Talk:Virginia Tech/Archive 1

message: I removed the merge from for the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute.  Much like the NASA research center that VT manages, VBI is a separate institution that VT manages and participates in, it is not directly a part of VT, though that may change in the future.  --Buridan 14:34, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: VBI

message: Norwich University DOES NOT have a smaller corps within a larger civilian population. Norwich is a military academy with 1,300 cadets and 550 non-corps students. THE ONLY universities to have a corps in a larger university is Texas A&M and Virginia Tech. VT is not "One of a few" universities to offer this setting, it is ONE OF TWO
:This is true, and I will change it. --Dynaflow 19:00, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Corps of Cadets Intro

message: I agree with Benc that there is room for more information about athletics, perhaps mentioning each of the varsity and club sports would help.  while the football team has been impressive, i have to say that for some years the virtually unfunded rugby team was also impressive, as has been women's rugby and other club sports.  there is a long history of football that could be written up and some public domain pictures of the grey and white 'prison uniforms'..... there is quite a bit that i think would rate significantly above the realm of trivia, esoterica, and has some significant cultural history.  but then someone has to write it, i'm happy to verify it when i can and i'll write some bits and pieces. --buridan
:I agree.  There's a lot we can do to improve these pages.  It's impressive what people have been able to accomplish over the past year.  Seeing as how the University keeps such tight control over the licensing of its logo, perhaps someone still residing in "The Burg" could snap a nice drillfield shot and upload it for the main page...  Chris 03:47, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Athletics in General

message: :See also: Talk:University of Virginia#Virginia Tech rivalry
I removed a modification to the text explaining the UVa rivalry that belittles UVa. Interesting note: I added a factual paragraph onto both Virginia Tech and University of Virginia. Within several hours, both paragraphs received POV edits: the VT version called UVa "small", while the UVa version was summarily removed and denounced as "Hokie propaganda." Please keep this NPOV. This is a serious encyclopedia, not a place to express your support for your school by belittling its rivals.
If you want to expand on the facets of the rivalry, please edit school rivalry, a new stub article I recently created. Just remember the NPOV policy. Thanks, • Benc • 00:32, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  University of Virginia rivalry 

message: many other university pages have lists of famous alumni, perhaps our should too.....?
*Michael Vick  Note: Neither Vick graduated, they were either drafted or kicked out (Marcus) before the graduated.
*Bruce Smith
*Governor Mark Warner -- EDIT: Warner did not attend Virginia Tech. He went to George Washington University and Harvard Law School.
*Christopher Craft Jr. -nasa
*Homer Hickam Jr.  -astronaut
*Robert Richardson -nobel prize winner
come to mind immediately, are there others vt has a website of some distinguished alums, but most are businessmen/women or academics, and not particularly famous at all, so what others should go up?
:There are a lot of members of the military currently listed as famous alumni with no explanation.  Could someone go through and tell us why they're famous? Lord Bodak 6 July 2005 15:28 (UTC)
::Well i think there is a fair argument that anyone above of the rank of general that has had a general command would be famous to about 8000 or more people givent he structure of command.   I think the medal of honor winners are a bit more solid though. Buridan 7 July 2005 20:43 (UTC)  
:Another interesting not this that there is only one rank above General is President and VT has never graduated anyone who have gone on to be that. 
::Researching this.  Only 3 and 4 Star Generals are listed, unless they got the Medal of Honor or have a famous quote attributed to them.  3 and 4 stars are indeed famous.  A few have bios in other parts of WIKI-PEDIA.G. Moore 8 July 2005 01:42 (UTC)
I added the two Rhodes scholars.  Bill Lewis was from the 60s, Mark from 1996.  Incidentally, they're both nice people and engaging conversationalists.
: There are 32 Rhodes scholars from the U.S. every year - that's more than 1,200 since Lewis got his. That's not much of a criteria for "famous", IMHO  ... - DavidWBrooks 21:00, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: since it is an academic honor, and it is quite famous.  i think it qualifies for a university listing, because universities build their reputation on such honors.  --Buridan 22:04, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: His fame is more grounded on the fact that he was a partner at McKinsey and first director of the McKinsey Global Institute Ryanluck 15:32, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: famous alums

message: *We are in need of two things I think. I just added the info box to the page. I basically lifted it off of the UVa page actually(thief). If someone could figure out how/where to get the VT Logo (The Pillars logo I am thinking) and upload it that would be great. Is that considered fair use of the logo? --MaxPower 19:13, 2004 Nov 19 (UTC)
*Also it would be swell if someone could grab a good shot of Burrus and the Drill Field for near the top of the article. Anyone live on campus or in town? --MaxPower 19:13, 2004 Nov 19 (UTC)
:I've got some photos of Burruss, but they're pretty gloomy looking. I'll see if I can get nicer ones when I get back from fall break. --Geoff 07:52, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pictures/Logo/Seal 

message: isn't vt the largest university in virginia?  it is certainly the largest state university.  which one is bigger?  --Buridan 17:57, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: largest enrollment, certainly. - DavidWBrooks 19:18, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

text: actually, i've found that it is very close in terms of overall enrollment between here and gmu, the numbers differ by at most 500 last year and they were slightly larger.  i do think that with over 3000 acres on main campus, we are the largest university in that respect....  --Buridan 16:10, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  largest univerisity? 

message: I removed a couple of those rate-professor external links as being unnecessary and peripheral. Wikipedia isn't a link farm and anybody who really wants to know about their professor can google those sites. - DavidWBrooks 21:14, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  links 

message: I see we now have a bunch of stubs on individual buildings.  Anyone else think this is uneccessary?  I think an individual dorm or dining hall would have to be pretty extraordinary to warrant an article of it's own.  Some of these articles have little bits of trivia that should be merged into the main article if they're going to be anywhere.  Friday (talk) 14:38, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  An article for every building? 

message: Adding the numbers to make citations easier, it now says: "(1)Virginia Tech faculty are the leading experts in their field with nearly all faculty having a PhD or other terminal degree. (2)With many professors conducting research outside of the classroom and with private, corporate and federal funding, Virginia Tech is one of the nation's leading research institutions and the Virginia's leading research institute. (3)Tech's faculty boasts Nobel Prize recipients and other national and international prize recipients. (4)Faculty members also include Chairpersons of international companies and other leading experts and leaders of industry."
(1) A PhD is not an indication of leading in the field.  Also, I've had a few pretty crappy professors who I'm pretty sure weren't leaders in anything at all.
(2) "the Virginia's" doesn't make sense.  Also, every research university in the world "conducts research outside of the classroom" and receives "private, corporate and federal funding."  
(3) There are no Nobel Prize winners at Virginia Tech.  The only two affiliated with Virginia Tech are James Buchanan, a former Economics professor now at George Mason, and Robert Richardson, a VTCC member who did his undergrad and masters at VT.  Neither won while on the faculty at Virginia Tech.  If we have recipients of "other national and international prizes" then please list them.
(4) Likewise, a list would be halpful here.
As it is I'm going to take out that paragraph.  If someon can clean it up (and it needs a lot of cleaning up) then feel free to put it back in. Ryanluck 11:40, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Big POV problems in Academics 

message: Some of the buildings are notable enough for their own page.  For example, Lee Hall, because of the controversy over the name absolutely deserves its own page.  If you were at Tech during the 97-98 year, you remember how it was all anyone talked about and it was constantly on the news.  Googling around, I saw that there were more protests in 2004.  I guess the school is going to have to go through this every time the student body gets recycled and nobody remembers the previous pointless arguments.  Also, West End, conspicuous by its absence, has gained a ton of recognition nationally.  Lane Stadium and Cassell obviously get their own pages.  Burruss?  Maybe ... it's notable simply from its iconic status, though I don't know that there is enough to make an article about it.  Pritchard also has gained a lot of recognition (largest all-male non-military residence hall east of the Mississippi) but again, I don't know if there is enough to warrant an article without it being a lot of original research.
So my thoughts would be these buildings get their own page:
* Lane Stadium
* Cassell Coliseum
* Lee Hall (Virginia Tech)
* West End Market
* No objection against leaving Burruss Hall or creating Pritchard Hall if someone wants to take the time and add content
* Everything else gets merged into Virginia Tech Campus
Any thoughts?
BigDT 14:42, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Buildings 

message: Is there a source for VT owning land in every single VA county?  That's impressive if true...
:I looked for a source for a while, but I could find nothing remotely suggesting this.  Accordingly, I will delete it and if anyone finds a source, it can be replaced.  Note that nothing of the sort is mentioned at http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/factbook/FBabout.php or at http://www.vt.edu/aboutvt/universityataglance.html Cka3n 04:21, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Perhaps this was a reference to the VCE program that Tech participates in.  http://www.ext.vt.edu/offices/.  I didn't check every county, but they sure have a bunch of offices.  If this is it, I don't think this supports the original sentence, since it is not clear who owns the property those offices are on, and it is clear that VCE is not VT, even if VT participates. Cka3n 04:24, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

text: this position is probably from the extension system which vt runs.  there is an extension office in every county.   however vt doesn't have any land, as the land is the state of virginias...  in one way 'land is every county' is true, if you count extension.   --Buridan 12:36, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

text: Existence of an extension office in each county (and some cities) doesn't imply real estate ownership.  Some extension offices are located within larger county government centers, which definitely aren't VT-owned -- see Chesterfield and Richmond City, just to name two. VT hawkeyetalk to me 03:59, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Source 

message: An anonymous user recently reordered the text in the notable alums section (see this diff), is their any good reason for doing this? --Matthew 22:28, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I have no heartbreak on it either way.  Having sports listed last isn't a horrible idea so that readers won't get the impression that this article is all about sports ... but I don't feel strongly about it either way. --BigDT 22:32, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reversing text order?