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As Virginia’s senior land-grant university, Virginia Tech is committed to engaging its intellectual assets to address the economic and social needs of communities around the commonwealth, the nation, and the world. This commitment is based on the university’s motto Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) and is founded on principles of an engaged university:
Overarching goal of the Engagement Scholarship Domain: Engage in strategic partnerships that enhance the economic and social well-being of individuals, families, businesses, and communities around the commonwealth, the nation, and the world, and enrich and strengthen the university’s discovery and learning missions.
Goal I: Connect the university’s discovery, learning, and engagement assets through partnerships with both the public and private sectors to advance the economic vitality of the commonwealth and the quality of life of its citizens.
Our society is shifting to an innovation-based economy. As such, the sustainable competitive advantage of the U.S. will be in higher-value products and services versus low-wage labor. This trend has led federal, state, and local government officials; representatives from businesses and communities; and individuals to look to institutions like Virginia Tech to enhance their economic competitiveness and long-term success. The outcomes these stakeholders are expecting from knowledge generated through discovery in a robust research program include new jobs, better paying jobs, increases in wealth, and an improved quality of life.
Virginia Tech’s mission states: “The university creates, conveys, and applies knowledge to expand personal growth and opportunity, advance social and community development, foster economic competitiveness, and improve the quality of life” (italics added). Virginia Tech is committed to its leadership role and contribution to the economic vitality of the local region, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the world.
The university is one of the region’s largest employers with thousands of faculty and staff. The purchases by employees and students are a major driver of local commerce. Additionally, Virginia Tech’s many campus-based athletic, cultural, and professional education events annually bring to the region hundreds of thousands of visitors who pump millions of dollars into the local economy.
The direct and residual contribution of the university’s $270 million in sponsored research stimulates significant job growth. For example, each $1 million investment in research generates approximately 31 new jobs. The transfer of faculty-created technology to the marketplace manifests itself in the creation of spin-off companies, licensing to existing companies, additional research and technical assistance projects, and public/private partnerships.
To nurture this increased emphasis on commercialization, the university has invested heavily in additional personnel to assist faculty in these new ventures.
Also, through the Virginia Tech Foundation, the university has provided leadership to the development and growth of the nationally recognized Corporate Research Center (CRC). As a showcase of entrepreneurial enterprises, the CRC currently has more than 120 companies and 1,800 employees and significant expansion is anticipated over the next six years.
In addition, the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine engages in translational research and medical services contributing to the economic vitality of the region.
As Virginia’s senior land-grant university, Virginia Tech is uniquely positioned to be a significant partner in the commonwealth’s economic strategy. The university annually produces thousands of technology-savvy graduates, most of whom enter the workforce, and the state’s largest number of doctoral degree holders. Continuing and professional education programs annually reach more than 50,000 professionals through short courses, conferences, seminars, and workshops. Thousands of other working adults receive graduate credit courses and degree programs at the six Commonwealth Campus Centers and through distance and distributed learning programs. Additionally, faculty members provide technical assistance, consulting, applied research, and service learning activities with students to improve businesses and communities across the state.
Virginia Cooperative Extension continues to be a vital contributor to the competitiveness of the agricultural, health, and life-sciences sectors of Virginia’s economy. Through its extensive network of 107 local Extension offices, six 4-H educational centers, and 13 Agricultural Research and Extension Centers across the state, Virginia Cooperative Extension provides research-based information and technologies that contribute to the well-being of individuals, families, and communities across the commonwealth.
In the economically distressed Southside region of the commonwealth, the university helped create and supports the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) in Danville. IALR currently has over $20 million in four sponsored research foci, each with a commercial dimension, to transform the economy of Southside.
The university is working with state and local leaders to establish regional research and development centers in four other distressed communities in Virginia, each focusing on a major existing business cluster. The university continues to support the Southside Business Technology Center in Martinsville that provides strategic planning and business development services to businesses in Southside, Virginia’s Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and other agencies and organizations that contribute to the state’s overall economic program.
With the National Capital Region becoming increasingly important to the economies of both the state and the nation, the university will leverage and grow its presence there to better access the unique opportunities and assets that exist in the region. Program ventures include expanded research programs targeted at key sectors of the federal agenda; high-end professional education programs for business, the technology sector, and government; and new collaborations with non-government and international organizations.
In today’s world, the full success of the university’s economic vitality commitment is contingent upon connections to an ever-emerging global marketplace. The university’s international strategic plan articulates a bold vision that includes existing or planned programs in Switzerland, Asia (India and China), Dominican Republic, Egypt, Mexico, and Africa.
Additionally, the university will leverage its position as the third largest university recipient of funds from USAID to expand and enhance programs that address the economic health of impoverished regions of the world, as well as connect opportunities in these regions with Virginia interests.
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Goal II. Foster communities that value all cultures, languages, lands, and people by strengthening the international and multicultural expertise of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and constituents.
The university’s commitment to enhanced international and cross-cultural awareness and understanding is based on the recognition that its graduates live and work in a world that is culturally diverse, interdependent, and interconnected economically. The university must educate students to contribute and thrive in this global environment. The success and societal contributions of Virginia Tech graduates depend upon their familiarity with the world beyond the borders of the U.S.
To be competitive domestically, Virginia Tech must be competitive internationally. The university recognizes that international research and scholarship contribute tangibly to the university’s competitiveness and provide opportunities for faculty members to make important contributions to the economic well-being and quality of life of people around the world.
Breakthrough innovation frequently involves international collaborations, making the increasingly global character of university engagement valuable to the university’s mission. Virginia Tech must have effective practices for internationalization and diversity in order to compete with highly regarded peer institutions around the world. Investments comparable to other world-class universities are necessary to attract the best students and facilitate internationally acclaimed research and scholarship.
Virginia Tech will invest in transformative institutional change to strengthen its position as a world-class university of scholarly innovation, instruction, and outreach. The university will advance its international position by enhancing program activities at the Center for European Studies and Architecture and through the development of new international venues. By 2012, the university will have at least five international initiatives that will serve as hubs for program expansion in key regions of the world. The initiatives may involve facilities and services to support regular faculty and student exchanges, research and teaching collaborations, and new engagement ventures that address global issues
Woven into the strategy is a participatory process that involves all stakeholders who are key partners with the university’s work and contributors to the following mission and vision for the university’s international position:
Virginia Tech fosters a community that values all cultures, languages, lands, and people. The university seeks to enrich its international competence and to enhance the quality of life throughout the world with scholarly engagement in education, research, and outreach.
Virginia Tech is committed to applying its core values to its international programs and activities. The following values have special significance for the university’s international mission:
Through its international efforts, the university will develop and nurture the following competencies:
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Education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is at the forefront of our nation's agenda. National and global development and sustainability are contingent upon fostering discovery and development in the STEM disciplines. Learning STEM concepts and skills not only prepares students to enter the workforce and develop productive careers, but it also gives learners skills to make informed decisions. Strong partnerships among schools with grades PK-12 and universities are necessary to ensure that STEM education efforts have the potential to meet these needs and enhance the scientific and technological literacy of our nation’s workforce. Schools require equitable access to research-based STEM content and education resources. Additionally, there is a growing need for STEM teacher preparation, pre-service education, induction, and in-service professional development. As the commonwealth’s senior land-grant university with special expertise in STEM fields, Virginia Tech is uniquely positioned to provide statewide and national leadership in transferring STEM research discoveries to PK-12 classrooms.
In addition, science learners of all ages, from kindergarten through graduate school, need to understand scientific inquiry, or the process of science. Scientists and engineers are trained to problem-solve by critically evaluating data, carefully considering others’ ideas, and making informed choices about what experiments to conduct. Teaching students the skills of scientific inquiry and problem solving helps them to evaluate information in the newspaper and on television, carefully consider physicians’ recommendations about their healthcare, and make informed choices as consumers.
Pre-college science education reform has focused on integrating scientific inquiry into all science learning experiences. Steps are being taken at the undergraduate level to emphasize design, discovery, and real-world problems rather than lecture-based information delivery. Graduate education in the sciences requires students to do science, from designing experiments to analyzing data to communicating findings.
Virginia Tech is committed to fostering exchanges of scientific and pedagogical expertise between PK-12 and university communities. One of several mechanisms for enabling this dialogue is the Graduate School’s Citizen Scholar Experience, through which graduate students in STEM fields share their skills and knowledge with PK-12 communities. The ultimate goal of such discourse is the creation of a STEM teaching and learning continuum from pre-kindergarten through graduate education.
The School of Education is bringing greater focus on STEM education through the recruitment of a senior scholar, who will lead a new interdisciplinary program in STEM teaching and learning research. Faculty and staff across the disciplines are engaged in strategic partnerships with PK-12 STEM education programs through Virginia Tech’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics K-12 Education Outreach Initiative (VT-STEM). VT-STEM serves as a bridge between PK-12 schools and the university by facilitating quality PK-12 STEM educational experiences; collaborating with the PK-12 community to enhance teacher preparation and professional development; and supporting Virginia Tech students and faculty in developing, implementing, and sustaining PK-12 STEM programming. The university will leverage its assets across the commonwealth, represented by 4-H and other education programs, to directly involve youth in STEM education programs.
Anticipated outcomes of these endeavors are PK-12 students who are better prepared for advanced education in STEM disciplines and PK-12 teachers who have easy access to STEM expertise. In addition, these efforts will result in university faculty who are champions for PK-12 education and model good teaching practices for future science and math teachers.
Goal III. Enhance PK-12 education and its continuity with undergraduate and graduate education, especially in the key disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
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Top universities across the nation are committed to empowering students and enhancing the student experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels with service-, civic-, and business-based educational opportunities that extend beyond the classroom. Students who participate in service-learning and student engagement activities contribute to our local, national, and international communities via curricular and co-curricular activities with community partners. Students relate their engagement activities with domestic and international partners to their studies and other university-based experiences, allowing for real-world application of their learning and the development of personal, professional, leadership, and citizenship skills.
Integrating civic engagement with academic learning enriches the outcomes for the student and for society. The pedagogy of service learning and civic engagement links disciplinary study and community service with structured reflection. Civic engagement results in improved academic performance that deepens the learning experiences of the student and enhances the transfer of knowledge. Cooperative education, internships, externship experiences, and jobs in business and industry provide students with opportunities to expand their curricular and co-curricular knowledge and skill base.
Goal IV. Engage students, at the undergraduate and graduate levels, in opportunities for service learning and experientialeducation that prepare them to serve a diverse and complex marketplace and society while building the capacity of communities.
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Scholarship Domains
Foundation Strategies