News
![A photograph of Don Wilkinson.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/Don-WilkinsonList-400x266.jpg)
An Uncommon Purpose: A Glorious Past, A Brilliant Future: The Campaign for VMI will draw to a close June 30, having raised $311 million in gifts and commitments,.
![A portrait of Thomas Watjen '76](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/Watjen_hiList-400x266.jpg)
Thomas Watjen, VMI Class of 1976, will present a lecture, “Leadership in a Dynamic and Changing World,” in Virginia Military Institute’s Gillis Theater at 11:15 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 20.
![Army ROTC staff leads cadets on a march down the Chessie Trail during fall FTX. – VMI Photo by Kelly Nye.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/FallFTXFriday2017KN089-1-400x279.jpg)
For the third time in the past four years, the U.S. Army Cadet Command has named VMI among the eight winners of the MacArthur Award for the 2015-16 academic year.
![Tamara Teaff, a volunteer at the Stonewall Jackson House, leads visitors through Jackson’s kitchen. – VMI File Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/JacksonHouse2017HLM0039-1-400x266.jpg)
The approximately 60 volunteers at the Stonewall Jackson House tend gardens, give tours, and act as shop clerks. Without them, the Jackson House could not fulfill its mission.
With the Corps Physical Training Facility complete, it is time for VMI to look ahead to its next projects. And though there are no new buildings in the immediate future, a couple of current ones, Preston Library and Scott Shipp Hall, will see the upgrades they need.
![The ruins of the South River Bridge represent a break in the continuity of the Chessie Nature Trail. – VMI Photo by Maj. John Robertson IV.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/ChessieSR,Ent2017JRR0015-1-400x272.jpg)
Ever since Hurricane Isabel swept through the area in 2003, navigating the Chessie Trail has required a detour around the missing South River Bridge. But that could change if funding comes through to replace the bridge.
![Kerisha Goode ’18 and Greg Henderson ’17 take photos to document 2016 Chessie Trail Half Marathon and 5K. – Photo courtesy of Maj. Stephanie Hodde.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/DSC_0076[5]-1-199x300.jpg)
An English major’s life has traditionally been spent indoors, but last fall seven cadets majoring in English, rhetoric, and humanistic studies found themselves most decidedly outdoors as they undertook a field work project centered on the Chessie Trail.
![Julianne Knoblett ’20, Eryn Daman ’18, and Marlene Haag ’18, each members of WiSE, look at an image taken by a telescope with Col. Daniela Topasna, professor of physics and astronomy. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/WISE2017HLM0055-1-400x266.jpg)
There's a new group on post for female cadets majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
![Gen. Mark Milley Speaks in Cameron Hall today. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/MilleyCameronHall2017HLM0060-1-400x266.jpg)
Gen. Mark Milley, Army’s chief of staff, addressed cadets, faculty, staff, and community members about the lessons of history and coming shifts in how armed conflict is conducted.
![Members of VMI’s club boxing team trade blows Nov. 11 in a ring set up in New Barracks Courtyard surrounded by cadets cheering from the courtyard and the stoops. – VMI Photo by Stephen Hanes.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/BoxingInBarracks2017SH0229Main-1-400x266.jpg)
Tickets are on sale for the 2017 USIBA Boxing Nationals, to be held March 23-25 in Virginia Military Institute’s newly-renovated Cocke Hall.