BLACKSBURG, Va., Sept. 30, 2005 – Nancy R. Linkous of Christiansburg, administrative and office specialist in the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) at Virginia Tech, received a 2005 President’s Award for Excellence.
The award recognizes selected staff and administrative faculty 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 staff and administrative faculty appointed by the president.
Linkous provides administrative and managerial assistance to the department head, faculty, staff, and students. She provides advice, guidance, and supervision to clerical staff through other supervisors and faculty and manages and coordinates personnel appointments and handles various administrative matters. She assumes administrative responsibilities in managing department activities and operation. Linkous has been at Virginia Tech 40 years, having worked for at least four department heads in Plant Pathology and Physiology. She joined the ESM department in 1974.
During her tenure in ESM, Linkous has led the department from typewriters to computers and served as a mentor to staff and faculty in making the best use of the new technology. She has fulfilled the responsibility for human-resource management. She is heavily involved in the initiation of new appointments, advertising the positions, and interviewing candidates, as well as following the career course of the new employee. She seeks band adjustments for staff members whose duties have changed. She helps resolve staff conflicts and helps keep morale high and staff committed to the success of the department and College of Engineering. She has received the ESM Department Head's award for outstanding service to the department and the College of Engineering Dean's Award given each year to two employees in the college for exceptional service. She is a member of the Auxiliary of the Christiansburg Rescue Squad and has received the President's Award and the Auxiliary Member of the Year award. She also is a member of the Auxiliary of the American Legion Post 182. With this latest award, Linkous went out on a high note, as she retired Aug. 1.
The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is internationally recognized for its excellence in 14 engineering disciplines and computer science. The college's 5,600 undergraduates benefit from an innovative curriculum that provides a "hands-on, minds-on" approach to engineering education, complementing classroom instruction with two unique design-and-build facilities and a strong Cooperative Education Program. With more than 50 research centers and numerous laboratories, the college offers its 2,000 graduate students opportunities in advanced fields of study such as biomedical engineering, state-of-the-art microelectronics, and nanotechnology.
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.