BLACKSBURG, Va., Sept. 17, 2004 – Teresa Phipps, of Blacksburg, program support technician senior in the Department of Landscape Architecture in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, is a winner of the university’s 2004 President’s Award for Excellence.
The President’s Award for Excellence recognizes selected and staff and administrative faculty members for their outstanding contributions to Virginia Tech. Nominations are received from all areas of the university and recognize extraordinary contributions and sustained excellence in the performance of job duties and responsibilities. Recipients are selected by a committee of classified and administrative faculty members appointed by the president.
Phipps has served as head secretary and administrative assistant to the head of the Department of Landscape Architecture since 1988. She is described as "the glue holding the day-to-day operations of the department together." She is a self-directed employee who is always at work, always on time, and always performing beyond the expectations of her job description.
Phipps is cited for her contribution to the success of the department’s development of the Master of Landscape Architecture program in Northern Virginia. She also has been involved in departmental activities such as faculty searches, the 30th anniversary alumni celebration, and completing SCHEV outcomes-assessment reports.
Phipps’ contributions are evident to students, faculty, and staff members in the department and college and the influence of her actions extends to the Washington Alexandria Architecture Center and George Washington University.
She has an associate in applied sciences degree from New River Community College.
The College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech is comprised of two schools, the School of Architecture + Design and the School of Public and International Affairs, and includes programs in architecture, art and art history, building construction, public administration and policy, interior design, industrial design, landscape architecture, government and international affairs, and urban affairs and planning. All programs strive to promote an understanding of the complexity of our environment and ways to improve that environment through thoughtful teaching and research in the design, planning, and construction fields. The college enrolls more than 2,200 students, offering 22 degrees programs taught by 130 faculty members.
Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become among the largest universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech’s eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.