精东影业

Q: How is Virginia Tech planning for Global Distinction?

A: The Global Distinction steering committee, through partnership with and support from university leadership, continues to define and frame the tenets of this transformational initiative. The steering committee was charged with identifying measures of success, assessing current university-wide efforts, recommending approaches to accelerate progress, offering guidance on maximizing the visibility of impactful research and scholarship activities, and estimating the need for additional investment. University leaders and the steering committee are now working with key stakeholders to shape the initiative.

Q: How will Global Distinction benefit Virginia Tech?

A: Achieving Global Distinction will allow the university to achieve its mission and expand its impact by attracting, enabling, and championing talent and partners.

Q: How will Global Distinction impact faculty? How can they help shape our pathway to Global Distinction?

A: Achieving Global Distinction will help faculty expand their impact by supporting impactful research and scholarship activities and by attracting, enabling, and championing talent and partners.

Now and into the future, the best way for faculty to contribute to Global Distinction is by continuing to excel in their work across the tripartite missions of education, research, and outreach. University leaders and the steering committee are examining ways to help faculty do just this.

Rachel Miles, president of the Faculty Senate and a member of the Global Distinction steering committee, has been tasked with chairing a subcommittee focused on feedback and implementation. The subcommittee will establish a structured approach for soliciting, reviewing, synthesizing, and implementing feedback from internal stakeholders. Input from the subcommittee will be shared with the steering committee by the chair who serves as a member of the steering committee.

Faculty can share questions or feedback about Global Distinction

Q: How will we measure progress?

A: Global Distinction will result from elevating the quality, quantity, and prominence of our scholarship, research, creativity, and impact. Common measures include scholarly impact (e.g., citation impact, publication of books and monographs; curation of designs, visual art and artistic performances, etc.); extramural grant and contract expenditures; distinctive faculty awards, fellowships, and memberships; research-based doctoral education; and postdoctoral associate training.

Carefully selected rankings, such as the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking and the THE Impact Ranking, will also allow Virginia Tech to gauge progress. While the rankings aren鈥檛 the focus of Global Distinction, they represent proxies that indicate progress.

These measures do not comprehensively capture all of the ways Virginia Tech鈥檚 scholars impact the world, and the steering committee is exploring additional ways to measure success.

Q: How is Global Distinction funded?

A: The Global Distinction initiative doesn鈥檛 represent a new way of funding our ongoing pursuit of greater impact. Institutional, philanthropic, and governmental resources will continue to be instrumental, and as usual, the university will prioritize the areas of greatest impact.

Q: What areas of Virginia Tech are involved in Global Distinction?

A: Because the initiative is designed to further our impact, all areas of the university are involved, across all academic disciplines and administrative units. Several university-level programs already exemplify the approaches that yield outcomes associated with global distinction, including thematic and investment research institutes, the Destination Area 2.0 program, research-based doctoral programs, and both capital and operational improvements to research facilities and infrastructure. Going forward, the steering committee (with representation from academic, research, and administrative partners across campus) and university leadership will continue to identify the connecting threads.

Q: What is the status of the Global Distinction initiative?

A: In the beginning of the 2024 calendar year, the Virginia Tech Global Distinction steering committee was charged with identifying measures of success, assessing current university-wide efforts, recommending approaches to accelerate progress, offering guidance on maximizing the visibility of impactful research and scholarship activities, and estimating the need for additional investment.

In fall 2024, the steering committee was re-charged to develop a strategic framework for Global Distinction that focuses on:

• Developing Global Distinction principles
• Supporting research talent
• Aligning research investment mechanisms

Q: How can alumni and donors support the initiative?

A: Several existing broad-based funds support distinctive research and scholarship, recruiting and retaining top talent, and other related efforts. Visit the Virginia Tech Global Distinction Give page to learn more.