Virginia Tech's Division of Student Affairs has received a $1 million gift, which will be used to advance health education that its donor established more than 30 years ago.

The education endowment was established by Dr. Charles W. Schiffert, director of the Virginia Tech student health center from 1970-1986. The Dolores S. Schiffert Health Education Endowment honors Schiffert’s wife for more than 50 years, who died in November 2007 and is the largest ever given to the Division of Student Affairs. The gift also reflects his continuing interest in the physical and emotional health of students, and his commitment to prevention as well as treatment.

Schiffert’s contributions as a director of Virginia Tech student health services were recognized in 1998 when the campus health center was named in his honor. The Dolores S. Schiffert Health Education Endowment represents an additional contribution by Dr. Schiffert to Virginia Tech during his retirement.

This endowment, which builds on Schiffert’s vision, will advance health education in many ways. Most notably, it will allow for new and expanded initiatives, both on campus and in the wider community, in the areas of drug education, smoking cessation, obesity prevention, healthy relationships, and good nutrition.

As Dolores Schiffert was a source of constant support for her husband, now the Dolores S. Schiffert Endowment will consistently support the Virginia Tech health education program in its commitment to excellence, according to Schiffert.

Raising money for the Division of Student Affairs, along with numerous other university programs, is a major goal within The Campaign for Virginia Tech: Invent the Future, a $1 billion fundraising drive that university officials announced in October 2007.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech is the most comprehensive university in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is among the top research universities in the nation. Today, Virginia Tech’s eight colleges are dedicated to quality, innovation, and results through teaching, research, and outreach activities. 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 undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.

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