Virginia Tech Magazine . Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University . Blacksburg, Virginia

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		JOHN MCCORMICK
		Tom Tillar '69

The campus is bustling with the kind of activity that seems to gain momentum each spring. As winter melted away, more students emerged to enjoy the outdoor venues of the campus that most of you remember, but are now expanded with more facilities, park-like areas, and intramural playing fields. As the university grows, the Drillfield remains the true center of the campus. Students navigate campus efficiently by walking or by riding the Blacksburg Transit buses, their bikes, or their skateboards.

For alumni and friends, the nexus of activity is often the Holtzman Alumni Center and The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center. After more than five years of operation, the building has been visited by several hundred thousand people. It has become a hub for alumni gatherings, conferences, banquets, weddings, and festivals. The hotel draws many compliments for its comfortable, modern rooms decorated in tasteful Hokie colors. The fine-dining restaurant, Preston's, and its lounge, the Continental Divide, are popular gathering places for hotel guests, campus visitors, and local residents. The alumni center wing offers many features for visitors to enjoy, including an extensive museum collection, alumni library, and art gallery exhibits.

The Benchmark Hospitality organization is the new operator of the inn and conference center. Their staff, in conjunction with our dedicated alumni relations team, extends true Virginia Tech hospitality to all who visit the facility. There are room specials during certain periods of the year, and golf packages for the signature Pete Dye River Course, a course operated by the Virginia Tech Foundation.

Whatever lures you back to Blacksburg, whether it's a reunion, college homecoming, or Drillfield Series seminar, you should put the alumni and conference center on your radar. Being on campus is invigorating and brings back fond memories for alumni who traveled this road earlier in life. See the incredible growth around the campus, which has preserved its unique Hokie Stone traditional and contemporary architecture. Check out the inn and its specials at www.innatvirginiatech.com, or call 540/231-8000. Come stay with us, and we promise to make your stay memorable.

Vice President for Alumni Relations