Frequently Asked Questions

David Wilder, senior director for DC Building Operations, will work with affected programs and offices to develop a detailed moving and relocation plan. 

Computer science and computer engineering faculty and staff affiliated with the Innovation Campus organization will relocate to ICAB1. This includes faculty who are currently located in Blacksburg but affiliated with the Innovation Campus organization. It also includes research faculty and staff associated with the Sanghani Center who are currently housed at VTRC-A. Upon full build-out of the graduate portion of the Tech Talent Initiative, affiliated computer science and electrical and computer engineering faculty, their students, advisors, and research programs will fully occupy the first five floors of the 11-story ICAB1.

Faculty and staff in computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering currently located in the D.C. region but not affiliated with the Innovation Campus organization have or will relocate to the VTRC-A.

Innovation Campus leadership is working with affected colleges to draft plans to move the following programs currently located at the NVC to ICAB1 on a temporary basis until permanent space is secured at either the Innovation Campus or elsewhere in the region:

• Pamplin College of Business – all D.C. area programs
• College of Science – Data Analysis and Applied Statistics (Master’s Program)
• College of Engineering – Industrial and Systems Engineering

The duration of these temporary relocations will depend primarily on the need for additional space to accommodate growth of the core Innovation Campus programs, but it is expected to last several years. It will be the responsibility of the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost and the Office of the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer to plan and manage relocation of these programs to permanent spaces.

The Innovation Campus is in the process of creating the Hokie One-Stop, a student services center that will provide a full range of resources for all D.C. area graduate students. Coordinated by Innovation Campus leadership and housed at ICAB1, this center will involve a collaboration of academic and administrative support units with appropriate reporting responsibilities to respective offices in Blacksburg.

The university is currently assessing regional operational functions including human resources, finance, public safety, facilities, information technology, and others as we develop an operational support framework for the region. Several functions have already been installed in the region, and we are working to ensure that a full complement of employee and operational support services will be available either locally or through established connections to central support services in Blacksburg.

When fully established, we expect offices represented at the ICAB1 to include the following:

• Graduate School
• Bursar’s Office
• University Registrar
• University Scholarships and Financial Aid
• Cook Counseling Center
• Dean of Students
• Service for Students with Disabilities
• Career and Professional Development
• Veteran Services
• Cranwell International Center
• Transportation Services
• Equity and Accessibility
• Housing
• Health Services and Hokie Wellness
• Student Medical Insurance
• Hokie Passport
• IT 4-Help
• University Libraries

Discussions are underway to determine the most appropriate locations for other administrative units such as Government and Community Relations, Advancement, and Equity and Accessibility. The ICAB1 building also will become the administrative center for collaborations with regional K-12 program providers.

To accomplish the core strategic themes and cross-cutting goals of the university, Virginia Tech is investing in thematic areas of distinction that will elevate the national and international visibility of Virginia Tech. This vision is difficult to achieve via a cluster of programs such as those that currently exist at the NVC that may be valuable individually but do not have the collective coherence and size to be differentiated from our peers.

In northern Virginia, academic programs are being reorganized and developed further in three areas of thematic strength:

• Human-cyber networks at the Innovation Campus (IC), with an initial emphasis placed on computer science and computer engineering
• Integrated security at VTCR-A, enabled and accelerated by the recent establishment of the National Security Institute
• Smart construction research and development at Falls Church

As this reorganization in favor of developing world-class programs progresses, the center of gravity will shift to the IC, which is the target of very substantial investment by the university, commonwealth, and industry partners.

Virginia Tech is planning to establish a center for smart construction in Falls Church in collaboration with top national commercial construction firm HITT Contracting. Plans include a new headquarters office building for HITT Contracting and a Virginia Tech innovation lab dedicated to applied research and accelerating change in the built environment. The development, which would encompass 40 acres near the West Falls Church metro station, would include a smart mobility research test bed developed by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

For any programs that are not approved to move to VTRC-A nor IC, colleges may decide to lease space elsewhere in northern Virginia at college expense or relocate them to Blacksburg.