Virginia Polytechnical Institute

Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University

Former names	Virginia Polytechnic Institute (1944-1970) Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute (1896-1944) Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)
Motto	Ut Prosim (Latin)
Motto in English	That I May Serve
Type	Public Land-grant Space-grant Sea-grant Senior military college
Established	1872
Academic affiliations	APLU ORAU URA
Endowment	$925.0 million (2017)
Budget	$1.35 billion
President	Timothy D. Sands
Provost	Thanassis Rikakis
Academic staff	1,395
Students	31,090
Undergraduates	25,318
Postgraduates	5,280
Location	Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S. 37°13.5′N 80°25.5′W / 37.2250°N 80.4250°W / 37.2250; -80.4250Coordinates: 37°13.5′N 80°25.5′W / 37.2250°N 80.4250°W / 37.2250; -80.4250
Campus	College Town 2,600 acres (11 km2; 4.1 sq mi)
Colors	Chicago maroon, burnt orange
Nickname	Hokies
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division I – ACC
Mascot	HokieBird
Website	www.vt.edu

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech, is a public, land-grant, research university with a main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, educational facilities in six regions statewide, and a study-abroad site in Switzerland. Through its Corps of Cadets ROTC program, Virginia Tech is also designated as one of six senior military colleges in the country.

As Virginia's third-largest university, Virginia Tech offers 225 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to some 30,600 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million, the largest of any university in Virginia. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

In 1872, with federal funds provided by the Morrill Act of 1862, the Virginia General Assembly purchased the facilities of Preston and Olin Institute, a small Methodist school in Southwest Virginia's rural Montgomery County. That same year, 250 acres (100 ha) of the Solitude Farm including the house and several farm buildings on the estate were acquired for $21,250 The commonwealth incorporated a new institution on the site, a state-supported land-grant military institute named Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. Five of the first six presidents of Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College served in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War as did many of its early professors like the first Commandant, James H. Lane, a former Confederate General who taught civil engineering and commerce at the college and is the namesake of the University's oldest building, Lane Hall.