Hello, I'm Charles Steger, President for Virginia Tech.

Welcome to Virginia Tech's VTalumnNET program. This online program was developed to establish a virtual gateway for lifelong learning for you, our Virginia Tech Alumni.

Virginia Tech wants to play a lifelong active role in the lives of our alumni. One way that we can do this is to provide learning opportunities for our alumni that would be of value in the continuing development of their careers. To determine the educational needs of our alumni, we conducted an Internet survey of 37,000 alumni who were on the Alumni Office listserv. Eighty percent who responded indicated that they were interested or very interested in taking online courses from their alma mater. Most were interested in taking short, self-paced courses that would improve their personal and professional development. In response to this high level of interest, the University's Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning in partnership with the Alumni Office has developed the VTalumnNET program.

This program is a point of access to a spectrum of online educational programming, provides opportunities for lifelong learning, and fosters the development of online learning communities. VTalumnNET highlights the exceptional expertise and experience of Virginia Tech's faculty and alumni.

I invite you to submit your suggestions, comments and needs through the program website. This information is used to target programming needs and to continually improve your educational experience. Virginia Tech is committed to providing new learning opportunities to you, our Alumni. We hope that you continue to take advantage of the outstanding educational programming that your alma mater has to offer. In this age of information Virginia Tech is providing you with a world of knowledge close to home, wherever your home may be.