Virginia Tech student receives University Student Leadership Award
Pankaj Gupta of New Delhi, India, chemical engineering graduate student in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has won the Outstanding Graduate Student Leader Award at Virginia Tech.
The Outstanding Undergraduate Student Leader Award is one of 10 University Student Leadership Awards given annually by Virginia Tech's Department of Student Activities in the Division of Student Affairs to recognize outstanding members, extraordinary achievements by an organization, advisers, volunteerism, and service-learning experiences.
Gupta has held many leadership positions in his time at Virginia Tech. He is in his second term as president of the Graduate Student Assembly (GSA). In this position, he acts as the voice of more than 6,000 graduate students at Virginia Tech. Gupta also served as the president for the Council of International Student Organizations in 2002-2003, in which he organized events at Virginia Tech that promote diversity, multiculturalism and awareness regarding international cultures.
Gupta served as the chemical engineering representative to the GSA in 2001-2003 and as the GSA representative to the student budget board in 2001-2002. Gupta also is a member of the Voice of Students, the Commission on Student Affairs, the Graduate Student Health Insurance Committee and the Graduate Student Relations Committee. Each fall he is an International Student Orientation Mentor, helping international students get adjusted and oriented to Virginia Tech.
Kim Beisecker, director of the Cranwell International Center at Virginia Tech, nominated Gupta for the award because of how he values diversity, teamwork and concern for fellow students. "Pankaj cares a lot about what he is doing, and has an interest in the success and happiness of the Virginia Tech community," said Beisecker. "His leadership has lead to a universitywide understanding of the needs of different individuals and groups. He is the embodiment of a great leader. He has proven this on our campus and will no doubt carry this reputation into the world."
Gupta believes that a good leader is made through teamwork. "It is always the team that makes anything you try to achieve possible, not the individual effort," he said.
He recognizes that every person that he works with comes from a different background, has a different work ethic and a different set of values. As a leader he values this diversity. "Having people from diverse backgrounds help you appreciate and understand the different viewpoints of an issue, and as the leader, make the best decisions possible," he said.
The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is internationally recognized for its excellence in 14 engineering disciplines and computer science. The college's 5,600 undergraduates benefit from an innovative curriculum that provides a "hands-on, minds-on" approach to engineering education, complementing classroom instruction with two unique design-and-build facilities and a strong Cooperative Education Program. With more than 50 research centers and numerous laboratories, the college offers its 2,000 graduate students opportunities in advanced fields of study such as biomedical engineering, state-of-the-art microelectronics, and nanotechnology.
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 180 academic degree programs.
