Virginia Tech president Charles Steger announced this morning that he will step down. The Board of Visitors has initiated a search for a new school president, and Steger will remain until his replacement is found.
Steger has been school president since January 7, 2000. He is a 1969 graduate of Virginia Tech. He served as Tech’s president when the school made the transition from the Big East to the ACC back in 2003. He was also Chairman of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee in 2012, which created the new College Football Playoff that will be introduced in 2014.
Virginia Tech has grown by leaps and bounds under Steger. From the Roanoke Times…
Since becoming president in 2000, the university has increased its research portfolio by more than 300 percent, grown enrollment from 27,869 to 31,087, increased graduate enrollment increased by 12 percent, raised more than $1 billion in private funding, added more than 2.5 million square feet of buildings, formed a school of biomedical engineering, created a school of medicine, and joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in athletics.
For more on Steger and his accomplishments, see this Roanoke Times article.
TechSideline will have a TSL Pass article later in the week discussing how Steger’s retirement could affect Virginia Tech athletics.
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I only hope the BOV goes outside to someone well versed in handling a land-grant university. So often than not after a national search, lo and behold, the best candidate is already here. That is a bunch of BS and smacks of “academic incest”. At this point, Tech needs new outside blood, and not someone with “friends” in every corner of the campus.
Maybe go even as far as getting a non-academic person as President, like The University of Oklahoma. After all, isn’t the Provost the Chief Academic Officer?
Except looking internally for VT actually HAS worked very well for the last 2 presidents.
I’ll join you in advocating a broad search, but at least leave the door open to the possibility that the right guy or gal is already there on campus.
Thank you Dr. Steger. You have been a great leader.
I wish JW would go ahead & retire now & let Steger hire a new AD as his last act.
Congratulations Dr. Steger! Welcome to the world of waiting and forgetfulness. But we love it, Paladin at 3, Wyatt Earp at 3:30, Jeopardy before bedtime. Maybe some Megan Kelly on Fox news or reruns of NCIS all day on Tuesdays. Yes retirement is not for the faint of heart.
Dude took a lot of hits in his short tenaure as VT pres and kept on trucking. Steady and calm with a whole lot of vision….. Built a lot and his legacy is sure to grow far into the future both on the academic and athletic side…..
Looking forward to the TSL article to follow…..sometimes it is all about the “order of things” to come.
Wow. I really didn’t have an appreciation for just how much VT has grown in the last 13 years until I read that.
But what I will always remember most about Dr. Steger is the calming influence and steady hand that he showed during those awful days in April of 2007. He along with the rest of the VT faculty and studenty body, really rose to the occasion and represented our university in the best light possible under incredibly trying circumstances.
i hate to say it but the school grew much more because of Michael Vick, Frank Beamer, and Bud Foster, then because of Steger
As sports fans, it might seem that way. But I’m not sure that’s true at all.
the money and attention VT received during and after the MV1 era changed the school in incredible ways. nothing against Steger, obviously he didnt run the ship aground, but you cant put a price on the kind of exposure we got from football
Wrong !!
NOT!
If you look at all of the wonderful things that happened during Dr. Steger’s tenure, you know that 3 sports figures had little to do with it. South End Zone, West Side expansions of Lane, sure, I agree. Raising $1 billion, a med. school, a much improved School of Architecture, overseas program, major building expansions, etc. are not things that I think MV, CFB or CBF had a lot to do with.
I was at a seminar a few years ago and the topic was how to handle tragic events on college and university campuses from a media relations standpoint. The speaker for this event used Dr. Steger/ Virginia Tech as a model of how this process should be done. I am always proud to be a Hokie and I was a little more proud that day.
Not a half-bad run over the past 13 years. As a pre-supersenior (that’s year 4 out of 5), I’m interested to see how this will affect my last year of undergrad in addition to my (hopefully) 2 years of graduate school here at VT.
So it’s always about you. Just kidding, really. I’m a weak person and I couldn’t resist.
Saw an opening to be a smart*ss and couldn’t help myself. I deserve all the scorn you can muster.
Steger will be a hard act to follow!