After a unanimous vote, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors this afternoon named the university’s next president.
55-year-old Timothy Sands, the provost of Purdue University will be the 16th president of Virginia Tech.
Sands holds an endowed chair in engineering at Purdue—and specializes in the growing field of nanotechnology, with applications for many high-tech uses. He’s published more than 250 refereed papers, and has been granted 16 patents in electronic materials. Last year he served as Purdue’s acting president.
Sands says among what’s most impressed about Virginia Tech is the university’s momentum.
"This is a place that clearly is not happy with the status quo, that always wants to do better and improve. And that's the kind of institution I want to be associated with. I'm looking forward to helping drive that momentum further because I'm more of a builder than a maintainer. I would rather be moving, and I have that sense that you already have the momentum. Let's keep that momentum and let's keep it moving," he said.
Sands begins work on June 1st, when President Charles Steger steps down. Steger announced his retirement last spring—he’s been president of Virginia Tech since 2000.
Some 238 candidates were considered in the 6-month search to head the one-point-two billion dollar academic enterprise. Virginia Tech now offers 215 degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $450 million.
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