Our Priorities

Emerging Leader Scholarships

Emerging Leader Scholarships are the best tool we have for attracting and retaining outstanding cadets. Our goal is to offer all cadets an Emerging Leader Scholarship at a level that will truly help offset the increasing cost of education. You may fund an ELS in your name, in combination with your spouse or family members, or as a memorial or honorary gift. The minimum amount to name a scholarship is $100,000 paid over up to five years or supported with a trust, annuity, or other estate gift that meets the minimum foundation requirements at the time the gift is received at Virginia Tech.

 To add a new gift to an existing scholarship fund, such as your class year scholarship, please select "other" from the giving menu and enter the fund name.

Global Scholars

Our Global Scholars Programs allow cadets to apply leadership lessons from World War I and World War II to current events through a spring semester course followed by travel to Europe in May. Your generosity pays for lodging, flights, and ground transportation for the group. Donor support is critical to our ability to expand this experience that enables cadets to develop a more informed world view. Growing this program would allow us to engage hundreds of cadets, instead of a few, and would allow us to include all major wars. 

Corps Museum

The Corps Museum preserves our history and the lessons contained therein. The history of the Corps of Cadets is the history of the university, and, as such, the museum strives to acquire, preserve, and maintain a respectful and accessible collection of artifacts that honor our legacy, our alumni, and our Medal of Honor recipients. Donor support pays for the care and restoration of these items. The museum has a dedicated space of 1,872 square feet inside the Corps Leadership and Military Science Building.

Commandant's Priorities

These unrestricted funds support the day-to-day operations of the Corps and supplement needs and activities not sufficiently supported by state or Virginia Tech resources. Funds are used for cadet activities, guest speakers, the operation of our alumni and advancement offices, the publication and mailing of the Corps Review and Highty-Tighty Notes, and the support of our alumni boards and Class Champions.

Rice Center for Leader Development

The Major General Thomas W. Rice Center for Leader Development is the home of our academic program and our minor in leadership studies. Its programs allow cadets to study leadership from the masters through research and theory, as well as by engaging with the business community and learning through unique Corps experiences that are unlike anything else offered on campus. Donors may choose to support the operations and education or name an endowment (minimum $100,000).