BLACKSBURG, Va., April 19, 2004 – The Board of Visitors has named Melinda Cep as its undergraduate student representative for the 2004-2005 academic year. Cep, along with a graduate student representative, will serve as a liaison between Virginia Tech students and the Board of Visitors.
As part of her responsibilities, Cep, a senior and a native of Cordova, Md., must maintain contact with the administration, including the presidentâs office and the provost, and Tech students. Cep will present ideas and viewpoints of students to the Board of Visitors and serve on specific task forces or search committees.
Cep, a double major in Animal and Poultry Sciences and Biochemistry in Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, hopes to improve communication between the Board of Visitors and the student body. "I appreciate the opportunity to represent the opinions and concerns of the undergraduates at Virginia Tech, and am excited to represent their interests on the Board," Cep said.
Cep has served in many university organizations, including Block & Bridle, Poultry Club, Alpha Zeta and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She also has served as a teaching assistant and a member to the Virginia 4-H Poultry Judging Team.
The Board of Visitors, the governing authority of Virginia Tech, typically meets four times throughout the year and makes decisions regarding policies pertinent to the university as a whole. The Board is composed of 14 members, not including the two student representatives, 13 of which the governor appoints. The 14th member is the President of the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services, who serves ex-officio. The term of office is four years. In addition to statutes in the Code of Virginia, the Board is governed by its own by-laws.
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 180 academic degree programs.