Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from the T. Marshall Hahn Papers must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.

Preferred Citation

Hahn, T. Marshall Papers, 1962-1974, RG-2/11, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Biographical/Historical Information

Being selected as VPI's eleventh president at the age of 35 made Hahn the youngest man to ever hold the position. During his administration, which began 2 July 1962, VPI became known as "Virginia's Land-Grant University." There was a shift from traditional technically-oriented education to a more comprehensive University-oriented education, with programs being expanded through the doctoral level in many non-science areas. The culmination of this shift and expansion in mission came in 1970 when the Legislature approved a name change reflective of VPI's growth: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Major events of the Hahn administration included abolishment of the VPI-Radford merger, causing a large increase in the number of women students at Tech, and a decision by the Board of Visitors to make participation in the military program optional, which resulted in a decline in Corps of Cadets membership but an increase in male Virginians choosing to attend the University. There were also numerous organizational and academic changes and improvements, including the establishment of a University-wide Research Division and a University-wide Extension Division, both in 1966. Also the physical plant continued to expand during this administration.

Some of the later years of the Hahn administration were marked by student demonstrations and protests, like those which occurred at many university campuses in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

After twelve years in office, Hahn sent a letter to faculty and staff in August 1974 indicating his decision to resign as president, stating that "it is not in the best interest of a university for one person to serve as president for too long a time." In November, William Lavery was named to succeed Hahn, beginning in January 1975.

Scope and Content Information

This collection contains primarily correspondence concerning University matters, including letters to and from alumni, faculty, parents, and students. Correspondence with the Board of Visitors and government officials is also included in the collection. There is material concerning the Alumni Association, budget information, Higher Education Study Commission (1965), University Council, Association of Land-Grant Colleges and State Universities, State Council of Higher Education in Virginia, Task Force for Innovative Approaches to Instruction (1973), Consortium for Continuing Higher Education in Northern Virginia (1973), civil rights, proposal for College of Veterinary Medicine (1974, Box 95, folders 3211-3215), and various University committees and commissions. There is a large amount of material dealing with student protests (1970-71, see Boxes 45-47), including correspondence to and from parents, students, and the general public. The collection also includes copies of many of Hahn's speeches (1961-73), such as "Statement on Need of a College of Veterinary Medicine in Virginia" and "Virginia in the Jet Age."

The collection also contains Hahn's files of the Metropolitan Study Commission that he chaired from 1966 to 1968, including correspondence, minutes, and reports. This commission was created by the 1966 Virginia General Assembly to "make a comprehensive study of metropolitan governmental problems and to undertake to develop solutions to such problems."

There is also material on the Virginia Associated Research Center (VARC), including correspondence, reports, and Governing Committee minutes (1963-67). VARC was an off-campus graduate facility sponsored by Virginia Tech, the College of William and Mary, and the University of Virginia, in cooperation with the Langley Research Center of NASA. It specialized in applied aerospace research and other basic research in related areas.

The University Archives also contains the records of Hahn's inauguration, including correspondence, programs, invitations, some minutes and other documents of the Inauguration Committee and its subcommittees on Local Arrangements, Reception, and Invitations and Programs. There is a notebook (see Box 98, folder 3277b) containing various articles and clippings on college budgets and campus unrest throughout the United States, plus a handwritten copy of a speech entitled "The Role of the Academic Community in Campus Unrest" (Box 101, folder 3319), and a typed paper entitled "Legislation and Appropriations in Other States Relating to Higher Education" that includes handwritten additions. Also in this collection is a bound volume containing photocopies of press clippings from the Conference on Artificial Satellites (12-16 August 196?, Box 101, folder 3277c).

Arrangement

This collection is arranged according to date.