Charles W. Steger

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Charles W. Steger is the 15th and current president of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Dr. Charles W. Steger Biography Virginia Tech's 15th President

On January 7, 2000, Dr. Charles W. Steger became Virginia Tech's 15th President. Dr. Steger possesses both breadth and depth of experience in all three missions of the university: teaching, research, and extension and outreach. In addition, he has extensive international experience combined with a long history of engagement with both state and federal government.

Dr. Steger's record of unique accomplishment reveals a visionary thinker with concrete achievements. He is directly responsible for the creation of the Center for European Studies and Architecture in Switzerland and the Washington-Alexandria Center for Architecture just outside the nation's capital, thus establishing a national and international presence for the College of Architecture and Urban Studies (CAUS) and enhancing the university's presence as well. Moreover, he heightened the visibility of Virginia Tech in the state capital by establishing Virginia Tech's Public Service Office in downtown Richmond. Under Steger's leadership, Virginia Tech has charted a course to expand the university's research enterprise and to be considered among the nation's best universities. He gained state support to establish the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, whose first phase investment exceeds $39 million. Bringing together exciting new disciplines of biotechnology and information technology, the institute holds great promise to end disease, expand the world's food supply, and improve environmental protection. He has established the Institute for Information Technology, which will draw together the university's outreach and research activities in the rapidly changing world of information technology.

Dr. Steger's ties to Virginia Tech span four decades. He has been student, teaching faculty, academic department head, college dean, vice president, and now president. While a faculty member, he won two teaching excellence awards. He authored a portion of a textbook that has been adopted by 230 universities and is now in its 7th edition. When he became dean of CAUS in 1981, he was the youngest dean of any college of architecture in America. During his 12-year tenure as dean, degree programs in Public Administration and Urban Affairs were consolidated from across the university into the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, and several new degrees were established: an undergraduate degree in industrial design and graduate research degrees at the Master's and Ph.D. levels. Dr. Steger was an invited speaker on design education at major conferences in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

For his contributions to the profession in the field of architectural education and research, he was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1990, and received the Distinguished Achievement Award of the Virginia Society of AIA in 1996.

Dr. Steger has served on several national research policy committees for the AIA and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), as well as on an advisory panel for the Carnegie Commission on Science. He served as a reviewer for organizations which range from the National Science Foundation to the Middle Eastern Jordanian Journal of Town Planning. Under his leadership as dean, the college's research program grew three-fold to become one of the largest research programs of any school of architecture in the country.

In support of the extension and outreach mission of the university, Dr. Steger's principal contributions occurred in the role of Acting Vice President for Public Service, a position he held concurrently during the last three years that he was dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies. This office was responsible for all continuing education activities and facilities, as well as economic development initiatives of the university. During that period, continuing education was restructured and experienced a financial turnaround, generating profits rather than losses. Public policy forums were conducted around the state to establish Virginia Tech's role in facilitating discourse on key public policy issues. A new magazine, Virginia Issues and Answers (VIA), was begun which today enjoys a growing audience of legislators, state and local government officials, and economic developers in addition to academicians.

Dr. Steger has played an active role in shaping the future of the university. He chaired the Committee on Strategic Planning, which developed the institution's process for strategic planning, and was a member of the committee which developed the first core curriculum for Virginia Tech in 1981. In 1989, he chaired the University Committee on the Impact of Digital Technologies on the Teaching-Learning Environment. This report was highly regarded by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and described by the past president of EDUCOM as a seminal work in the field that underpins many instructional technology efforts.

In Dr. Steger's previous position as Vice President for Development and University Relations, he directed the university's successful campaign, which raised $337.4 million, exceeding the $250 million goal by 35 percent. It was the most successful fundraising effort in the university's history. Over 71,000 donors and 500 volunteers participated in this six-year nationwide effort led by Dr. Steger.

Dr. Steger has been appointed by two governors of Virginia to serve on various study commissions and work groups. The most recent was the Governor's Commission on Population Growth and Development, where he served on the executive committee of the Commission. He also was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hollins University. In addition, he currently serves as president of the Endowment Foundation for the Western Virginia Foundation for the Arts and Sciences (known as Center in the Square) in Roanoke. Dr. Steger also is a director on the Boswil Foundation in ZŸrich, Switzerland. He received the Outstanding Fund Raising Executive Award given by the First Virginia Chapter of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives at its 1999 National Philanthropy Day Awards Dinner.

Most recently, he has been asked by the Swiss Ambassador to the United States and The World Bank to serve on a committee to establish a foundation in the United States to conduct research on mitigating global natural disasters.