BLACKSBURG, Va., Aug. 23, 2004 – Brian K. Dennison, of Blacksburg, professor of physics in the College of Science at Virginia Tech, was conferred with the title "professor emeritus" by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors during the board’s quarterly meeting Monday, Aug. 23.
The title of emeritus may be conferred on retired professors and associate professors, administrative officers, librarians, and exceptional staff members who have given exemplary service to the university and who are specially recommended to the board of visitors by Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board of visitors receive an emeritus certificate from the university.
A member of the Virginia Tech faculty since 1977, Dennison developed and taught astronomy laboratories to numerous non-science as well as science and engineering undergraduates, and taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate lecture courses covering both astronomy and physics. He developed an astronomy concentration (which eventually became an astronomy minor), and served as the adviser for students in that course of study. Dennison led several outreach activities and organized astronomy programs to the surrounding community and to visitors at Mountain Lake Hotel and Conference Center and the Horton Center. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University.
The College of Science at Virginia Tech gives students a comprehensive foundation in the scientific method. Outstanding faculty members teach courses and conduct research in biology, chemistry, economics, geosciences, mathematics, physics, psychology, and statistics. The college is dedicated to fostering a research intensive environment and offers programs in nano-scale and biological sciences, information theory and science, and supports research centers—in areas such as biomedical and public health sciences, and critical technology and applied science—that encompass other colleges at the university. The College of Science also houses programs in pre-medicine and scientific law.
Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university 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, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 170 academic degree programs.