Virginia Tech to honor graduate students at Alexandria ceremony Dec. 15
Event at Potomac Yard academic building will be followed by Dec. 19 commencement in Blacksburg
Virginia Tech’s Graduate School will hold a recognition ceremony and reception for students earning master’s and doctoral degrees at 6 p.m. Dec. 15 at the university’s Academic Building One in Alexandria.
The event marks the first fall graduate recognition ceremony at the 300,000-square-foot facility, which opened in January at 3625 Potomac Ave. in the Potomac Yard district. The 11-story building houses cutting-edge research and development facilities and serves as headquarters for the Graduate School’s administrative offices in the Washington, D.C., metro area.
The ceremony will honor graduates from programs based in the greater Washington, D.C., area and online.
Lance Collins, vice president of Virginia Tech’s greater Washington, D.C., region, will offer remarks at the ceremony. Sharon Brickhouse Martin, a former Virginia Tech Board of Visitors member and current Alumni Association Board member, will serve as guest speaker.
Martin, who earned her bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and operations research in 1983 and her master’s degree in engineering administration in Northern Virginia in 1988, has built her career in health care administration. She is vice president of health services integration at VHC Health, a nonprofit health care system in Arlington, and founder and president of Brickhouse Martin Healthcare Engineering.
The Alexandria event precedes Virginia Tech’s fall Graduate School Commencement ceremony, scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Dec. 19 at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg.
Two doctoral candidates will speak at the Blacksburg ceremony: Whitley Johnson, who will receive a Ph.D. in higher education, and Binita Saha, who will receive a Ph.D. in macromolecular science and engineering.
The Graduate School will also present its 2025 Alumni Achievement Award to Thomas Debass during the ceremony. Debass, who earned his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1997 and master’s degree in agricultural and applied economics in 2001, is managing director of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Partnerships.