Industrial Arts Education is a four-year teacher preparation curriculum leading to the bachelor of science degree. It prepares students to teach Industrial Arts subjects in the elementary schools and junior and senior high schools of the state. It is a new curriculum at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, being offered for the first time during the session 1946-47, in cooperation with the State Department of Education, Division of Trade and Industrial Education. Previously, prospective instructors of industrial arts had to secure the requisite training from institutions located in other states. Now, students may prepare for this important phase of education in our own state.
In 1946, Joseph A. Schad became the first department chairman. A second faculty member was added one year later with the arrival of Russell G. Louis. In September 1948, Walter L. Griggs became the third faculty member in industrial arts education at Virginia Tech. In the 1950s, the department established a reputation for its quality undergraduate program. During the first two decades, the program continued to provide leadership in industrial arts in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the southeastern region and the nation.
For the first twenty-four years, the Industrial Arts Department only had one facility: a combination laboratory and office suite which was located in 107 Seitz Hall. The summer of 1971 saw the addition of a communications lab and office in 300 Seitz Hall. This addition provided much needed space which resulted in a long awaited expansion of offerings in the communication area as well as freeing up space in the existing production lab. Both laboratories were renovated and expanded in 1984 along with a new faculty office complex in Smyth Hall.
With the announced retirement of Joseph A. Schad in the summer of 1972, Dr. William E. Dugger, Jr., was selected as the new Program Area Leader of Industrial Arts Education. Dugger assumed his new duties in September 1972, with Schad retiring in October of that year. Under this new leadership, there began the current period of expansion and development of industrial arts education at Virginia Tech as the newly formed College of Education grew. In July 1973, Dr. David Sawyer, a 1967 graduate of the Virginia Tech program, joined the faculty in the first new position since the initial formation of the department. However, during the summer of 1974, he decided to return to Alabama to assume a position in the State Department of Education.
In 1974, Dr. Allen Bame replaced Dr. Sawyer, and in 1978, Dr. Charles Pinder became the fifth member of the faculty. In 1980, Professor Griggs retired and Dr. Mark Sanders was appointed as his successor in the graphic communications area. In 1982, Dr. James LaPorte was employed to fill the production position upon the retirement of Professor Russell Louis. Professor Griggs continues to live in Blacksburg, enjoying retirement. Professor Louis passed away in 1997.
In 1987, the name of the program was changed from Industrial Arts to Technology Education in keeping with national trends toward a technology curriculum base. 
In 1994, Charles Pinder left the program for Northern Kentucky University where he chairs the Department of Technology and William Dugger went on leave to act as director of the Technology for All Americans Project (TAA). Funded by the NSF and NASA, the TAA project is charged with identifying the intellectual domain of technology education and developing national curriculum standards for technology education programs. Dr. Thomas Jeffrey and Dr. Vincent Childress assumed Dr. Pinder's and Dr. Dugger's responsibilities as visiting assistant professors. Dr. Dugger retired from Virginia Tech in 1996 and Dr. Sharon Brusic joined the faculty to teach in the electronics area and elementary technology education. Dr. Childress assumed a faculty position at North Carolina A&T and in 1998 Dr. Jeffrey went to Ohio Northern University.
The Present
Over the past fifty years, the Technology Education Program has produced approximately 900 undergraduate majors. Since the graduate program was established in 1971 with the formation of the College of Education, the program has awarded over 130 masters degrees and more than 30 doctoral degrees to students advised by technology education faculty.
Research conducted by the faculty in the Technology Education Program in recent years has been exemplary. Numerous grant and contract projects totaling over $2,500,000 have been successfully completed for such agencies as the United States Department of Education, Virginia Department of Education, Electronic Industries Association, Compugraphic Corporation, the Technical Foundation of America, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Probably the most noted of these research efforts were the Standards for Industrial Arts Programs Project 
funded through the United States Department of Education; the Graphic Arts Education Videodisc Project funded by the Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation; Mission 21 for elementary school technology education funded by NASA and Delmar Publishers; Make the Connection Project funded by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium; Pupils Attitude Toward Technology; and the Technology, Science, and Mathematics Integration Project funded by the National Science Foundation.
The Technology Education faculty have worked closely with the Virginia Department of Education and many school systems in the Commonwealth of Virginia over the years. The program is pleased to have been a major contributor to the progress of technology education in Virginia, as well as nationally and internationally. The Technology Education Program became one of the first in the nation to become NCATE accredited in 1991-92 under the new ITEA/CTTE guidelines. In 1998 the program was one of the first four programs designated as "Outstanding" by the Council on Technology Teacher Education.
The 1990s have been characterized by restructuring at Virginia Tech. In 1995 the Technology Education Program became part of the Department of Teaching and Learning. At about the same time, graduate degrees were offered under the Curriculum and Instruction authorization. In 1996, the College of Education and the College of Human Resources were merged to form the College of Human Resources and Education.
The Technology Education Program at Virginia Tech continues to be strong and viable. In a 1992 study conducted at Utah State University, the graduate program was ranked first in the nation. In 1998 the program was one of the first four programs designated as "Outstanding" by the Council on Technology Teacher Education. The faculty have directed more than $500,000 in recent research funded by a variety of federal and state agencies. The program edits and publishes the research journal of the profession, the Journal of Technology Education, and has been active nationally and internationally in a wide variety of service activities.
The Future
The faculty see some exciting new prospects for collaboration within the new college, across the university, and in the public schools. Students in various majors around campus will continue to find meaningful and exciting courses in technology education that they can take as electives. Presently students either required or strongly encouraged to take 
Graphic Communication and Communication Technology courses: Art (Graphic Design), Communications (Public Relations), and Interior Design. Students from other curricula consistently enroll in Materials Processes, Computer Control and Technical Design/CAD. Courses in interactive video, electronic publishing, and communication technology continue to attract students at the graduate level.
The Technology Education Program at Virginia Tech will continue to strive for excellence and quality. The faculty are recognized for their outstanding teaching, service, and research. Many of the alumni are excellent teachers and outstanding leaders. The faculty are proud of the program's heritage. Their singular mission, guided by a vision for the future, is technological literacy for all citizens.
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