Congressman Bob Goodlatte to give Founders Day keynote address

U.S. Congressman Bob W. Goodlatte will give the keynote address at Virginia Tech's 132nd Founders Day celebration 3 p.m. Friday, April 23.

First taking place in 1972, Founders Day Convocation is Virginia Tech's annual celebration of the academic and professional achievements of the university and recognizing service to Virginia Tech.

Goodlatte, of Roanoke, Va., is in his sixth term representing the sixth congressional district of Virginia. He has made a name for himself in Congress as an expert on Internet and high tech issues. He was chosen to serve as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee in January, becoming the first Agriculture Committee Chairman from Virginia since 1947.

In his keynote address, Congressman Goodlatte will address the future of our region, the role of universities in advancing America’s economic competitiveness, and the interrelationship with American agriculture.

Goodlatte's service to the people of the sixth district began in 1977 when he became District Director for former Congressman Caldwell Butler. He served in this position until 1979, when he founded his own private law practice in Roanoke. He was a partner in the law firm of Bird, Kinder and Huffman until taking office in 1981.

Since being elected to serve as Chairman of the Agriculture Committee, Goodlatte has helped guide the President's Healthy Forest Initiative through the Committee process and ultimately to final passage on the House floor. He also was a conferee on the 2002 Farm Bill, working to provide programs to rural Americans who are in need of a stable farm economy and provide a safe, abundant, and affordable food supply to suburban and urban Americans.

Following the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks, Goodlatte was chosen to serve on the Select Committee on Homeland Security, which was created to address the growing security threats on the nation. He tackles similar homeland security issues both in his capacity on the House Judiciary Subcommittee and on the Agriculture Committee, which has jurisdiction over issues such as bioterrorism.

Goodlatte is a graduate of Washington and Lee University School of Law, and holds his undergraduate degree in government from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.

He and his wife of 28 years, Maryellen, have two children, Jenny, 20, and Bobby, 17.

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 170 academic degree programs.