Updates

Assistant Professor of Practice Kevin Young spent summer 2020 applying his 11 years of professional engineering experience and nine years as an instructor to rework the lab component of his Civil and Environmental Engineering 2814 course. The result? A comprehensive revision and the development of a lab safety policy that Virginia Tech’s Environmental Health and Safety team approved immediately, complimenting its detail and thoroughness.

There are many reasons to be optimistic that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, and that we will be able to resume a more normal way of life in the summer. Yet, globally, nationally, and certainly in Virginia, more transmissible variants and pandemic fatigue could jeopardize or delay a return to normal.

Approaching the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, several members of the Virginia Tech community reflected on the past 12 months, what they learned, what changed, and for whom they're grateful.

Virginia Tech President Tim Sands acknowledged the mixed emotions he has heard from graduating seniors as the spring semester has been upended — but knowing that graduates and families needed time to plan for commencement activities, and knowing the fluidity of the ongoing pandemic and the responsive measures that the nation is taking, Sands and other university leaders set in motion a plan for a truly memorable celebration in September.