As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of our founding, Virginia Tech is proud to be part of the commonwealth’s commitment to education, innovation, economic opportunity, and service to humanity. Our sesquicentennial year has been an opportunity to reflect on our heritage as we build a modern land-grant university prepared to serve the people of Virginia for generations to come.

In the Hampton Roads region, our roots run deep. We will soon celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Virginia Seafood Agriculture Research and Extension Center (AREC), established in 1975 to provide education, scientific and technical guidance, support and leadership to the commercial seafood and aquaculture industries. Our footprint in the region has grown to include the ARECs in Tidewater, Virginia Beach and Suffolk, the Newport News Center, and the Virginia Tech Coastal Collaborator. We are also pleased to support regional economic development as part of the Tech Center Research Park at Oyster Point.

We will be touring several of these locations this week as the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, the university’s governing body, holds its quarterly meeting in Newport News. We’re pleased to be meeting in a place that is so important to our university and the commonwealth’s future.

Under the board’s leadership, Virginia Tech is committed to providing an affordable, accessible education for Virginians. This year, the board recognized the financial challenges faced by Virginians and effectively froze tuition for in-state undergraduate students by instructing the university to offer a one-time scholarship, noting that the recent increase in inflation across the nation has not yet been met with a comparable increase in income for students and their families. The university is also supporting lower- and middle-income families by allocating an additional $5 million toward undergraduate financial aid programs, raising the total to more than $39 million in 2022-23. And we continue to support university initiatives such as the Funds for the Future program, which provides 100% protection from tuition and fee increases for returning students with a family income of up to $100,000, resulting in a predictable and unchanging net tuition and fee package. In fact, over the past four years the consumer price index has increased 20% while in-state tuition rates at Virginia Tech have increased only 6%.

Even as we hold the line on affordability, the return on investment for a Virginia Tech degree has never been higher. This year, the university was in the top 25 of Money Magazine’s “Best College for Your Money” rankings. The ranking is directly tied to the outcomes for Virginia Tech graduates who land great jobs; our university’s efforts to increase affordability, especially for underrepresented and underserved students; and the overall quality of the educational experience here.

While much has changed over the past 150 years, Virginia Tech has remained true to its three-part mission of teaching and learning, research and discovery, and outreach and engagement. And our motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) continues to inspire our students. Our graduates go on to serve their communities as active and engaged citizens. Some 90% of our eligible students are registered to vote, and 73% voted in the 2020 election, among the highest in the commonwealth. The increase came after we launched a Civic Engagement program and the Hokie Vote Caucus in 2018. In spring, we began the Deliberative Dialogues Forum, and this fall we will begin a Citizen Democracy Leadership program.

Investments by the commonwealth, our alumni and strategic partners are elevating our engagement in fields such as national security, quantum information sciences, artificial intelligence and whole health — our four “Research Frontiers.” With our National Security Institute, the Innovation Campus, our Health Science & Technology Campus, and our partnership in pediatric oncology with Children’s National Hospital, we are building the foundation for even greater impact, including extraordinary opportunities to contribute to Virginia’s economic development.

Virginia Tech’s remarkable growth and success over the past 150 years is the collaborative result of generous alumni and friends, supportive community, government, and corporate partners, and outstanding faculty, staff and students who commit themselves to excellence year after year.

I want to thank the people of Hampton Roads for being such an important part of Virginia Tech’s past and present. We look forward to the continued growth of our partnership for a bright and prosperous future.

Tim Sands is the 16th president of Virginia Tech. He is guiding the university toward its future as a leading global land-grant institution aligned with the needs and opportunities of the commonwealth and a rapidly changing world.