Alma Mater Magazine - Fall 2005
Holtzman Alumni Center Dedication
On October 28, 2005, dedication day, the Holtzman Alumni Center, Skelton Conference Center, and The Inn at Virginia Tech celebrated a much awaited formal dedication. More than 700 people attended the dedication ceremony held in the Latham Ballroom. The following are excerpts from several speakers on the program for the dedication...
Tom Tillar, Vice President for Alumni Relations
"There have been several homes for our Alumni Association on campus through the
past 80 years -- the War Memorial Gym, Burruss Hall, and Donaldson Brown Center.
Now we have a true home of our own - the Holtzman Alumni Center...
Our facilities represent years of dreaming and planning. This combination of an alumni center, conference center, and hotel is grander than any center in the country...
The new Holtzman Alumni Center will serve all of today's alumni and, also, the next 200,000 graduates who join our ranks."
John Dooley, Vice Provost for Outreach and International Affairs
"The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center are already serving as a showcase for the
university's outreach and international missions — a center for the dissemination and sharing of
knowledge involving university faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, and administration...
Outreach and International Affairs is committed to maximizing the benefi ts of this complex. We will help faculty bring their excellence in teaching, research, and discovery to new audiences from around the world through short courses, seminars, conferences, and Continuing and Professional Education programs...
We have a world class facility for a world-class university."
Charles W. Steger, University President
"William Holtzman is a die-hard Hokie. Bill
graduated in 1959 and over the years has built a very
successful career with a multi-faceted company...
He lives by the university's motto of Ut Prosim serving on numerous boards and associations helping to better the community where he lives and works...
We thank you, Bill for your generous and loyal support...
No two people can appreciate this better, nor are more committed to the future of Virginia Tech, than Bill and Peggy Skelton...
Bill's relationship with Virginia Tech began in 1936 when he enrolled in the agricultural engineering program. Upon graduation, he began a long career working in Extension culminating as Dean of the Extension Division...
Peggy came to the university in 1956, and became an Extension specialist in 1960. She advanced within Extension and served as the Director of the Extension Family Resource Program from 1973 until her retirement in 1976...
Thank you, Bill and Peggy, for your unceasing care of our students, faculty and programs."
The Holtzman Alumni Center, Skelton Conference Center,
and The Inn at Virginia Tech exist today due to nearly a
decade of inspired planning and hard work on the part of
dozens of volunteers, staff, and supporters. Until now, the
Virginia Tech Alumni Association has always moved from one
available space to another, most recently in the 1980s from
Burruss Hall to Donaldson Brown. "Ever since I came to
Virginia Tech in 1936," recalls Bill Skelton, "the Alumni
Association was seriously short of space." Tom Tillar saw the
need for larger facilities and more staff to serve alumni and
the two agreed to a strategy. After winning the endorsement of
former university president Paul Torgersen and other
senior administrators, Skelton and Tillar outlined a plan for
the Alumni Association Board of Directors. The plan was
endorsed and a campaign was begun in 2000.
What's behind the Hokie Stone and Mortar?
- Total Building Area: 193,000 sq. ft.
- Construction Period: April 2003 to September 2005
- Restaurant and Lounge: 125-seat
- Donor Terrace and Alumni Lawn
- Total Site Area: 25 acres
- New Parking Spaces: 478
- Hokie Stone: 2,741 tons or 82,236 individually cut stones
- Landscaping: 572 trees, 2,937 shrubs, and 33,260 perennials and ground covers
- Ballroom: seats 700 for banquets (divides into 6 rooms)
The HOLTZMAN ALUMNI CENTER, the east wing, is as imposing inside as outside as befits the campus home-away-from-home for the university's 190,000 living alumni. The elegant Grand Hall is a popular gathering space for alumni, family, and friends; the Alumni Museum traces Virginia Tech's history from the beginning to now; meeting rooms, which include an Internet room where alumni can check e-mails or browse the web; the Alumni Board Room, which can accommodate the Alumni Association Board of Directors and other groups; the Alumni Library, which houses alumni authored publications and Bugle yearbooks; the Assembly Hall, which has state-of-the-art equipment and can seat 140; the Alumni Gallery, which displays local artists' work; and Alumni Association offices combine to make the building a place where alumni can enjoy each other's company, obtain information about the university and alumni programs, or explore the university's past. The Holtzman Alumni Center shares the Assembly Hall with the adjacent Skelton Conference Center and has a direct connection on the second level. Its paved donor terrace adds more outdoor space for alumni events.
The SKELTON CONFERENCE CENTER, the central wing of Virginia Tech's new hospitality and alumni complex, is central to the university's growing commitment to the community, the region, and the state. With its 23,705 square feet of beautifully appointed meeting space equipped with state-of-the-art technology, the Skelton Conference Center is the largest such facility in Virginia west of Roanoke. It has the capacity to host conferences of up to 1,250 people with the 700 banquet seat Latham Ballroom (divisible into six smaller spaces), 10 comfortable conference rooms, and the Alumni Lawn for outdoor functions. The inside function and outside terrace spaces, when used together, will accommodate several thousand people.
The west wing is THE INN AT VIRGINIA TECH, with 147 elegant guest rooms, including six suites, all decorated in imaginative variations of Virginia Tech colors Chicago maroon and burnt orange. The rooms and suites feature works by local artists. The full-service restaurant, Preston's, and the Continental Divide Lounge serving lighter fare as well as Starbuck's Coffee, are located at the corner where the hotel and conference center meet. Room service is available around the clock to hotel guests. Two private dining rooms adjoin Preston's, the Old Guard - the only room name retained from the Donaldson Brown Hotel - and the 1872 Salon. The Inn lobby is elegant, yet comfortable.