Charles Steger, Ph.D.

Charles Steger, Ph.D., the president emeritus of Virginia Tech, was a Virginia Tech Carilion Advisory Board member and led the university’s Global Forum on Urban and Regional Resilience as its executive director.

Under Steger’s leadership, Virginia Tech charted a course to be among the nation’s premier research universities. His presidency was one of the longest and most impactful terms in Virginia Tech history. He created interdisciplinary institutes, grew the research portfolio by 250 percent, oversaw the creation of the Virginia Tech Carilion Medical School and Research Institute, and concluded a fundraising campaign that exceeded $1 billion. Graduate and undergraduate enrollment and profiles also reached an all-time high during his 14-year tenure.

Steger received the 2004 Compass Award from the New Century Technology Council for his visionary thinking and leadership for regional technology initiatives. Among numerous other awards, he received the 2009 Chief Executive Leadership Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, District III, and was also honored with the 2010 Michael P. Malone International Leadership Award from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

In 2016, Steger was elected to the Board of Directors of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation, which was created to improve the lives of millions of people worldwide by accelerating the development of focused ultrasound, an early stage, noninvasive, therapeutic technology with the potential to transform the treatment of many serious medical disorders.

Steger was on the board of various Virginia institutions, an advisory board of the National Academy of Sciences, a member of the Economic Club of Washington, and a fellow in the American Institute of Architects.

He received both his bachelor’s and master’s degree in architecture from Virginia Tech, as well as his Ph.D. in environmental science and engineering.