Spectrum - Volume 17 Issue 28 April 13, 1995 - Waddill named grad representative to BOV

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Waddill named grad representative to BOV

By Susan Trulove

Spectrum Volume 17 Issue 28 - April 13, 1995

Daniel Waddill, a doctoral student from Winston-Salem, N.C., is the first graduate student to be named to Virginia Tech's Board of Visitors.

Waddill says of his appointment, "It's a great opportunity to learn more about how the university works, and a good opportunity to represent graduate-student concerns."

As chief justice of the Graduate Honor System, Waddill meets with judicial panels and investigative board members from all the colleges. "That gives me good contacts with a variety of graduate students so I can get a wide array of opinions."

He points out that graduate students at Virginia Tech have received two significant benefits from the administration recently--tuition scholarships for graduate assistants, and the phasing out of summer-school tuition for students who have completed course work but who are completing their research. "The administration has demonstrated they are willing to look out for graduate students, and now the Board of Visitors has demonstrated by electing a graduate-student member that they are interested in our concerns."

Waddill says one issue he hopes to address with the board is how graduate students can help the university through additional service, and teaching and advising of undergraduate students, "and this would also help us by rounding out our experiences."

A Charles Edward Via Jr. fellow in civil engineering, Waddill is doing research on how computer modeling can be used to track gasoline spills in the subsurface.

His master's degree is in crop and soil environmental sciences from Virginia Tech. His bachelor of science degree is from Davidson College.