Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, or Virginia Tech for short, is a university in Blacksburg, Virginia, in western Virginia near the Appalachian Mountains. Virginia Tech is known for its programs in agriculture, engineering, and veterinary medicine.

History

Virginia Tech was originally founded in 1851 as a Methodist academy called the Olin and Preston Institute. After the passage of the Morrill Act, the institutions became the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1872. In 1970, the school became a fully accredited state university.

Academics

Bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs are offered through the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, the College of Architecture & Urban Studies, the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, the Pamplin College of Business, the College of Engineering, the Graduate School, the College of Human Sciences & Education, the College of Natural Resources, the College of Science, and the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine.

Campus

The Virginia Tech campus is located within Blacksburg; the campus is roughly bordered by Prices Fork Road to the northwest, Duck Pond Drive to the west, and Southgate Drive to the south. The university also has several commonwealth branch campus centers: Hampton Roads (Virginia Beach), Northern Virginia (Falls Church), Richmond, Roanoke, and the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon.

Athletics

The school's sports teams are called the Hokies; the school's mascot is the turkey-like Hokie Bird. They participate in the NCAA's Division I-A and in the Big East Conference, but will leave the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2004.

Affiliated Institutions

The veterinary school, founded in 1978, is a separate institution on the same campus, paid for by the two states of Virginia and Maryland. It also has a equine center in Leesburg, Virgina, and a small campus at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland.