Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech, is a public, land-grant, research university with a main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, educational facilities in six regions statewide, and a study-abroad site in Switzerland. Through its Corps of Cadets ROTC program, Virginia Tech is also designated as one of six senior military colleges in the country.
As Virginias third-largest university, Virginia Tech offers 225 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to some 30,600 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million, the largest of any university in Virginia. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling
economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia. The Virginia Tech campus is located in Blacksburg, Virginia. The central campus is roughly bordered by Prices Fork Road to the northwest, Plantation Drive to the west, Main Street to the east, and US 460 Bypass to the south, though it has several thousand acres beyond the central campus.
In the center of the Blacksburg campus lies the Drillfield, a large oval field running northeast to southwest, encircled by a one-way street known as Drillfield Drive. The Drillfields name, coined in 1926 after the completion of Virginia Techs first real stadium, stems from its use by the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets to conduct military drills. A waterway, Stroubles Creek, runs beneath the Drillfield on the south side. A three-sided conduit for the creek that retains the natural bed of the creek was installed in 1934, and, in 1971, the first two asphalt walks were added. The urban legend that the Drillfield is sinking at the rate of an inch per year, however, has no basis in fact. In the summer of 2014, three dirt paths were paved as part of the universitys master plan to improve the landscaping and pathways, add seating areas, and enhance path entrances around the Drillfield. Researchers pursue new discoveries in agriculture, biotechnology, information and communication technology, human health, transportation, energy
management (including leadership in fuel-cell technology and power electronics). Virginia Tech offers 116 bachelors degree programs through its seven undergraduate academic colleges, 160 masters and doctoral degree programs through the Graduate School, and a professional degree from the Virginia–Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.
Last Updated on: Nov 25, 2024