Joseph Sullivan, of Blacksburg, the Joseph H. Collie Professor of Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, was conferred with the title "professor emeritus" by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors during the board’s quarterly meeting Monday, Aug. 23.

The title of emeritus may be conferred on retired professors and associate professors, administrative officers, librarians, and exceptional staff members who have given exemplary service to the university and who are specially recommended to the board of visitors by Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board of visitors receive an emeritus certificate from the university.

A member of the Virginia Tech faculty for seven years, Sullivan taught a variety of undergraduate courses, served as chairman of the Undergraduate Committee in the College of Engineering, and served as assistant head of the Department of Chemical Engineering. He also served on the Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties Board of Directors, the Environmental Protection Agency Administrators National Advisory Committee on Environmental Policy and Technology, and the on the board of directors of Hexcel Corporation and Degusse Metals Catalysts Cerdec.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

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 research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg, and other campus centers in northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 170 academic degree programs.

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