dean of the College as RG 11/x, and the Office of Research and Innovation as RG 25/x.
- 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.
- Records of the Dean of the College, Theodorick Pryor Campbell, RG 11/1This collection contains records of Theodorick Pryor Campbell, the dean of the college at Virginia Tech from 1920-1924. This collection consists primarily of correspondence with faculty, educational organizations, parents, presidents Julian A. Burruss and J. D. Eggleston, students, and government entities. Subjects include advertising, budget, disciplinary matters, hazing, and land purchases. Some correspondence dates to 1917-1919 when Campbell was Dean of the Faculty.
- Records of the Dean of the College, John E. Williams, RG 11/2This collection contains several series of documents related to Professor John E. Williams's (1867-1943) service as Dean of the College for Virginia Tech between 1924 and 1943. They include correspondence with businesses, governmental organizations, parents, alumni, and other administration members of Virginia Tech. Also included are lists of statistics on enrollment, student organization and university finances, scholarships, as well as reports on the honor and "rat" system. Williams was appointed as professor of mathematics at Virginia Tech in 1903 and served as Dean of the College between 1924 and 1943, when he died.
- Records of the Dean of the College, C. P. Miles, RG 11/3This collection comprises correspondence, memoranda, reports, and other documents related to the duties of the office of the VPI Dean of the College during C. P. Miles' tenure from 1942 to 1950. The collection contains general administrative records relating to scholarships, complaints, student activities, class and semester formats, and Corps of Cadets records. It also contains student personal records, including disciplinary cases, financial aid data, and college resignations, which are restricted for 75 years. C. P. "Sally" Miles (1879-1966) graduated from Virginia Tech in 1901 and went on to serve as a professor, athletic director, and dean of the college.
- Records of the Office of the Vice-President, Charles Clement French, RG 3/2Charles Clement French served as Vice-President of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute from January 1949 through August 1950. The collection contains primarily correspondence but also travel vouchers, budget materials, and materials related to the American Chemical Society of Virginia, American Council on Education, Board of Control of Southern Regional Education; Educational Policy and Program Committee; General Education Board; and student alcohol consumption.
- Records of the Office of the Vice-President, Louis A. Pardue, RG 3/3This collection consists primarily of correspondence relating to Dr. Louis A. Pardue's duties both as Vice-President and Director of Graduate Studies. Materials consist of general correspondence, general reports, financial reports, enrollment statistics, commencement and inaugural reports, minutes, and departmental information collected by Pardue from 1950 through 1963. There are extensive correspondence and other material of the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Science (ORINS), of which VPI was a member and Pardue served on the Council and Board of Directors.
- Records of the Office of Vice-President and the Office of Executive Vice-President, Warren W. Brandt, RG 3/4This collection consists primarily of the correspondence of Warren Brandt in his capacity as Vice-President of Academic Affairs (1966-1968). However, it also includes many of his files from his period as Executive Vice-President (1968) as well as material from his term as Vice-President and Dean of the Graduate School (1963-1965). There is material and correspondence concerning budget matters, Center for Research in College Instruction of Science and Math, Corps of Cadets, the Dean of Students, EDUCOM, Engineering Experiment Station, ROTC, Student Government Association, Student Activities Committee, Summer School, and Visiting Scholars Program.
- O'Shaughnessy Family Papers, Ms1987-052Papers--including correspondence, schoolwork, diplomas, diaries, photographs, and printed materials--of Louis O'Shaughnessy, professor of mathematics and director of Graduate Studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI); his wife Ida Surface O'Shaughnessy; their daughter, VPI mathematics instructor Betty O'Shaughnessy Bock; and the Surface family (parents and siblings of Ida Surface O'Shaughnessy).
- Louis O'Shaughnessy Letters, Ms1993-010This collection contains letters from Louis O'Shaughnessy, who later became a professor at Virginia Tech, to his future wife, Ida L. Surface, and one letter from O'Shaughnessy to G. L. Surface. The letters to Ida Surface primarily chronicle their courtship and engagement from 1903 to 1905. The letter to G. L. Surface is an acceptance of an invitation from G. T. Surface in June 1903.
- Records of Karen DePauw, Vice President and Dean of Graduate Education, RG 22/1/1The Records of Karen DePauw, Vice President and Dean of Graduate Education include artifacts given to DePauw on international trips while at Virginia Tech. Items are from Asia, the Middle East, Europe, South America, and Africa.
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Virginia Tech's Land Acknowledgement & Labor Recognition
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 the Morrill Land-Grant College Act (1862) enabled the commonwealth of Virginia to finance and found Virginia Tech through the forced removal of Native Nations from their lands 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.
Virginia Tech acknowledges that its Blacksburg campus sits partly on land that was previously the site of the Smithfield and Solitude Plantations, owned by members of the Preston family. Between the 1770s and the 1860s, the Prestons and other local White families that owned parcels of what became Virginia Tech also owned hundreds of enslaved people. We acknowledge that enslaved Black people generated wealth that financed the predecessor institution to Virginia Tech, the Preston and Olin Institute, and they also worked on construction of its building. Not until 1953, however, was the first Black student permitted to enroll. 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.
Full and short version of the acknowledgement can be found on InclusiveVT's website.