Minish Named Interim Head of Admissions at Virginia Tech

Roberta M.Minish, of Blacksburg, Va., associate dean emeritus of Virginia Tech's former College of Human Sciences and Education, has been named interim director of undergraduate admissions at the university, effective Jan. 19. She fills the position left vacant in December with the resignation of Karen Torgersen.

"We are pleased that Dr. Minish has agreed to accept this interim appointment. Her background and experience with the university make her the ideal person to head undergraduate admissions until we are able to fill the position on a permanent basis," said David R. Ford, vice provost for academic programs, in making the announcement.

Minish, who first began working at Virginia Tech in 1977, served as associate dean for 17 years before her retirement in 2000. She was responsible for outreach programs, industry advisory boards, alumni activities, undergraduate recruitment and scholarships, placement and career fairs, and the development of outreach and recruitment publications and promotional materials. She also served as interim head of the Department of Clothing and Textiles.

From 1981 to 1983, she was assistant dean of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. Before that, she served for three years as assistant to the dean of the Extension Division and one year as associate director of the Donaldson Brown Center for Continuing Education, where she provided non-credit program planning leadership for two colleges.

During her tenure with the university, she made presentations at professional conferences throughout the country and wrote a number of articles that were published in professional journals. She also developed ideas for several videos, including recruiting videos; news sheets; news letters; and a college magazine.

Active in professional organizations, Minish served as vice president, program committee chair, member of the steering committee, and publications editor of the Board on Human Sciences/Association of Administrators of Human Sciences and chaired both the Council for Accreditation and the Commission on Graduate Studies for the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. She has also been a member of the board of directors for the Virginia Tech Alumni Association since 2002.

Minish received an Ed.D. from Virginia Tech, an M.A. in human ecology from Michigan State University, and a B.S. in family and consumer sciences from Iowa State University.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech’s eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top 30 research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 170 academic degree programs.