Anders appointed director of Virginia Tech Hampton Roads Center

Long-time Virginia Tech employee Charlotte L. Anders is the new director of the Virginia Tech Hampton Roads Center in Virginia Beach, Va., one of the university's five Commonwealth Campus Centers that offer graduate, continuing and professional education, and other lifelong learning programs.

The Hampton Roads position will involve its new director in intensified outreach efforts geared to meeting the regionally specific needs of this densely populated area.

For over 25 years, Anders has served the Virginia Tech community in numerous professional capacities. She has held positions as associate director of outreach and program development (Hampton Roads), co-interim director of the university’s Richmond Center, and interim director of the Roanoke Center. She was the university’s only tourism-industry outreach specialist for over ten years and continues to develop educational programs specifically targeting the meetings and events industry.

Anders currently serves as president of the Virginia Festivals and Events Association, and is on the advisory council of the Family and Consumer Sciences/Food, Nutrition, and Health program for Virginia Cooperative Extension. She acted as lead researcher/reviewer on the technology committee for the President’s White House Conference on Travel and Tourism during the previous administration and was primary author of the resulting report. She also assisted in the development of a searchable Internet website for the Virginia Tourism Corporation, which is now widely emulated around the world. She is a member of the Outreach and International Affairs faculty at Virginia Tech.

In her prior position at the Virginia Tech Hampton Roads Center, Anders developed and delivered workshops and conferences for a variety of diverse groups, attracting over 1,000 participants. She also created and contributed to the center’s electronic newsletter.

In her current role as director, she acts as liaison between the university and local governments, regional businesses and industries, the education community, and non-profit organizations seeking program development information and faculty expertise. She also presents educational programs, facilitates strategic and community planning efforts, and provides technical and research development assistance to organizations and agencies, local governments, and the private sector.

Anders holds a bachelor’s degree in hotel, restaurant, and institutional management and a master’s degree in business management, both from Virginia Tech's Pamplin College of Business.

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.