About Outreach and International Affairs

A message from the vice president

The Outreach and International Affairs mission statement inspires us every day as we engage in our work, “to share the best of Virginia Tech by working alongside communities across the world.”

We work alongside individuals and communities committed to improving their quality of life. Our employees engage deeply, listen intently, and adapt deftly based on conditions on the ground in counties around the commonwealth and in countries around the world. I am often reminded, especially when I return home to Blacksburg after a stint overseas, that one issue is paramount to all of our work: human capacity development.

We assist educators in Kurdistan in building capacity to grow their institutions of higher learning. We train farmers in East Africa and South and South-East Asia to minimize crop loss as a result of pest infestation. We guide government agencies to set responsive policies. We educate midcareer professionals to be adaptive to ever-evolving working conditions by offering innovative training programs that both sharpen skills and add new skills to their arsenal. And we work with Virginia’s middle and high school students to ensure that every one of them, with drive and aptitude, can set forth a pathway toward a college education, irrespective of financial means.  

My colleagues in Outreach and International Affairs work in concert with other Virginia Tech faculty possessing the expertise and commitment to engage with local and global communities. The institutes, centers, and offices of OIA are bound together with a unified sense of promoting economic development, engaging in institution and human capacity development, and building the perfect global land-grant institution.   

Guru Ghosh
Vice President for Outreach and International Affairs
 

Our Values

I        Integrity
M      Empathy
P       Progress
A       Advocacy
C       Competence
T        Trust