VT Stories Oral History with John Dooley, November 20, 2017 (Ms2016-015)



Ren Harman: This is Ren Harman, the Project Director for VT Stories. Today is November 20th, 2017 at about 2:15 PM. With us today is a very special guest, and this is the only time I will prompt you. If you could just state in a complete sentence my name is, when you were born, and where you were born.

John Dooley: My name is John Dooley. I was born on July 10, 1954 in Summersville, West Virginia.

Ren: Thank you. So Summersville, West Virginia is in Nicholas County, correct?

John: That is correct.

Ren: Can you talk a little bit about growing up in that county and in that town?

John: Sure. You know I look back on those early years and it was a wonderful wonderful place to be reared, a very nurturing community. Summersville in my early years was a coalmining town. Coal was the major industry in the town at that time. My father was a coalminer very early on in my life. He changed from being a coalminer to running the local Esso service station in the middle of town. And much of my social life evolved around hanging out at the service station, okay. Dad worked seven days a week 12-14 hours a day. He would open up. He would close, and he was a hard-working individual. My mother was a 2:00stay-at-home mom when I was young. She later on, and I've got an older brother, 5 years older and a brother 5 years younger, and after my younger brother went off to school, so I would have been 10 at the time, she went back to work part-time with the local school board in an administrative assistance role, okay.

The town as I was growing up it was a neat place. I grew up on a street known as Daniel Street in Summersville, which was a neighborhood that was really a post-World War II neighborhood. Practically all the men on the street had fought in World War II. And so the street, they returned home. They got married and then started raising families, and so as I was growing up I lived on a street to where there were about 20 of us within 5 years of age. It was a very safe place 3:00and so we would grow up, during the summer when we were off from school we would get up and have breakfast, go outside, very safe, and we would play until it was lunch time. We would come in for lunch and then go right back out and hit it again, and stay out until dinner time. No one was checking. No one felt insecure or threatened at all.

And I cherish those memories. Interestingly enough Ren as the neighborhood stayed intact, we all grew up together, we went into adulthood together, some of us went to college, some of us did not, and then the street grew old and started passing away. And so now there are only two individuals on the street that were 4:00part of the original group and both of those are widows, older women. Mothers of dear friends, are now in their 80s, and so it was a neat experience.

Ren: As someone whose father was also in coalmining as we talked about earlier, was his father a coalminer?

John: No, my grandfather on my father's side really was a subsistence farmer. My dad grew up very very poor. My dad grew up on a very little community outside of Summersville, about seven miles outside of Summersville. My grandfather had about 100 acres of land and they lived off that land. He grew everything that the family needed, and his cash crop was he raised hogs, and so that was where he would earn his income was raising hogs, slaughtering them and selling the 5:00hogs, so my grandfather on that side was a farmer. My grandfather on my mother's side was a miner, and so he worked in the mines in Fayette County, which is about 40 miles away from Summersville, and then moved to Summersville, was a miner and then became actually the town clerk for Summersville. My grandfather on my mother's side was town clerk from my earliest memory, so I do have mining on both sides of the family.

Ren: Right. Before you dad kind of started the service station and was running the service station, when he was still in the mines, growing up was there ever a sense of fear or danger about his profession?

John: You know, there wasn't. Okay now dad was a strip miner, so he wasn't actually in the mines themselves, okay. So he was doing what we called strip 6:00mining then. Surface mining is what it's known as now, and that was less dangerous. My grandfather on my mother's side he worked in the mines. My mother grew up in a little coalmining town called Page, West Virginia. Page was the north terminus of the Virginia railroad. It really was a coalmining town. The mining company owned the houses. My grandfather was paid in script. I still have script from the Page mines. He worked in the mines. There were many times in which there were mine accidents that I've heard my mother and grandmother say they would hear the whistle go to where there had been an accident, and they just did not know what the impact was. Yep.

Ren: You said you grew up in the middle of two boys. You were the middle child, correct?

John: Yep.

Ren: They are 5 years older, 5 years younger?

John: Correct.

Ren: What was that experience like?

John: You know it's interesting. My older brother Jim, we all have the initial JED, there's James Edward, John Elliott, Joseph Eugene, so all three of us are JEDs. Jim was the athlete of the family. He played football and played it well, was an all-state football player in West Virginia. Went off to college. Went to West Virginia Tech and did not end up playing football there, and spent four years there, but did not get his degree. Then I was the academic of the family, did well in high school. Went off to college, did my undergraduate work at a 8:00little school known as Alderson Broaddus College, which is in Philippi, West Virginia and I did well academically there.

You know one of the things that I'm proud of is that I worked myself through college. My brothers and I all three we pretty much worked ourselves through college, and there's not been a time since I was 15 years of age in which I wasn't on somebody's payroll. I started working, actually my first job I started working as a sport writer, runner for the local weekly newspaper, the Nicholas Chronical, and beyond doing the sports and so forth I did all kinds of things, and the reason I had that connection... It was the school's newspaper, as I was 9:00the editor of the school newspaper, and also the editor of the school yearbook both my junior and senior years. And so got into really the sports writing activity. And then when I went off to college I created a sports information office. Alderson Broaddus never really had a sports information office, and so I created that as a freshman on a work study program, and then remained in that job and did that all four years I was there. And then when I graduated I remained there in a public information office position for a year before I went into a fundraising position.

Going back to Summersville, it was a neat place to grow up. I still value the relationship. Summersville went through a major transformation though as I was growing up about 1962, so I would have been 8 years of age. The Corps of 10:00Engineers built a large flood control dam and reservoir there. At the time it was the largest earth-filled dam in the United States versus a concrete. They moved the earth and created this large dam. And Summersville now is very well-known, okay. As you put in below the dam it's one of the most popular white-water rafting rivers called the Gauley River, one of the most popular in the world for a three-week period.

A funny story about the Summersville Dam, which is a true story, is it was the practice of the Corp of Engineers to name projects after either the river on which it is placed or the nearest post office. And so for example close to us 11:00here is Bluestone Dam because it's on the Bluestone River. North of Summersville there was a project called the Sutton Dam because it was near the post office of Sutton. Summersville Dam, which it's known now, which was completed in 1967, they just celebrated their 50th Anniversary, it the celebration, President Johnson was the President and he actually came to dedicate the dam as President.

Ren: Oh wow.

John: But the story here about Summersville Dam, a true story, is that the river on which the dam is placed is the Gauley River. The nearest post office was a little town that had the biblical name of Gad, okay. So the two options that the Corps of Engineers had were either Gauley Dam or Gad Dam. And so what they did is they named it after the next nearest post office which was Summersville, so now it's known as the Summersville Dam. True story.

Ren: That's great. Oh my gosh, that's a great story. Your brothers all had the initials JED. My dad was James Edward.

John: Oh was it really? My older brother is James Edward. Yeah.

Ren: You mentioned earlier about Nicholas County High School, the Grizzly Bears, right?

John: Yep, the Grizzlies.

Ren: When did you first start thinking about college? You said you were the academic of the family.

John: Yeah.

Ren: And you attended as you mentioned Alderson Broaddus University, right?

John: It's Alderson Broaddus University now, but it was ABC, Alderson Broaddus College, yeah.

Ren: You majored in elementary education?

John: Elementary Ed is my undergraduate and major.

Ren: So, once you kind of graduated college where did life take you after that?

John: That's a great question. The first thing as you picked up here, I was 13:00first generation off to college. My older brother did not graduate from West Virginia Tech until well after I had finished. He did go back and finish, so I was the first in my father's family to get a degree, simply because Jim dropped out before he got his done. You know my parents wanted all three of their sons to go to college and so they were very encouraging of us from the get-go. Now my mother had started to college in 1941 and then World War II broke out. You had Pearl Harbor in December and so she dropped out to return home to help support the family and the war effort. So she just spent less than a semester there and 14:00then returned home. But, I always toyed with the idea of did I want to be a preacher, a minister or a teacher. So as you said I got my undergraduate degree in elementary education, with all intention of being a schoolteacher. That's what I wanted to be. I had actually accepted a position Ren back in Nicholas County in a four-room schoolhouse for where I was going to be responsible for grades 5 and 6. So at that time you said a four-room schoolhouse. You had mandatory kindergarten at that point. When I went through school kindergarten was not mandatory. And so you had K through 1 was a grade, 2 and 3 was a grade... I'm sorry, K was a grade by itself, 1 and 2 was a grade, 3 and 4 was a 15:00grade, 5 and 6, and I was going to teach 5 and 6. I had accepted a position to go back to Nicholas County. And then the day I graduated from college as the President of the college was handing my diploma and he asked me, "Are you willing to stay over for a few minutes after the ceremony so I can talk to you?"

Ren: As he was handing you your degree?

John: As he was handing my degree, and so I stayed back and he said, "Hey, we really would like for you to remain here, so I would like to offer you a position to stay here in a public information role and to continue the sports information function, plus expand it." And so I checked with the superintendent of schools in Nicholas County. I didn't want to go...and he said, "John, do what you want to do here." So I stayed at Alderson Broaddus, and my first year is in a public information position and then there was a major fire of the Central 16:00Administration Building, that destroyed the Central Administration Building. And so I found myself in my first fundraising job, because I took on a position and campaign to raise money to replace the Administration Building that burned. And so did that, then expanded my duties there.

But left there 51/2 years, I spent 51/2 years there, a great time, okay, because an opportunity came up at Virginia Tech and a friend of mine that was on the faculty of Virginia Tech at the time said, "Hey, you ought to take a look at this opportunity." And what it did Ren was it... I grew up very active in the 4-H program as a kid in Nicholas County and remained active as a 4-H volunteer leader 17:00as an adult. And so Virginia Tech was wanting to develop a year-around 4-H facility, a conference camping facility in Northern Virginia. Had obtained a piece of land, 229 acres outside of Front Royal, Virginia, and they were developing that to be a 4-H educational center. The position came open there. My friend, a person by the name of [00:17:32 Pam] Beverage who was on the 4-H staff here at the time encouraged me to submit my application because it matched my 4-H interest and my fundraising experience at that point, because the opportunity was really to raise the money to build a facility, launch a program.

Ren: What year was this?

John: This was in 1981, so I pursued this and was granted the job and started there in March of '82, and then spent 81/2 years in Front Royal with the 18:00Extension Service as the Director of the 4-H Center there. It was a great job. It was probably my favorite job of my professional career, and the reason being is I was provided just a priceless piece of property. The land itself sits up on the hillside. The Appalachian Trail runs right through the back of it. The Shenandoah National Park is right next to it. The view is spectacular. And so during that period of time we raised over $15-million to build a facility. Launched the program. We served the 4-H program, but we reached out and created some new endeavors.

One of my proudest achievements of my professional career is working with a 19:00Hokie out of Winchester who came to see me in my first year. He and his wife, his name is Tom Baker, he and his wife Sheila had lost a daughter to cancer, and so one of the things that Tom and Sheila wanted to do was to create a camping education program for kids with cancer. At the time there were only two other programs in the country. This is 1982, two other programs in the country for kids with cancer like this. And of course at that time pediatric oncology the fatality rate was very high. And so Tom came to see me, and he said, "Hey, would you be willing to work with us in order to launch this program?" I said, "Sure, 20:00let's do this." So he and I, Julie, his daughter that had died from cancer had been treated at the National Cancer Institute. And so Tom and I hopped in the car and drove down to the National Cancer Institute, got them involved. They said that they would provide the medical support if we launched this program. We got UVA, MCV, Kings Daughters in Norfolk. We actually got Johns Hopkins engaged.

And so the following summer, in August of 1983 we launched the first week long camp for kids with cancer called Camp Fantastic is what we called this. We actually started a not-for-profit that would raise the resources to support the program called Special Love Incorporated. And so then we started the camping program, Camp Fantastic in 1983 and it still runs. They just celebrated their 35th year this past year of the program in Front Royal. Having a new forum that 21:00was not necessarily tied with a traditional program allowed us to do that. We also launched programs with kids with hemophilia, with other special needs. One of my favorite programs that we started doing, which was really a neat program, is a program that we called Christmas Camp. I'm not so sure that would be politically correct now, but what we did is the recognition that there were a lot of senior adults who were alone at Christmas. And so we would bring them in to Front Royal for a 3-day program, actually brought them in on Christmas Day, and we engaged 4-H team leaders in leadership roles, and it was a great program. So we were able to do out of the box things, which was great. Keep me on track.

Ren: You're fine. This is perfect. I'm loving this. Your first, maybe it wasn't when you started working at Virginia Tech, but your first memory of the campus. Do you remember what it looked like, how you felt, what it smelled like? Was that when you came maybe for a job interview?

John: I had been on campus, okay. One of my friends from college from Summersville came to college here. So when I was a student at AB made a trip down here to Virginia Tech, now remember, my context of a major university at that time was WVU. And I came here, and I just couldn't believe that a major university could be as attractive as Virginia Tech was. WVU, no disrespect, but the campus you had the old downtown campus and then you've got the campus that's 23:00on the outskirts of Morgantown at the time, and it was a distributor campus and not real attractive. But I came here and I just couldn't believe. At that time, and I'll put this in context, this would have been 1974 or '75, total enrollment at Virginia Tech was about 17,000 I guess at that time. Of course I'm coming down from AB, which was about 1,000 students, and I just couldn't believe how big the place was, but I couldn't believe how beautiful the place was either. Obviously, the Hokie Stone buildings were very attractive. It was a neat place.

Ren: Once you finished working at the 4-H Center where did your career go from there?

John: My boss, the Director of the Extension at the time was a guy by the name 24:00of Jim Johnson. Jim visited with me in Front Royal. This was in October of 1990. Jim came to me and he said, "John, the time has come for you to move to Blacksburg." And I said, "Jim, I don't want to move to Blacksburg." At that time we had three little girls. We had two 5-year olds and a 3-year-old. We had twins and so we had three little girls and we were very happy in Front Royal, and so Jim says, "John, the time has come for you to move to Blacksburg." What he was wanting me to do is become the Executive Director of the Virginia 4-H Foundation, which then I would be responsible for fundraising for the entire 4-H program. And so he said, "The time has come for you to move to Blacksburg," and I said, "Jim, 25:00I don't want to move to Blacksburg. We're very happy and content here." He said, "John, the time has come for you to move to Blacksburg." So I'm a slow learner, okay, but I picked up on that pretty quickly that now was the time for me to move to Blacksburg.

So we moved to Blacksburg in December of 1990. There is a story with that Ren, is we finished up and the twins at the time were first graders in Front Royal. So my wife had come down earlier that day to meet the movers. The movers had moved us out of the house. They had picked up our furniture the day before and moved it out. And so I waited until the girls were out of school, picked them up and then brought them down along with our dog. Well, all three of the girls had been exposed to a virus, and so halfway down the interstate, down 81, and I'm 26:00with the three girls, the three little ones plus the dog, and all of a sudden okay, I'm dealing with a stomach virus in the car. And so this is right before Christmas, this is December 22nd. And so we get here and the twins had a light version. The baby, Becky, had it badly, so badly that we had to hospitalize her in the midst of this move, so our first Christmas in Blacksburg was challenging.

And then I started my work here. I served as the Executive of the 4-H Foundation from January of '91 to the spring of '95, and then at that time I became 27:00Associate Director of Extension and was responsible for both the 4-H and the family programs and extensions, so a fairly large portfolio. Again, a great job that allowed me to travel all over the State to make all kinds of networks and connections. It was something. That was a great part of my career.

Ren: I knew we were kindred spirits a little bit, but also we are both graduates of the College of Education, at your time, and the School of Education now. In 1994 you graduated with a master's degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.

John: Correct.

Ren: And a PHD in 1998.

John: Correct.

Ren: So, I want to ask you about going back into the classroom. After you had served in these positions, you had a family, which a lot of people do, what was that experience like of being in graduate school at the university that you were 28:00working at also?

John: Now remember as I was working full-time as I was doing graduate school. I worked full-time through my entire graduate school experience. And so what I was doing for the master's, particularly I was taking a couple of classes a semester and then working full-time. So after I finished my master's in '94 and started immediately working on my doctorate I was taking a heavier course load, sometimes as many as three courses and still working full-time, and having three young ones.

Ren: How did you balance all that?

John: Well, I had a good spouse okay, who did the balancing for me. You know my routine, Ren, at that time I had loads of energy, a high energy level. I would 29:00be into work no later than 6 or 6:30 in the morning, because most of your graduate classes would begin at 4 o'clock. And so what I would do is I would get in early, work until 4, go off to classes at 4 and worked 5 days a week. Weekends, as I was in the library when they opened the doors at 7 o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, would stay there until 5 o'clock -- working, reading, studying. And then when 5 o'clock came on Saturday, from 5 o'clock until Saturday until we put the kids to bed on Sunday evening that was family time, totally undisrupted family time, totally devoted to family, and so that was the 30:00routine. And you had to stay disciplined with that.

But it was a tough road. I was envious to some degree of my colleagues in graduate school who were on assistanceships and so forth, and that was their full-time job. As I said, I was still working full-time and a student. If you put it in context, to finish up your PhD, post master's in 4 years and work full-time was quite an accomplishment.

Ren: Absolutely. I want to ask you about in your coursework and getting your master's and your doctorate, some influential professors or advisors that you had and kind of what role did mentorship play?

John: The role of mentorship is, there's no way I can overstate the value of 31:00that. We were very blessed at that time Virginia Tech to have some really suburb leaders in the College of Education that were true leaders in the field. A guy by the name of Glen Earthman who is still living, and I think even teaches on occasion yet, was chair on my committee, was just very very helpful through that whole process as a mentor. One of my favorites was a guy by the name of Tom Hunt. Dr. Hunt taught here for many years, left here to go to the University of Dayton. His whole area was the history of education, was a fascinating professor, was great. A guy by the name of Dave Parks, Dick Salmon, David 32:00Alexander, I mean all of these individuals had a major impact. You know not only my academic success, but certainly had a great influence on my understanding of and appreciation for higher education as a social abstract, and as a social vehicle for societal enhancement.

Ren: I'm going to have to ask you because he is my co-chair, did you ever have any classes with Jim Garrison?

John: I did not have Dr. Garrison in Ed Psych, I did not have him. He's your co-chair?

Ren: Yeah, he's my co-chair.

John: Who is your other co-chair?

Ren: David Klein, which he's in the History Department. He was the one I started working on VT Stories with in the early days, and he's at the University of California San Diego. He left Virginia Tech last year, so he was my pal. So you 33:00kind of finished these degrees, I know you kind of changed jobs again shortly thereafter, right?

John: I finished my doctorate in March of '98 and then remained in my role with Extension until August of 2001. So I was Associate Director of Extension from '95 through 2001. And then in 2001 we had a new President, a new Provost, and I was hired Associate Provost and started in August of 2001, Associate Provost for Outreach. And so my set of responsibilities at that time I assumed mostly for the University's activities outside of Blacksburg, our extended campus centers. I was responsible for the continuing education programs, economic development programs, and was in that role, ran for about 15 months. And then we went 34:00through, there was a major reorganization. They put a much broader portfolio together where they merged the international program, basically everything that was not Blacksburg centering, okay, became a part of my administrative responsibility. I carried the title Vice Provost for Outreach and International Affairs until 2007, 2008 and then they changed that title to Vice President for Outreach and International Affairs. I carried that through until 2012.

Again, it was a great job. In it Virginia Tech was one of my projects. I was the administrative lead with the development with Virginia Tech. That was a great experience, the development of our international centers, all of that.

Ren: I want to ask you about the development of both the Alexandria campus and also the Switzerland campus. Can you give a quick summary of how those came to be?

John: Oh sure. Well let's first deal with the Swiss campus that we now call the Steger Center. Actually, the Virginia Tech Foundation acquired that asset back in 1991 to support education abroad program primarily for the College of Architecture. Charlie Steger was at the time Dean of the College of Architecture and they had been running an international study abroad program in Lugano Switzerland. Actually it started up in Zurich and then moved to Lugano. There was a desire to secure a facility to support that, and so that happened when 36:00President Steger was the Dean of Architecture. So when I came into this role it was already 10-11 years, when I became Vice President for Outreach International [in Paris]. And so we developed and further diversified the programs there when I was the Vice President that really made it a hub of activity for all of Europe and then used that as a prototype or as a model to look at other continental strategies, which I can share with you at another time later in the interview.

Alexandria itself similarly, again, President Steger was the Dean of Architecture, and the Alexandria presence was primarily to build opportunities for architecture students in the Washington, DC area, and so the Foundation 37:00again acquired those assets for that program. And so the College of Architecture developed and delivered the programs that are offered through the Alexandria campus. Yeah.

Ren: In 2012 is that when you became the CEO?

John: I became CEO of the Virginia Tech Foundation in 2012.

Ren: Can you describe what is the Virginia Tech Foundation, what do they do and kind of what is your role as the CEO?

John: Sure. The Virginia Tech Foundation is the private support arm of Virginia Tech. We manage the University's private assets. We are the fiduciary of private assets, and so that is translated into where we manage the endowment, which supports educational programs. The endowment just at the end of September surpassed a billion dollars...for the first time, which we are very pleased that 38:00we have gotten to that threshold, but we've got to keep pushing on to continue to grow it.

Ren: So fewer than 100 colleges in the nation have an endowment of over billion dollars.

John: That is correct.

Ren: I just wanted to point out, in 2007 the endowment was 524-million, so in ten years it doubled.

John: You know when I came of course you had the major correction of 2008-2009 where we dropped down to lower than 400-million at that point. When I came into this role the endowment was about 520-million, so we've nearly doubled it in the 5-plus years that I've been here. That's quite the accomplishment. We've got a great investment team that works with us. In addition to the endowment, now we also acquire and manage private real estate for the University, for 39:00program-driven real estate. The University will come to the Foundation and say, "We are needing to expand our educational programs and we need you to acquire the real estate to support that." We just talked about our center in Switzerland, that was such an initiative. The Alexandria properties, we now have four major holdings in Alexandria, the support educational programs there.

Back in 2010-2011 we built a large research facility in Arlington that was a $90-million project that we did for the University for its program expansion in Northern Virginia. The Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center is owned by the Foundation. So our total portfolio, if you look at the endowment plus the purpose-driven or the mission-driven real estate that we hold for the University, the total asset base that we manage is about $1.7-billion on behalf 40:00of the University. So that's our role for the Foundation. We also receive gifts on behalf of the University. We don't do fundraising, but we are the entity that receives gifts, manages the gifts, supports educational programs and distributes gifts for that. My role is to oversee that entire operation. I have great people that work for me that do the nitty-gritty, but my job is to oversee the entire enterprise, the Foundation.

Ren: How big is the team for the Foundation?

John: I have four directory ports and then the extended team is about 70 people, directed or Foundation employees, Foundation-related entities. In addition to that, for example the Hotel Roanoke in Roanoke is a Virginia Tech Foundation 41:00property. Of course it has 300 employees, so I don't count those in with that.

Ren: A couple of questions here, throughout your time at Virginia Tech when you first started, when you moved your family to Blacksburg until today in 2017, what are some of your favorite memories or experiences during this time? I know it could be hundreds, so we could spend all day, but if you could maybe pick a few what would those be?

John: Favorite memories of those years, okay, I still delight, absolutely delight in commencement each year. I mean I delight in that experience. And the reason being is I will sit and watch the families, because for many of our families we still have a very large number of first generations that come to 42:00Virginia Tech. And for many of our families they have scraped and they scrap to find the resources for their child to Virginia Tech, and I delight in every commencement. I get chill bumps and that's one of the major reasons we are here. So that's a renewal every year Ren that I get to... You know, special occasions that we have had here that I think back on with the celebrations that we've had with the end of two major capital campaigns were great events. The last one where we celebrated surpassing $1.1-billion in financial commitments from friends and alumni at the institution. There are many wonderful memories of 43:00football games. The undefeated season, in 1999, great memories from that. I'm a basketball freak. I love college basketball. I enjoy football, but football weekends are hard work for us. We do a lot...

Ren: As I've seen. [Laughs]

John: Yeah, I guess you've experienced, it's a lot of work. I can go into Castle Coliseum and just be a fan, okay.

Ren: Wear a disguise.

John: And I am a fan. I love college basketball. You know when we've beaten Duke here in Castle Coliseum those are great memories. And so, there are just so many. You know the only -- I tell folks, I'm about to finish, I'm in my 36th year, I will finish up 36 years here in March, is I have loved all of my years 44:00of Virginia Tech with the exception of the week following April 16th. That was a tough time, okay, that was a tough tough time. So I look back on that, there were some remarkable experiences within with it also that just speaks to the character and community that we are a part of. Thanksgiving is in three days, okay, I feel so blessed and thankful for having the opportunity that I've had over these 36 years to be a part of the Virginia Tech community.

Ren: Amen. I want to ask you, if someone who just simply says the words Virginia Tech what's the first thing that you think of?

John: The first thing I think of is community, the first thing. Let me tell you a story about that. Just this past weekend we hosted... Well, let me back up, is one of the key individuals who helped us realize our center in Switzerland is a 45:00businesswoman that is based in Lugano by the name of Marissa Garzoni. Ms. Garzoni, a delightful wonderful individual, a woman of great influence in Switzerland, and she on many occasions has helped us. She sits on the board that we've established to help oversee the operations there. It's called the Ferrari Foundation, but Ms. Garzoni has been just so instrumental there.

Well, her grandson is a guy by the name of Jean Marco Zarloni. Jean Marco came here and studied for a semester two years ago, returned back to Switzerland where he is working on his degree. Well, he's studying at Columbia University this semester. So Jean Marco when he was here in Blacksburg for the semester it 46:00was spring semester, so he didn't experience a Hokie football game. And so Jean Marco, I invited him and so he came down this past weekend from New York City to experience a Hokie football game. Now where this is going, okay, is as we were talking to Jean Marco over the weekend and he was talking about his experience in Columbia versus his experience here, the thing that he mentioned was community. He said, "You know, at Columbia I am not experiencing the community experience that I had here." And he said he really missed that, and for some reason he had made the assumption that that was characteristic of all of American higher education, but that's missing in his experience at Columbia and he kept going on and on about community, how much he felt a part of the 47:00community here. And he just over the weekend experiencing what he called his first football match, he kept calling it a match, but the community. And it was fun watching him the stadium. Of course I'm in the President's box, but his seats were down below, is watching him with Enter Sandman, his first. I mean he got into like everyone else. It was great.

Ren: So to this conversation of a community and time, kind of these three themes we were talking about, with kind of the response of the community of April 16th and kind of what the student experienced, and also relates to this generosity of the Hokie Nation which you talk about, what is it about this University or this place that you think as someone who kind of has been here many years, has overseen a lot of different facets and in your role now that makes them want to be engaged in a way? Whether it's in a philanthropic way or just being a proud 48:00supporter of Virginia Tech, what do you think it is about this community?

John: I think there are three factors that come into play here. One is our location. We are located in a beautiful part of the world that in relative terms has very little distractions. And so when you think of Blacksburg it's difficult to think of Blacksburg, we are a one-horse town, okay. We're the University town, so you have limited distractions Ren that contribute to that. You know, the second is our commitment to our motto, Ut Prosim. I know of no other institution that is so committed so its motto and so committed that it really 49:00does become a part of that culture, and so I think that contributes to this sense of community in a very meaningful way, that it just isn't something that rolls off our tongue that is essential to our heart and our minds.

And then the third, which I'm always mindful of, is I am blessed to work with good people. The people at this institution they are good academics, they are good scholars, but at their core they are good people. They care about the mission of this institution. They care about our students. They care about the research. They care about the impact of research. And so I know of, now remember, I'm fairly limited. I'm a Hokie, okay, so there's bias, but the sense to mission of my colleagues here to making a contribution that has a legacy 50:00through our students, through our research makes this a very special place.

Ren: When you kind of look across campus, what things do you see that inspire you, and then also what things do you see that concern you?

John: Well, the inspiration, as you can see here I've got a wonderful venue, from my conference room, from my desk, and I look across this view, and there's not a place that I can place my eyes that doesn't inspire me from the standpoint that I have stories of each of these places. I look over there and I see Slusher Tower. A quick story, because we're about telling stories, okay, is when my only 51:00Hokie daughter, the other two went to JMU, when my other Hokie daughter, when she in Blacksburg High School decided she wanted to go to Virginia Tech I asked her, "Do you want me to influence where your residence hall will be?" She said, "No dad, I want to do this on my own, this entire experience. I want this to be my experience." Now okay, remember, I spent my early career in Blacksburg. My office was in Hutchinson Hall. I had watched for years the parents standing in line waiting for the elevator at Slusher Hall, Slusher Tower in the heat and move in, and how miserable of an experience that was for them. And so I just 52:00said, "Okay Stacy, it's yours. Let's pray and hope you aren't assigned to Slusher Tower," okay. Lo and behold she gets her room assignment -- 12th Floor Slusher Tower. And so I look at Slusher Tower, I have a memory. Now, the rest of that story as Paul Harvey would say is that it worked out perfectly because we live here locally, and so we could move her in late in the evening after all the throngs had moved and didn't have a problem.

But I look across this campus and there are inspirations. I look here at the hotel Conference Center. The conference Center is named after a guy by the Bill Skelton, Skelton Conference Center, he was a great inspiration. Again, Castle 53:00Coliseum, Hahn Hall, Marshall Hall, so what I see is I don't see buildings, I see people and experiences, and that inspires me. That's what this place is all about. What troubles me or what might bother me or concern me is I continue to be concerned, I'm concerned about the retrenchment of state support for higher education and such. And I worry about the ability of our students and future generations to be able to afford higher education, and I'm concerned about those who are carrying big debt as they are leaving here. But again, that concern also serves as an inspiration as to how we manage the University's private resources, and how we encourage our successful alumni in contributing that to where we can 54:00minimize that impact on students.

Ren: I want to ask you about the John E. Dooley Student Engagement Grant. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

John: Sure. When I retired from the University, let me differentiate here, when I accepted the position as the CEO of the Foundation I had to separate from the University, so I had to retire from the University, because we must keep a firewall between the Foundation as the University as it relates to management. The Foundation is a separate entity that has a singular mission of supporting Virginia Tech, and we do not want to be in a situation to where there can be confusion as it relates to administrative alignment, okay. So as CEO of the Foundation I support to a private board of directors. I don't report to the 55:00President of the University. The President of the University serves on my board, but he's only one voice on the Board. So when I retired from the University after 30 years of service, when I made that transition, is several friends they knew that one of my passions was this Ut Prosim. I had started the VT Engage when I was Vice President, so they contributed to this fund, this excellence fund to help support students develop and then deliver programs that are engaged in communities to advance human interest. Yeah, and then my wife and I continue to contribute to that effort.

Ren: That's wonderful. Thank you. Last couple of questions and wrapping up here, 56:00thank you very much for speaking with us.

John: It's been a pleasure.

Ren: I really enjoyed this. This is kind of a big question that we ask people and I love the responses, but what does Virginia Tech mean to you?

John: Well, enlightenment. Ren, we started out this conversation talking about me growing up in Summersville, West Virginia, which was this little sleepy coalmining town. I talked to you about our neighborhood with all these friends, neighbors within relative...the same age, the post-World War II. And I can remember laying in the evening in the summer in the grass and looking up into the sky and kind of contemplating what's the meaning of life and such, as a kid, and so forth. Looking back on a career now at Virginia Tech that's now spanned 57:00nearly 36 years, I would have never envisioned the experiences that I would have experienced that Virginia Tech has afforded me. I was 22 years of age before I took my first plane ride, was in an airplane. I spent 11 years as the Vice President for Outreach and International Affairs, visited 70 countries during that period of time, you know. I have sat down with heads of state in different countries, seen things that I could have never envisioned when I was that 7 or 8-year-old kid laying in the grass, looking into the sky and contemplating the future, well beyond that.

So that's what Virginia Tech means to me. It's opened doors. It's enlightenment. 58:00It has allowed me to understand what a wonderful world in which we live, and the fact that at the core of all of us there is a very basic set of needs and desires to connect and to connect with people. And that's been a blessing, is connecting when he was a student with our friend Bo Hart. There are many like that that are in my life that I just feel so blessed and so rich because of the Virginia Tech experience.

Ren: Is there anything else that you would like people to know about you or anything I didn't ask that you would want to say? It's just kind of an open-ended question.

John: The thing that I think most people know about me is that I have great passion for what I do, and I like to do it showing compassion. People ask me 59:00when are you going to retire? Okay, 36 years here, 6 years at AB before I came here. You're getting at that point in life where you ought to be thinking about retirement, 42 years in the profession. And I tell folks when I can wake up in the morning and get up and say okay, can I do something good for somebody today? And then when I get home that day I measure that single metric, did I do something today that may have helped somebody? As long as I can always say yep, I was able to check that one off today, why quit doing what I'm doing? It's a great place to be.

So what's at my core? What's are the core of education is helping people realize 60:00their greatest potential by learning and understanding. So that's what drives me. That's what I want people to know, what drives me is knowing that possibly every day I can help someone realize a step to their potential.

Ren: So, from a small-town Summersville, West Virginia and a son of a coalminer to the CEO of Virginia Tech Foundation that manages an endowment of over a billion dollars, John Dooley thank you so much for your service to this University and thank you for sitting down with VT Stories. I really appreciate it, so thank you so much. It's nice meeting you.

John: It's been great, so thank you.

Ren: Thank you so much.