No Ordinary Moment: Virginia Tech, 150 Years in 150 Images

Virginia Tech celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2022. Established in Southwest Virginia to promote agricultural, mechanical, and military education, the fledgling school grew into a comprehensive research university with a global land-grant mission. No Ordinary Moment: Virginia Tech, 150 Years in 150 Images explores the history of the school, from its mid-nineteenth-century origins as Virginia Agricultural and Military College to present-day Virginia Tech. The book features approximately 150 illustrations, including rare photographs and unique items from the Special Collections and University Archives at Virginia Tech and other campus sources.

Compiled and written by Virginia Tech archivists, No Ordinary Moment is organized around three principal themes―the land-grant mission, the evolving campus, and the long tradition of innovation―which, taken together, provide an overlapping view of Virginia Tech’s past, present, and future. Along the way, the book highlights the many notable milestones in the university’s history, including its founding as a land-grant college in 1872, the granting of university status in 1970, and the arrival of female students and students of color. Likewise, the book illuminates the long-standing curricular strengths of the university in engineering, agriculture, architecture, and the sciences, as well as the liberal arts, athletics program, and social traditions shared by students, alumni, and the community. Also covered are the establishment of the Virginia Cooperative Extension and colleges for medicine and veterinary medicine, and Virginia Tech’s leading example in new technological fields and applied sciences, such as cybersecurity, transportation, autonomous vehicles, and bioinformatics.

No Ordinary Moment is a book for anyone who wants to learn more about the history and culture of Virginia Tech―from alumni, faculty, and students to members of the Hokie nation wherever they might live.

Aaron D. Purcell is Director of Special Collections and University Archives, LM Rozema is Processing and Special Projects Archivist, Anthony Wright de Hernandez is Community Collections Archivist, and John M. Jackson is a Library Specialist, all with the Virginia Tech Library.