Education 2024: TIMOTHY SANDS

Sands became the land-grant university’s 16th president in 2014 after serving as interim president at Purdue University. He signed a contract in August 2022 to stay on as president through the 2027 academic year.

Sands has been leading development of Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus, a $1 billion campus in Alexandria for graduate computer science and engineering programs. The university announced in January that the opening of the campus’ first academic building has been delayed to spring 2025, although the campus headquarters are open nearby.

Virginia Tech has received notable donations in recent years, including $50 million from Fortune 500 defense contractor Boeing to foster diversity at
the Innovation Campus and $50 million for the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC in Roanoke.

Sands previously was executive vice president for academic affairs and provost of Purdue University. Trained as a scientist whose research focused on light-emitting diodes, he holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.

In August, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors elected Sands its chair for a two-year term.