James R. Lang, of Blacksburg, professor of management and Strickler Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business, has been appointed interim head of the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Brian Mihalik, who has served as department head for the past five years, has returned to full-time teaching and research.

Lang, a Virginia Tech faculty member since 1990, will continue to direct the Pamplin College’s Business Leadership Center. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts in 1976 and taught at the University of Kentucky before joining Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech's nationally ranked Pamplin College of Business offers undergraduate and graduate programs in accounting and information systems, business information technology, economics, finance, hospitality and tourism management, management, and marketing. The college emphasizes the development of leadership skills and ethical values and the integration of technology in the academic curriculum, and prepares students for global business challenges through faculty-led study abroad programs. The college has research centers that focus on business leadership, electronic commerce, energy modeling, and wireless telecommunications. The college is committed to serving business and society through the expertise of its faculty, alumni, and students.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become among the largest universities 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 180 academic degree programs.

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