From the Desk of Dean Sarker

The month of May went by in a flash with end-of-the-semester activities, and most importantly, Commencement. It was great seeing many of you at the Pamplin awards ceremony as well as at the Commencement ceremonies. For our College and University, Commencement is one of the most significant events celebrating the hard work of our students, faculty, and staff as they embark on their next chapters, projects, or initiatives. A huge thanks to all those who worked tirelessly both in Blacksburg and in the D.C. Metro Area to make Pamplin’s Commencement ceremonies   memorable, especially a big shout-out to Lisha Henshaw, Michelle Seref, and Barbara Hoopes.

As soon as the frenzy of the academic year subsided, I traveled to meet with Hokies and partners on the West Coast and China.  We have a 3+1 program with Xidian University in the beautiful and ancient city of Xi’an, China where students complete three years of their undergraduate program in Xidian, focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation, and their final year in Blacksburg. The first group of approximately 99 students will arrive on campus in 2025. 

Below are some highlights from this visit:

Entrepreneurship and Innovation: China’s business ecosystem emphasizes these areas. Not only is there demand for more structured education surrounding these topics, but we also visited multiple companies founded by Xidian alums who are successful entrepreneurs   of AI and sustainability start-ups.  These interactions affirmed many of the ideas surrounding next-gen Pamplin, where entrepreneurial mindset, digitalization, algorithmic thinking, and sustainability, will be central to its educational focus.

Collaboration and Exchange: There is a lot of interest in deeper collaboration between Chinese- and U.S.-based universities, including faculty and student exchanges. We received an invitation to visit with one of the leaders at the Ministry (equivalent to our Department of Labor) in Beijing who approved some grants to our joint program signaling future collaboration opportunities.

Ut Prosim: In the spirit of Ut Prosim, we got to spend half a day at a primary school in rural area near Xi’an teaching the students songs in English (led by Michelle Seref), craft work and spending time with them in their classrooms.

Hoke Spirit in China:. As part of the last leg of our journey, we hosted an alumni event in Shanghai. We were overwhelmed with the response with over 70 VT alums in attendance (about one-fifth from Pamplin). The venue was transformed into a mini-VT campus with pictures of Buruss hall and the Drillfield, and we heard from eight alums who shared their professional journey since leaving VT and the impact of their VT education on their growth and development. What a way to end the trip!

I want to thank my colleagues, Michelle Seref, Devi Gynawali, and Jennifer Clevenger for being amazing travel buddies and not shying away from any challenge including hiking the Great Wall with enthusiasm. Thanks also to our seven VT faculty members who are currently at Xidian teaching different courses to the students who will be here in the coming years. Also, gratitude to our partners at Xidian University, for their amazing hospitality and attention to every minute detail, and a special shout-out to Jennifer for making top notch arrangements for our visit.

I hope your summer is off to a great start and I look forward to seeing you all in person soon.