BLACKSBURG, Va., April 28, 2004 – Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors has named alumnus James E. Turner Jr. as the 2004 William H. Ruffner Medal recipient in recognition of his outstanding service and generosity to the university.
The Ruffner Medal, the university’s highest honor, is awarded annually in conjunction with the university’s Founders Day and goes to individuals who have performed notable and distinguished service to the university. This year’s Founders Day celebration is at 3 p.m. Friday, April 23, in the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center Auditorium.
“James Turner is an inspiration to his peers in the Virginia Tech community as well as an exemplary example of the university’s motto, ‘That I may serve,’” said Virginia Tech President Charles Steger. “We are proud to add Mr. Turner to our long list of distinguished Ruffner Medal recipients.”
A class of 1956 grad, Turner was an involved student who spent two years in the Corps of Cadets, played football, and was a member of Tau Beta Pi and Phi Kappa Phi honor fraternities. He graduated with a B.S. degree in Agricultural Engineering/Engineering.
Turner has maintained a close relationship with his alma mater throughout the years, serving on the Academy of Engineering Excellence, the Capital Campaign Steering Committee, the Engineering Advisory Committee, and the past Regional Campaign Committee.
More recently, Turner has worked to maintain and further the excellence of the university by serving eight years on the Board of Visitors including three years as Rector, on the Engineering Committee of 100, and the Virginia Tech Foundation Board and Executive Committee.
Turner’s remarkable generosity makes him a member of the Ut Prosim Society and a charter member of the President’s Circle. His donations have provided generously to the support of the College of Engineering, the Alumni and Conference Center, and University Priorities and Athletic Programs. He has been the honoree of gifts to the university ensuring aid to students, providing current funds for operations, and helping to meet capital needs.
Turner applied his education throughout a successful and distinguished 40-year career in management positions with Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Westinghouse, and General Dynamics. He retired in January 2000 as the Executive President and Chief Operating Officer of General Dynamics, the nation’s largest nuclear submarine builder.
Turner’s service in the larger community serves as a model for other alumni. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, the American Society of Naval Engineers, the American Defense and Preparedness Association, the Navy League of the United States, and the Naval Submarine League, where he was awarded the Naval Submarine League Distinguished Civilian Award in 2002. Turner also is a Bartels Fellow at the University of New Haven, and a past member of the USO World Board of Governors and the National Security Industrial Association Board of Trustees.
He and his wife, Elizabeth Nelms Turner, have two grown sons. They have homes in Connecticut, Reston, Va., and St. John's County, Fla.
First taking place in 1972, Founders Day Convocation is Virginia Tech's annual celebration of the academic and professional achievements of the university and recognizing service to Virginia Tech.
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 30 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 170 academic degree programs.