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Listening Session Summary: Health Sciences and Technology Campus

Presidential Search Listening Session

Students, Faculty and Staff — June 3, 2026
(AI-generated summary from event transcription)

Session-Level Summary

This session, held at the Health Sciences and Technology Campus in Roanoke, centered on one clear message: participants want a president who treats the health sciences, biomedical research, and the Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic partnership as central to the university’s future rather than as a peripheral enterprise. Research faculty, clinicians, and academic leaders described the partnership as a driver of the region’s future in biotechnology and framed the health sciences as an expression of the university’s land-grant and service mission. A second, related message was that the next president must genuinely appreciate the academic enterprise, with one participant cautioning against a leader who keeps a low profile and another insisting that even a non-traditional candidate have real academic experience. Participants also asked that campuses beyond Blacksburg be treated as strategic priorities, and much of the session took the form of questions about how the search will be conducted, which the search committee chair and the search firm representative answered in turn.

Cross-Category Observations

The health sciences are the connective thread of the session, appearing as a presidential quality (a leader who can integrate the enterprise), a strategic priority (where investment should go), and something to preserve (the research strength and service mission already built in Roanoke). It reflects the campus as a whole rather than the view of any single speaker.

Academic grounding surfaced as both a quality sought and a concern. The caution against a low-profile administrator and the insistence on genuine academic experience are two sides of one message about academic credibility, and the committee should read them together.

The land-grant and service mission runs underneath several themes, from the framing of biomedical research as service to Virginians to the call to tie medical school growth to rural healthcare needs.

Theme Detail

Themes are grouped by category. Within each category, themes raised by multiple attendees appear first; themes raised by a single attendee follow.

Presidential Qualities

  • A leader who can champion and integrate the health sciences and the Carilion partnership
    Participants want a president who understands how the university, the medical school and health sciences, and the Carilion Clinic health system fit together, and who will lead that integration deliberately rather than treat the Roanoke enterprise as peripheral. Participants framed this as central to the next president’s legacy, an eye for how the parts combine into a whole greater than their sum, and called for close coordination across the university’s colleges and the health system.
  • Deep appreciation of the academic enterprise and mission
    Participants want a president who genuinely values the academic enterprise, not only its administrative or financial dimensions. One participant cautioned against selecting a “technocrat” or a leader who keeps a low profile to please other constituencies; another argued that even a candidate from a non-academic background must have substantive experience appreciating and working within a university. Commitment to academic freedom across research, teaching, and dialogue was named as the starting point.
  • Emotional intelligence, collaboration, and the drive to innovate
    A participant emphasized the qualities that do not appear on a résumé: emotional intelligence, the ability to succeed within an organization, a collaborative spirit, and a genuine drive to innovate. Asked how such qualities are assessed, the search firm representative described it as more art than science, relying on extensive interactions and references, and noted the importance of the president’s role as an external communicator across many constituencies.

Strategic Priorities

  • Investing in the health sciences, biomedical research, and the Carilion partnership
    The clearest priority of the session. Participants urged continued investment in the health sciences and in expanding the Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic partnership toward a genuine academic health system, and asked that candidates be fully exposed to the growth underway in Roanoke. One participant cited the region’s potential as a destination for biotechnology, and another noted that the progress of the last decade, while real, is not enough. The search committee chair noted the Board’s recent commitment to expanding the university’s research portfolio and its funding.
  • Treating all campuses as strategic priorities, not secondary extensions
    Participants asked that campuses beyond Blacksburg, including the Roanoke Health Sciences and Technology Campus, be treated as strategic priorities rather than secondary extensions of the university, given the institution’s rapid growth across the Commonwealth. The search committee chair acknowledged that integrating the university’s campuses is a priority and that the next president will need to engage all of these communities from the start.
  • Sustaining the student experience as the university grows
    A participant urged that, as the university grows, the next president keep focus on the student experience and ensure that student services keep pace with the rapid growth of laboratories and research across the campuses.
  • Expanding co-ops and paid internships
    A participant endorsed expanding co-ops and paid internships as broadly beneficial for students.
  • Tying medical school growth to rural healthcare needs in Southwest Virginia
    A participant urged that the medical school’s growth be tied to the healthcare-access challenges and physician shortages of rural Southwest Virginia, as an expression of the land-grant mission. The search committee chair responded that the university hopes the budget will fund medical school and research institute expansion and wants to grow the class, while acknowledging the difficulty of retaining physicians in the region after residency.
  • Demonstrating the value and affordability of a Virginia Tech education
    A participant asked how the next president will demonstrate the continued value and affordability of a Virginia Tech education amid rising scrutiny of higher education’s cost and career outcomes. The search committee chair pointed to the Virginia Tech Advantage program, awareness of the coming enrollment decline, and efforts to shorten time-to-degree and offer combined degrees.
  • Continuity of existing initiatives versus a new vision
    A participant noted the momentum behind the university’s existing initiatives and long-term planning, and asked whether the next president should continue that trajectory or bring a new direction.

Challenges

  • The external environment for higher education and research
    A participant raised the current political pressure on higher education and science as something the next president will need to navigate while sustaining and defending the university’s research mission. The search committee chair responded that the Board’s central responsibility is fiduciary and framed certain compliance decisions as protecting the university’s funding, and the search firm representative noted that candidates have been operating in this environment and that conversations with them would focus on how they have advanced research.

What to Preserve

  • The health sciences and biomedical research as core to the service mission
    The research strength built in Roanoke, including the campus’s large and growing share of the university’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, was framed as something to recognize and protect, and as work done in direct service to the university’s mission of improving lives in Virginia and beyond.
  • Academic freedom and intellectual independence
    The university’s character as a place of unfettered inquiry, the freedom to think, explore, and discover, was named as a core value the next president should protect.

Process

  • How the strongest candidates will be sourced and recruited
    A participant asked how the search will find and attract the right person, observing that the strongest candidates are usually already in leadership positions and are not the people browsing the search website and applying. The search firm representative explained that most top candidates come through proactive outreach and original research rather than applications, including sourcing calls with leaders the firm has previously placed.
  • The search timeline and initial review date
    A participant asked, referring to the prior day’s open Board session, whether an initial application-review date had been determined. The search committee chair explained that the committee deliberately settled on a longer timeline and does not want to rush, that the search could extend into December or beyond if the right person is not found, and that the committee reserves the freedom to move quickly should an exceptional candidate emerge. No fixed initial review date was stated.
  • How faculty will engage with candidates during visits
    A participant asked how candidates would interact with faculty during their visits. The search committee chair described confidentiality agreements intended to protect the candidate pool and a plan to engage representatives from each governance senate at the finalist stage, balancing faculty input against the need for confidentiality.