Faculty and Staff: Internal Resources
Welcome to the Department Resource Page: This page serves as a central hub for faculty, staff, and students seeking guidance on departmental questions, needs, and protocols. Below, you'll find key resources to support your most frequently asked questions. Check back often for updates.
All travel, foreign and domestic, must be pre-approved. Please use the following Google form to submit your travel request.
- Included staff:
All food order requests must be submitted via email to Pailin, Andrea, and Jennifer. Please copy all three staff members on your initial request. - Advance notice:
Requests must be submitted no later than 5 business days prior to the event, with all required information. We will not be able to accommodate late submissions. If you have not submitted your request within 5 days, you will need to order the food and then submit for reimbursement. - Required information:
Please include the following details in your email:- Date and time of the event
- Headcount, along with the names of confirmed attendees
- Funding source
- Spending limits:
If the department is covering the cost using Foundation funds, the meal expense must not exceed 200% of the standard per diem rate.- If non-departmental Foundation funds are being used, the University permits up to 300% of the per diem rate.
- If using a state/grant fund, please use the regular per diem rate.
- Alcohol is only permitted for use with certain Foundation funds.
- Per diem rates for FY26 are as follows:
- Breakfast $16
- Lunch $19
- Dinner $28
We are using a Google Drive folder for faculty to upload all receipts related to reimbursement requests. Each faculty member has a personal link to their own folder.
Please upload:
- All relevant receipts
- A brief summary of expenses in either a Word document or Excel spreadsheet
Once your documents are uploaded, please email Pailin, Jennifer, and Andrea to notify us that your reimbursement request has been submitted.
Please use this form to request an honorarium payment. All documents requested in the form are required in order for the University to approve payment.
AAEC lockups
- Download print/web options (ZIP file)
- Full color (RGB, web)
- White color (RGB, web)
Other lockups
- The Kohl Centre
- LUVA
- COINS
- Center for Economic Education
- USDA logo and sub-identity lockups
- The Center for Agricultural Trade - Print - vertical | Print - horizontal | White | Web
You may use the master or primary brand extension lockup logo letterhead.
Virginia Tech slide deck (Template)
AAEC actively engages with alumni and industry locally, regionally, statewide, nationally, and internationally. We are continually curating a list of alumni and stakeholders willing to share their expertise with students, enriching experiential learning opportunities in the classroom. Click here to let Melissa know who you wish to book for your class.
Click here to view details
Click here for checklist, sample syllabus statements, tips, and more.
If you have any alumni updates or need contact information for a particular alum, please reach out to Melissa.
Download process {PDF format}
Melissa Vidmar manages facilities for the department and serves as the primary point of contact for facility-related issues and concerns. 540-320-8230.
- During normal business hours (Monday–Friday, 7:30 a.m.–5 p.m.): 540-231-4300
- Outside normal business hours: For emergencies, contact Virginia Tech Police at 540-231-6411.
- Virginia Tech emergency management resources: https://emergency.vt.edu/index1.html
- Sign up for VT alerts: https://www.alerts.vt.edu/
- Online emergency toolkit: https://emergency.vt.edu/ready/toolkit.html
- Ergonomics consultation requests: https://ehs.vt.edu/programs/occupational-safety/ergonomics.html
AAEC Committees
- Department Head: Karl Rich
- Graduate Director: Chunbei Wang
- Undergraduate Director: Olga Massa
- Extension Director: Mario Ortez
- Faculty Senate Representative: Catherine Larochelle
- Elections: Jen Friedel
- CALS Curriculum Committee (2026-2027): Shamar Stewart
Departmental Meetings
Governance (Last Term)
To act as a liaison between faculty, staff, and the department head and vice versa for the initiation and discussion of issues to be addressed by the faculty, staff, and department head.
- John Bovay (2026-2027)
- Jen Friedel (2026-2027)
A new election will be held soon to fill the member positions listed below:
- Olga Massa (2026)
- Shamar Stewart (2026)
Promotion and Tenure (5-Year Term)
To provide guidance, feedback, and evaluation for individuals seeking promotion and tenure within the university system.
- George Davis (2028)
- Jason Grant (2027)
- Catherine Larochelle (2031)
- Brad Mills (2029) (Chair)
- Nancy Moseley
- Kurt Stephenson (Ex Officio CALS P&T)
- Le Wang (2030)
Activities and Events
To develop and implement activities designed to increase social capital both within and outside of the department. The committee will collaborate with the appropriate faculty and/or staff as needed for each activity or event.
- Jen Shelton
- Kurt Stephenson (Chair)
Activities and Events Committee minutes
Awards
To identify, recommend, and assist faculty, staff, students, and alumni in achieving recognition for contributions both internally and externally to Virginia Tech.
- Darrell Bosch (Co-Chair)
- Dixie Watts Dalton (Co-Chair)
- George Davis
- Chanit'a Holmes
- Nancy Moseley
Extension and Outreach
To advance agriculture, the environment, human health and well-being, and communities through the conducting and dissemination of research and educational activities.
- Shourish Chakravarty
- Jen Friedel
- Man Li
- Clint Neill
- Mario Ortez (Chair)
- Jonathan van Senten
- Melissa Vidmar
Extension and Outreach Committee minutes
External Partnerships and Experiential Learning
To develop plans and processes for establishing partnerships and interactions between the department's students and external stakeholders (industry, gov, communities) regarding funding, research, professional opportunities, and experiential learning. The previous bridge committee's clerical/logistics/record-keeping tasks will now fall under the Undergraduate Committee.
- George Davis (Chair)
- Dixie Watts Dalton
- Greg Estep (Ex Officio)
- Olga Massa
- Andrea McClure
- Clint Neill
- Mario Ortez
- Melissa Vidmar
- Le Wang
External Partnerships and Experiential Learning Committee minutes
Graduate
To assess, revise, and coordinate graduate curriculum courses, activities, and teaching assignments designed to enhance the graduate program, including but not limited to recruitment, applicant evaluations, and admittance and funding recommendations.
- Jason Grant
- Xi He
- Catherine Larochelle
- Man Li
- William "Nic" McWilliams, grad representative
- Brad Mills
- Clint Neill
- Karl Rich (Chair)
- Marie Trimmer
- Chunbei Wang (Co-Chair)
- Attend meetings only when needed for marketing purposes. The committee chair will notify Melissa when she should attend.
MS Online
To handle day-to-day operational issues of the MS online program and longer-term issues related to recruitment, course offerings, and program structure design.
- Zhenshan Chen
- Dixie Watts Dalton (Chair)
- George Davis
- Brad Mills
- Karl Rich
- Marie Trimmer
- Melissa Vidmar
- Chunbei Wang
Research and Scholarly Impact
Strengthen the department's research portfolio and visibility.
- Zhenshan Chen
- Jason Grant
- Anubhab Gupta
- Klaus Moeltner
- Karl Rich (Chair)
- Melissa Vidmar
Seminar
To organize, schedule, and host departmental seminars.
- Elinor Benami (Co-chair)
- Anna Carroll (Grad representative)
- Pailin Chaiprasertsiti
- Xi He (Co-chair)
- Yujuan Gao
- Chanit'a Holmes
- Nicolas Legrand
- Marie Trimmer
Teaching Innovation and Effectiveness
To provide guidance and resources for improving teaching effectiveness.
- Normand Adams
- Dixie Watts Dalton
- Mike Ellerbrock
- Jen Friedel
- Olga Massa
- Kurt Stephenson (Chair)
- Shamar Stewart
Teaching Innovation and Effectiveness Committee minutes
Undergraduate
To assess, revise, and coordinate undergraduate curriculum courses, activities, and teaching assignments designed to enhance the undergraduate program.
- Normand Adams
- Michael Cary
- Dixie Watts Dalton
- Olga Massa (Chair)
- Mario Ortez
- Kurt Stephenson
- A student ambassador: Committee to invite
- Attend meetings only when needed for marketing purposes. The committee chair will notify Melissa when she should attend.
Undergraduate Committee minutes
Steering
To help communicate, coordinate, and implement activities across committees with common and complementary objectives. This will consist mainly of chairs of certain committees, which may rotate depending on the issues that need to be addressed.
- Dixie Watts Dalton (Online)
- George Davis (Chair)
- Jason Grant (Trade Center)
- Olga Massa (Undergraduate)
- Andrea McClure (Finance)
- Mario Ortez (Extension)
- Karl Rich (Dept. Head)
- Kurt Stephenson (Teaching)
- Melissa Vidmar (Marketing)
- Chunbei Wang (Graduate)
- Le Wang (Kohl Centre)
Extracurricular Advisors
Those individuals working with organizations within the department that are extracurricular but provide very beneficial learning experiences (e.g. AgEcon Club, COINS, NAMA).
Ag Econ Club + NAMA
- Normand Adams
- Michael Cary
- Two student ambassadors - Committee to invite
COINS
- Nicola Legrand
- Olga Massa
- Shamar Stewart
Extracurricular Advisors minutes
Ad Hoc Committees
AAEC 100
- George Davis
- Mario Ortez
- Karl Rich
- Jen Shelton (Co-chair)
- Kurt Stephenson (Chair)
- Melissa Vidmar
Second-Year Paper Reviewers - Variable
To evaluate, provide feedback, and determine continuation status based on second-year papers of Ph.D. students.
Job Market Packet Reviewers - Variable
To evaluate and provide feedback on fourth- and fifth-year job market packets of Ph.D. students.
An account will need to be created by the guest. Click here for details.
Please see Andrea for guest printing code.
The Virginia Tech Brand encapsulates the image, primary messaging, and various ways we represent the university. The training modules in the Virginia Tech Brand Education Program will help you understand how to use the brand and what legal protections apply to licensing and trademarks.
The Virginia Tech Media Relations team works to connect university communicators, faculty, and campus newsmakers with the media. The team assists campus communicators with media pitches and media training for faculty experts. Please see Melissa if you would like to schedule.