Changes

It has 26,370 students on-campus, about 17% of whom are graduate students.  It has strong [[sports]] and [[engineering]] programs, resulting in much larger percentage of male students than most colleges: 58.1% male and 41.9% female.  Many of its students are from foreign countries.

It has 26,370 students on-campus, about 17% of whom are graduate students.  It has strong [[sports]] and [[engineering]] programs, resulting in much larger percentage of male students than most colleges: 58.1% male and 41.9% female.  Many of its students are from foreign countries.

Virginia Tech was founded in 1872 as the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, with 132 students, a president and three professors: one each in [[English]]; natural [[philosophy]] and [[chemistry]]; and technical agriculture and mechanics.<ref>Heatwole, Cornelius Jacob (1916), ''A History of Education in Virginia,'' [http://books.google.com/books?id=BuscAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA204&dq=%22virginia+polytechnic+institute%22&as_brr=1#PPA207,M1 pp. 204-7]</ref>  

Virginia Tech was founded in 1872 as the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, with 132 students, a president and three professors: one each in [[English]]; natural [[philosophy]] and [[chemistry]]; and technical agriculture and mechanics.<ref>Heatwole, Cornelius Jacob (1916), ''A History of Education in Virginia,'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=BuscAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA204&dq=%22virginia+polytechnic+institute%22&as_brr=1#PPA207,M1 pp. 204-7]</ref>  

Great expansion took place between 1890 and 1896, the student body growing to about four hundred and its name was changed to "Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute."<ref name=histnotes>[http://classof2004.alumni.vt.edu/chapters/volunteers/handbook/Chapter01.html#Section2 Virginia Tech History Notes]</ref> In 1944, the name became "Virginia Polytechnic Institute," and in 1970 "Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University", with "Virginia Tech" being used for informal purposes such as athletics.

Great expansion took place between 1890 and 1896, the student body growing to about four hundred and its name was changed to "Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute."<ref name=histnotes>[http://classof2004.alumni.vt.edu/chapters/volunteers/handbook/Chapter01.html#Section2 Virginia Tech History Notes]</ref> In 1944, the name became "Virginia Polytechnic Institute," and in 1970 "Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University", with "Virginia Tech" being used for informal purposes such as athletics.

In 1953, with the admission of Irving Linwood Peddrew as an electrical engineering student, Virginia Tech became not only the first all-white public school in Virginia to desegregate, but also the first historically white land grant school anywhere in the south to do so.<ref>http://www.vtmagazine.vt.edu/fall97/feature1.html</ref> The Board of Visitors ruled that no state-supported school for Negroes offered comparable training, and the Virginia attorney-general had advised that Supreme Court rulings took precedence over Virginia's racial segregation laws.<ref>"Negro to Study at V. P. I.; 1st of Race to Enger State-Aided White School as Freshman." ''The New York Times,'' September 12, 1953, p. 19</ref>   

In 1953, with the admission of Irving Linwood Peddrew as an electrical engineering student, Virginia Tech became not only the first all-white public school in Virginia to desegregate, but also the first historically white land grant school anywhere in the south to do so.<ref>http://www.vtmagazine.vt.edu/fall97/feature1.html</ref> The Board of Visitors ruled that no state-supported school for Negroes offered comparable training, and the Virginia attorney-general had advised that Supreme Court rulings took precedence over Virginia's racial segregation laws.<ref>"Negro to Study at V. P. I.; 1st of Race to Enger State-Aided White School as Freshman." ''The New York Times,'' September 12, 1953, p. 19</ref>   

In 2003, Virginia Tech's Terascale Computing Facility made national news for building the third-fastest supercomputer in the world. What made the news was not that that it was fast, but the way in which it was built. It was assembled from 1,100 ordinary off-the-shelf desktop computers (Apple Power Mac G5), networked via Infiniband technology. The result was an extraordinarily cost-effective system: Virginia Tech's 10-teraflop "Big Mac" cost $5.2 million; by comparison, the then-record-holding 35-teraflop Earth Simulator cost an estimated $350 million.<ref>[http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2003/11/61252 Mac Supercomputer Joins Elite], Wired, November 15, 2003</ref>

In 2003, Virginia Tech's Terascale Computing Facility made national news for building the third-fastest supercomputer in the world. What made the news was not that that it was fast, but the way in which it was built. It was assembled from 1,100 ordinary off-the-shelf desktop computers (Apple Power Mac G5), networked via Infiniband technology. The result was an extraordinarily cost-effective system: Virginia Tech's 10-teraflop "Big Mac" cost $5.2 million; by comparison, the then-record-holding 35-teraflop Earth Simulator cost an estimated $350 million.<ref>[https://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2003/11/61252 Mac Supercomputer Joins Elite], Wired, November 15, 2003</ref>

==Athletics==

==Athletics==

[[Image:450px-2006 Clemson at Virginia Tech celebration.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Students celebrate on the drillfield following Tech's 2006 victory over then #10 [[Clemson University]].]]Virginia Tech's sports teams compete in the [[Atlantic Coast Conference]], which they joined in 2004, along with [[University of Miami|Miami]] and, later, [[Boston College]].  Tech's [[American football|football]] team competed for a national title against [[Florida State University|Florida State]] following the 1999 season and in 2004, captured the ACC crown in its first year in the conference.  The [[college basketball|men's basketball]] team, after a ten-year drought, returned to the [[NCAA tournament]] following the 2006-07 season.  In 2007, Tech's softball team shut out [[Georgia Tech]] 2-0 to capture the ACC championship, and in golf, the Hokies split the conference title with the Yellow Jackets.

[[Image:450px-2006 Clemson at Virginia Tech celebration.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Students celebrate on the drillfield following Tech's 2006 victory over then #10 [[Clemson University]].]]Virginia Tech's sports teams compete in the [[Atlantic Coast Conference]], which they joined in 2004, along with [[University of Miami|Miami]] and, later, [[Boston College]].  Tech's [[American football|football]] team competed for a national title against [[Florida State University|Florida State]] following the 1999 season and in 2004, captured the ACC crown in its first year in the conference.  The [[college basketball|men's basketball]] team, after a ten-year drought, returned to the [[NCAA tournament]] following the 2006-07 season.  In 2007, Tech's softball team shut out [[Georgia Tech]] 2-0 to capture the ACC championship, and in golf, the Hokies split the conference title with the Yellow Jackets.