Virginia Military Institute
Encyclopedia
The Virginia Military Institute (VMI), located in Lexington, Virginia
, is the oldest state-supported
military college
and one of six senior military colleges
in the United States
. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are military cadets pursuing bachelor degrees. VMI offers cadets a spartan, physically demanding environment combined with strict military discipline. VMI offers degrees in fourteen different disciplines in Engineering, the Sciences and the Liberal Arts. Although VMI has been called the "West Point
of the South," it differs from the federal service academies in several respects. For example, while all VMI cadets must participate in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps
(ROTC), they are not required to serve in the military upon graduation. Instead, VMI graduates may either accept a commission
in any of the US military branches
or pursue civilian endeavors upon graduation.
and the first Cadets relieved personnel on duty. Under Major General
Francis Henney Smith
, superintendent
, and Colonel
Claudius Crozet
, president of the Board of Visitors, the Corps
was imbued with the discipline
and the spirit for which it is famous. The first cadet to march a sentinel post was Private
John Strange. With few exceptions, there have been sentinels posted at VMI every hour of every day of the school year.
The Class of 1842 graduated 16 cadets. Living conditions were poor until 1850 when the cornerstone of the new barracks
was laid. In 1851 Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
became a member of the faculty and professor
of Natural and Experimental Philosophy
. Under Jackson, then a major, and Major William Gilham
, VMI infantry
and artillery
units were present at the execution by hanging
of John Brown
at Charles Town
, Virginia
(now West Virginia
) in 1859.
and many cadets, under the leadership of General Stonewall Jackson, were sent to Camp Lee, at Richmond
, to train recruits. VMI alumni were regarded among the best officers of the South and several distinguished themselves in the Union
forces as well. Fifteen graduates rose to the rank of general in the Confederate Army, and one rose to this rank in the Union Army. Just before the Battle of Chancellorsville
Stonewall Jackson said, "The Institute will be heard from today." Three of Jackson's four Division commanders at Chancellorsville, Generals James Lane
, Robert Rodes, and Raleigh Colston, were VMI graduates as were a significant number of his field grade officers.
On 15 May 1864 the VMI Corps of Cadets fought as an independent unit at the Battle of New Market
. VMI is the only military college or academy in the United States to hold this distinction. The cadets who fought that day ranged in age from 14 to 22, though through the years, claims have been made of cadets as young as 12 fighting. General John C. Breckinridge
, the commanding Southern general, held the cadets in reserve and did not use them until Union troops broke through the Confederate lines. Upon seeing the tide of battle turning in favor of the Union forces, Breckinridge stated, "Put the boys in...and may God forgive me for the order." The VMI cadets held the line and eventually pushed forward, capturing a Union artillery emplacement, securing victory for the Confederates. The Union troops were withdrawn and Confederate troops under General Breckinridge held the Shenandoah Valley. VMI suffered fifty-two casualties with eight cadets killed in action,two who died of their wounds shortly after the battle and forty-two wounded. The cadets were led into battle by Commandant of Cadets and future VMI Superintendent Colonel Scott Shipp
. Shipp was also wounded during the battle. Six of the ten fallen cadets are buried on VMI grounds behind the statue "Virginia Mourning Her Dead" by sculptor Moses Ezekiel, a VMI graduate who was also wounded in the Battle of New Market.
On 12 June 1864 Union forces under the command of General David Hunter
shelled and burned the Institute as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864
. The destruction was almost complete and VMI had to temporarily hold classes at the Alms House in Richmond, Virginia
. In April 1865 Richmond was evacuated due to the impending fall of Petersburg and the VMI Corps of Cadets was disbanded. The Lexington campus reopened for classes on 17 October 1865. One of the reasons that Confederate General Jubal A. Early burned the town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
was in retaliation for the shelling of VMI. Following the war, Matthew Fontaine Maury
, the pioneering oceanographer known as the "Pathfinder of the Seas", accepted a teaching position at VMI, holding the physics
chair. Following the war, David Hunter Strother, who was chief of staff to General Hunter and had advised the destruction of the Institute, served as Adjutant General of the Virginia Militia and member of the VMI Board of Visitors; in that position he promoted and worked actively for the reconstruction.
. Winston Churchill
dubbed Marshall the "Architect of Victory" and "the greatest Roman of them all". The Deputy Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army during the war was also a VMI graduate as were the Second U.S. Army commander, 15th U.S. Army commander, the commander of Allied Air Forces of the Southwest Pacific and various Corps and Division commanders in the Army and Marine Corps. China's General Sun Li-jen
, known as the "Rommel of the East", was also a graduate of the VMI.
During the war, VMI participated in the War Department
's Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) from 1943 to 1946. The program provided training in engineering and related subjects to enlisted men at colleges across the United States. Over 2,100 ASTP members studied at VMI during the war.
, listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. The campus is referred to as the "Post." A training area of several hundred additional acres is located near the Post. All cadets are housed on campus in a large five-story building, called the "barracks." The Old Barracks
, which has been designated a National Historic Landmark
, stands on the site of the old arsenal. This is the structure that received most of the damage when Union forces shelled and burned the Institute in June 1864. The new wing of the barracks ("New Barracks") was completed in 1949. The two wings surround two quadrangles connected by a sally port
. All rooms open onto porch-like stoops facing one of the quadrangles. A third barracks wing was completed, with cadets moving in officially spring semester 2009. Four of the Five arched entries into the barracks are named for George Washington
, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, George C. Marshall '01
and Jonathan Daniels '61. Next to the Barracks are offices and meeting areas for VMI clubs and organizations, the cadet visitors center and lounge, a snack bar, and a Barnes & Noble
-operated bookstore.
VMI is continuing with significant construction projects under the "Vision 2039" program. Under this capital campaign, VMI's alumni and supporters raised over $275 million over three years. The Barracks are being expanded to house 1,500 cadets, all academic buildings are being renovated and modernized, and VMI is spending an additional $200 million to build the VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics. The new Leadership Center will be used by VMI cadets, Washington and Lee University
students, and other students throughout the country and abroad to develop leadership abilities combined with a focus on integrity and honor to benefit tomorrow's world. The Center will also be home to VMI's Distinguished Speaker Series and its Leadership Symposia. The funding will also support "study abroad" programs including joint ventures with Oxford
and Cambridge
Universities in England and many other universities.
The Engineering department has concentrations in three areas: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. Two recent Chiefs of Engineers
of the Army Corps of Engineers, Lieutenant Generals Carl A. Strock
and Robert B. Flowers
, were VMI Engineering graduates. VMI offers 14 major and 22 minor areas of study, with the majority of classes taught by full-time professor
s, 96 percent of whom hold terminal degrees. Within four months of graduation, an average of 97 percent of VMI graduates are either serving in the military, employed, or admitted to graduate or professional schools.
The scholarly achievements of VMI cadets and alumni are significant. A strikingly large number of graduates go on to attend graduate and professional schools. VMI has produced more Rhodes Scholars than all other senior military colleges (Va. Tech, the Citadel, Texas A&M, Norwich University and North Georgia College and State University) combined and has graduated more Rhodes Scholars per graduate than any state college or university in the United States. VMI has graduated 11 Rhodes Scholars since 1921 and 2 in the last six years. The most recent VMI Rhodes Scholar (as of 2009), Gregory Lippiatt, was named in 2009. In 2007, VMI had two Rhodes Scholarship finalists and one Marshall Scholarship
finalist.
and the
United States Military Academy
, in the US News and World Report rankings of the 27 top public liberal arts college
s in the United States. There is some question as to whether or not the service academies should be rated in competition with colleges that are not fully funded with U.S. government appropriated funds. Compared to the top US liberal arts colleges, public and private, VMI ranked 62nd out of 122 (including ties) in the top tier of schools.
Also for 2009, US News ranked VMI's Civil Engineering program seventh, its Mechanical Engineering program 14th, and its overall Engineering program improved from 25th in the United States in 2008 to 21st out of 105 in the 2009 category of "Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (where doctorate is not offered)." In the newly-added 2009 category of "High School Counselor Rankings of Liberal Arts Colleges," VMI is ranked 57th of the 266 best liberal arts colleges.
Forbes
' 2008 Special Report on America's Best Colleges ranked VMI in the top 10 Public Universities in the Nation, well ahead of any other Senior Military College in the country. VMI was ranked 9th in the "Top 25 Publics" section, just behind the United States Military Academy, the Air Force Academy
, and the Naval Academy, but ahead of such schools as UCLA
, the University of Michigan
, the University of Florida
, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy
, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
. Overall, VMI ranked 108th out of the 569 colleges and universities evaluated.
Kiplinger's
magazine, in its ranking of the "Best Values in Public Colleges" for 2006, made mention of the Virginia Military Institute as a "great value", although the military nature of its program excluded it from consideration as a traditional four-year college in the rankings.
VMI has also produced 11 Rhodes Scholars
since 1921, with the two most recent having been selected in 2003 and 2008.
or have completed an approved homeschool curriculum. New cadets at VMI have an average high school
GPA of 3.39 and a mean SAT score of approximately 1140.
Eligibility is not restricted to Virginia residents, although it is more difficult to gain an appointment as a non-resident, because VMI has a goal that no more than 45 percent of cadets come from outside Virginia. Virginia residents receive a discount in tuition
, as is common at most state-sponsored schools. Total tuition, room & board and other fees for the 2008-2009 school year is approximately $17,000 for Virginia residents and $34,000 for all others. These fees can be misleading, because VMI's endowment enables VMI to meet a substantial amount of a cadets's financial need before the cadet needs loans.
Of the 1251 students enrolled in 2005, 66 were African-American, 39 were Asian
, 34 were Hispanic
and 71 were women. Of 446 students that matriculated
in August 2008, 39 were women. The first Jewish cadet, Moses Jacob Ezekiel
, graduated in 1866. While at VMI, Ezekiel fought with the VMI cadets at the Battle of New Market
. He became a sculptor and his works are on display at VMI. One of the first Asian cadets was Sun Li-jen
, the Chinese National Revolutionary Army
general, who graduated in 1927. The first African-American cadets were admitted in 1968. The first African-American regimental commander was Darren McDew, class of 1982. McDew is currently a US Air Force
major general
and vice-commander of the Eighteenth Air Force
at Scott Air Force Base
. It is unknown when the first Muslim
cadet graduated from VMI, but before the Iranian Revolution
, under Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
, several Persian cadets attended and graduated from VMI. Other Muslim graduates have included Cadets from Bangladesh, Jordan, Indonesia and other nations.
VMI has traditionally enrolled cadets from the armed forces of Thailand and the Republic of China
(Taiwan). Graduates have gone on to pursue graduate degrees after VMI at prestigious universities throughout the United States before returning to their countries to continue their military service. Several graduates reached general and flag officer ranks. During the 1990s many other nations were represented in the Corps of Cadets, including Great Britain, Bangladesh
, Finland
, Botswana
, Germany
, Kenya
, South Korea
, Indonesia
, and Japan
. Gregory E. Lippiatt '09 of York, PA was chosen as VMI's eleventh Rhodes Scholar
in 2009.
filed a discrimination lawsuit against VMI for its all-male admissions policy. While the court challenge was pending, a state-sponsored Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership (VWIL) was opened at Mary Baldwin College
in Staunton, Virginia
, as a parallel program for women. The VWIL continued, even after VMI's admission of women.
After VMI won its case in US District Court, the case went through several appeals until June 26, 1996, when the US Supreme Court
, in a 7-1 decision in United States v. Virginia
, found that it was unconstitutional for a school supported by public funds to exclude women. (Justice Clarence Thomas
recused himself, presumably because his son was attending VMI at the time.) Following the ruling, VMI contemplated going private to exempt itself from the 14th Amendment
, and thus avoid the ruling.
Assistant Secretary of Defense Frederick F.Y. Pang, however, warned the school that the Department of Defense
would withdraw ROTC programs from the school if privatization took place. As a result of this action by Pang, Congress passed a resolution on November 18, 1997 prohibiting the Department of Defense from withdrawing or diminishing any ROTC program at one of the six senior military colleges
, including VMI. This escape clause provided by Congress came after the VMI Board of Visitors had already voted 8-7 to admit women and the decision was not revisited.
In August 1997, VMI enrolled its first female
cadets. The first co-ed class consisted of thirty women, and matriculated as part of the class of 2001. In order to accelerate VMI's matriculation process several women were allowed to transfer directly from various junior colleges, such as New Mexico Military Institute
(NMMI), and forgo the traditional four year curriculum that most cadets had been subjected to. The first female cadets "walked the stage" in 1999, although by VMI's definitions they are considered to be members of the class of 2001. Initially, these 30 women who were held to the same strict physical courses and technical training as the male cadets until it became apparent that adjustments to the standards had to be made. VMI resisted following other military colleges in adopting "gender-normed
" physical training standards until 2008 when it was listed as a goal in VMI's 2039 Strategic Plan. On June 30, 2008, gender-normed training standards were implemented for all female cadets.
while maintaining an exaggerated form of attention, called "straining". This experience, called the Rat Line, is intended by the upper classes to instill brotherhood, pride, and discipline into the incoming class. Under this system, the Rats face mental and physical challenges, starting with "Cadre Week". During Cadre Week, Rats receive basic military instruction from select upper classmen ("Cadre"); they learn to march, they learn to clean their M-14 rifle, and they learn how to wear their uniforms. During Cadre Week, Rats also meet the members of various cadet-run organizations and learn the functions of each. Most notable of these is the Honor Court. By the end of the week, the new Rat Mass has significantly less hair than before and the Rats are on their way to becoming full-fledged cadets.
At the end of the first week, it is quite clear that the Rats have just begun. At this point, each Rat is paired with a first classman (senior
) who serves as their mentor for the rest of the first year. The first classman is called a "Dyke", reference to an older Southern pronunciation of "to deck out", or to get into a uniform. While the Dyke watches out for the Rat and the Rat works for the Dyke in accordance with Institute policy, Cadre still enforce all rules as the Rats. In combining the softness of the Dykes with the hardness of the system they lead, with countless push-ups, sweat parties, and runs, the Rats are instilled with the virtue of time management and attention to detail.
The Ratline experience culminates with Resurrection Week ending in "Breakout", an event where the Rats are formally "welcomed" to the VMI community. After the successful completion of Breakout, Rats are officially fourth class students and no longer have to strain in the barracks or eat "square meals". Many versions of the Breakout ceremony have been conducted. In the 1950s Rats from each company would be packed into a corner room in the barracks and brawl their way out through the upperclassmen. From the late 1960s through the early 1980s the Rats had to fight their way up to the fourth level of the barracks through three other classes of cadets determined not to let them get to the top. The stoops would often be slick with motor oil, packed with snow, glazed with ice, greased, or continuously hosed with water. The barracks stairs and rails were not able to take the abuse, so the Corps moved the breakout to a muddy hill where Rats attempt to climb to the top by crawling on their stomachs while the upper classes block them or drag them back down. As of 2007 the Rats no longer breakout in the mud but instead participate in a grueling day of physical activity testing both physical endurance and team work.
The entire body of Rats during the Ratline is called a "Rat Mass". Since the Rats of the Rat mass are not officially fourth classmen until after Breakout, the Rat Mass is also not officially considered a graduating class until that time either. Prior to Breakout, the Rat mass is given a different style of year identifier to emphasize this difference. The year identifier starts with the year of the current graduating class (their dykes' class), followed by a "+3" to indicate the anticipated year of their own class. For example, Rats that make up the future Class of 2015 are considered the "Rat Mass of 2012+3" as the members of their dykes' class will graduate in 2012 and they themselves will graduate three years onward from then.
". An event second only to graduation
in importance is the "Ring Figure" dance held every November. During their junior year, cadets receive class ring
s at a ring presentation ceremony followed by a formal dance. Most cadets get two rings, a formal ring and a combat ring; some choose to have the combat ring for everyday wear, and the formal for special occasions.
Every year, VMI honors its fallen cadets with a New Market Day parade and ceremony. These events take place on 15 May, the same day as the Battle of New Market
in which the VMI cadets fought during the Civil War in 1864. During this ceremony, roll is called for cadets who "died on the Field of Honor" and wreaths are placed on the graves of those who died during the Battle of New Market.
The requirement that all cadets eat in the mess hall was the basis for a lawsuit in 2002 when two cadets sued VMI over the prayer said before dinner. The non-denominational prayer had been a daily fixture since the 1950s. In 2002 the Fourth Circuit ruled the prayer, during an event with mandatory attendance, at a state-funded school, violated the US Constitution
. When the Supreme Court declined to review the school's appeal in April 2004, the prayer tradition was stopped.
The tradition of guarding the Institute is one of the longest standing and is carried out to this day. Cadets have been posted as sentinels guarding the barracks 24 hours a day, seven days a week while school is in session since the first cadet sentinel, Cadet John B. Strange, and others relieved the Virginia Militia guard team tasked with defending the Lexington Arsenal (that later became VMI) in 1839. The guard team wears the traditional school uniform and each sentinel is armed with an M-14 rifle and bayonet.
, which is as old as the Institute and was formally codified in the early 20th century. Under the VMI Honor Code, "a cadet does not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do." There is only one punishment for violating the VMI Honor Code: immediate expulsion in the form of a drumming out
ceremony of dismissal.
fraternity was founded by VMI cadets Otis Allan Glazebrook, Alfred Marshall, and Erskine Mayo Ross at Richmond, Virginia
on September 11, 1865 while the school was closed for reconstruction.
After the re-opening, Kappa Sigma Kappa fraternity was founded by cadets on September 28, 1867 and Sigma Nu
fraternity was founded by cadets on January 1, 1869. VMI cadets formed the second chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order
fraternity. In a special arrangement, graduating cadets may be nominated by Kappa Alpha Order alumni and inducted into the fraternity, becoming part of Kappa Alpha Order
's Beta Commission (a commission as opposed to an active chapter). This occurs following graduation, and the newly-initiated VMI alumni are accepted as brothers of the fraternity.
The VMI corps maintains and operates an independent student newspaper published as The Cadet
. The paper has been published weekly since its first issue from the fall of 1907.
s, more than any other college in the United States, except for West Point
, Annapolis
and the Air Force Academy. Among its most distinguished military alumni are the first five-star General of the Army
, George Marshall
; seven recipients of the highest military decoration
awarded by the United States government, the Medal of Honor
; and more than 80 recipients of the second highest award, the Distinguished Service Cross/Navy Cross. VMI has graduated an Army Chief of Staff, an Air Force Chief of Staff and two Marine Corps Commandants making it the only college in the United States (including the federal service academies) to have graduated service chiefs of three of the four primary armed services.
VMI offers ROTC programs for four US military branches (Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force). While four years of ROTC is a requirement for all cadets, accepting a commission in the armed forces is optional. The VMI Board of Visitors has set a goal of having 70 percent of VMI cadets take a commission by 2015. The VMI class of 2008 achieved a 52.8 percent commissioning rate. Of the total of 127 cadets who commissioned in 2008, 63 commissioned in the Army
, 11 commissioned in the Navy
, 26 commissioned in the Marine Corps
, and 27 commissioned in the Air Force
.
The table below lists all United States Generals (four-star) who graduated from VMI (The table does not include four-star Alumni of the Institute who attended VMI but graduated elsewhere, such as Generals Patton and Walker. Nor does the table include the many graduates of VMI who attained the rank of four-star general in military service to foreign nations such as Thailand, China, and Taiwan):
Division I level (FCS, formerly I-AA, for football). Varsity
sports include baseball
, basketball
, men's and women's cross country
, football
, lacrosse
, men's and women's rifle
, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's swimming & diving, men's and women's track & field, and wrestling
. VMI is a member of the Big South
for almost all sports; it is an associate member of the Southern Conference
for wrestling, the MAAC
for lacrosse, and the MAC for rifle. The VMI team name is the Keydets, a Southern style slang for the word "cadets".
VMI has the third-smallest enrollment of any FCS football college, after Presbyterian
and Wofford
. Approximately one-third of the Corps of Cadets plays on at least one of VMI's intercollegiate athletic teams, making it one of the most active athletic programs in the country. Of the VMI varsity athletes who complete their eligibility, 92 percent receive their VMI diplomas.
VMI played its first football game in 1871. The one-game season was a 2-4 loss to Washington and Lee University
. There are no records of a coach or any players for that game. VMI waited another twenty years, until 1891, when head coach Walter Taylor
would coach the next football team. The current head football coach at VMI, Sparky Woods
, was named the 30th head coach on February 13, 2008. The Keydets play their home games out of Alumni Memorial Field at Foster Stadium, built in 1962.
before bowing to undefeated Rutgers
in the East Regional Final
, and in 1977 VMI finished with 26 wins and just four losses, still a school record, and reached the "Sweet 16" round of the NCAA tournament
.
The current VMI basketball team is led by head coach Duggar Baucom
and associate head coach Daniel Willis.
winner, Pulitzer Prize
winners, Rhodes Scholars, Medal of Honor
recipients, an Academy Award winner, an Emmy Award
and Golden Globe winner, US Senators and Representatives, a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, college and university presidents, many business leaders and numerous flag officers, including service chiefs for three of the four armed services.
Lexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city within the confines of Rockbridge County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 7,042 in 2010. Lexington is about 55 minutes east of the West Virginia border and is about 50 miles north of Roanoke, Virginia. It was first settled in 1777.It is home to...
, is the oldest state-supported
State university system
A state university system in the United States is a group of public universities supported by an individual state, or a similar entity such as the District of Columbia. These systems constitute the majority of public-funded universities in the country...
military college
Military academy
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps of the army, the navy, air force or coast guard, which normally provides education in a service environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.Three...
and one of six senior military colleges
Senior Military College
In the United States, a Senior Military College is one of six colleges that offer military Reserve Officers' Training Corps programs and are specifically recognized under 10 USC 2111a...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are military cadets pursuing bachelor degrees. VMI offers cadets a spartan, physically demanding environment combined with strict military discipline. VMI offers degrees in fourteen different disciplines in Engineering, the Sciences and the Liberal Arts. Although VMI has been called the "West Point
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
of the South," it differs from the federal service academies in several respects. For example, while all VMI cadets must participate in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps
Reserve Officers' Training Corps
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a college-based, officer commissioning program, predominantly in the United States. It is designed as a college elective that focuses on leadership development, problem solving, strategic planning, and professional ethics.The U.S...
(ROTC), they are not required to serve in the military upon graduation. Instead, VMI graduates may either accept a commission
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
in any of the US military branches
Military of the United States
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
or pursue civilian endeavors upon graduation.
Early history
On November 11, 1839 the Virginia Military Institute was founded on the site of the Lexington state arsenalArsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
and the first Cadets relieved personnel on duty. Under Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Francis Henney Smith
Francis Henney Smith
Francis Henney Smith was a United States Military Academy graduate, United States Army second lieutenant, college professor, including teacher at West Point, Confederate Army colonel, Virginia Militia general, first superintendent of Virginia Military Institute and its rebuilder after the American...
, superintendent
Superintendent (education)
In education in the United States, a superintendent is an individual who has executive oversight and administration rights, usually within an educational entity or organization....
, and Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Claudius Crozet
Claudius Crozet
Benoit Claudius Crozet was an educator and civil engineer.Crozet was born in France. After serving in the French military, in 1816, he immigrated to the United States. He taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and helped found the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington,...
, president of the Board of Visitors, the Corps
Corps
A corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...
was imbued with the discipline
Discipline
In its original sense, discipline is referred to systematic instruction given to disciples to train them as students in a craft or trade, or to follow a particular code of conduct or "order". Often, the phrase "to discipline" carries a negative connotation. This is because enforcement of order –...
and the spirit for which it is famous. The first cadet to march a sentinel post was Private
Private (rank)
A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...
John Strange. With few exceptions, there have been sentinels posted at VMI every hour of every day of the school year.
The Class of 1842 graduated 16 cadets. Living conditions were poor until 1850 when the cornerstone of the new barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
was laid. In 1851 Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
Stonewall Jackson
ຄຽשת״ׇׂׂׂׂ֣|birth_place= Clarksburg, Virginia |death_place=Guinea Station, Virginia|placeofburial=Stonewall Jackson Memorial CemeteryLexington, Virginia|placeofburial_label= Place of burial|image=...
became a member of the faculty and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Natural and Experimental Philosophy
Natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...
. Under Jackson, then a major, and Major William Gilham
William Gilham
William Henry Gilham was an American soldier, teacher, chemist, and author. A member of the faculty at Virginia Military Institute, in 1860, he wrote a military manual which was still in modern use 145 years later...
, VMI infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
and artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
units were present at the execution by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
of John Brown
John Brown (abolitionist)
John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...
at Charles Town
Charles Town, West Virginia
Charles Town is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,907 at the 2000 census. Due to its similar name, travelers have sometimes confused this city with the state's capital, Charleston.-History:...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
(now West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
) in 1859.
Civil War period
The Institute played a valuable part in the training of the Southern armies and participated as a unit in actual battles. VMI cadets were called into active military service on 14 different occasions during the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and many cadets, under the leadership of General Stonewall Jackson, were sent to Camp Lee, at Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, to train recruits. VMI alumni were regarded among the best officers of the South and several distinguished themselves in the Union
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
forces as well. Fifteen graduates rose to the rank of general in the Confederate Army, and one rose to this rank in the Union Army. Just before the Battle of Chancellorsville
Battle of Chancellorsville
The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War, and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville Campaign. It was fought from April 30 to May 6, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville. Two related battles were fought nearby on...
Stonewall Jackson said, "The Institute will be heard from today." Three of Jackson's four Division commanders at Chancellorsville, Generals James Lane
James Lane
James Lane may refer to:*James H. Lane , Kansas senator and U.S. Army general*James H. Lane , Confederate general* Jim Lane...
, Robert Rodes, and Raleigh Colston, were VMI graduates as were a significant number of his field grade officers.
On 15 May 1864 the VMI Corps of Cadets fought as an independent unit at the Battle of New Market
Battle of New Market
The Battle of New Market was a battle fought on May 15, 1864, in Virginia during Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War. Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute fought alongside the Confederate Army and forced Union General Franz Sigel and his army out of the Shenandoah...
. VMI is the only military college or academy in the United States to hold this distinction. The cadets who fought that day ranged in age from 14 to 22, though through the years, claims have been made of cadets as young as 12 fighting. General John C. Breckinridge
John C. Breckinridge
John Cabell Breckinridge was an American lawyer and politician. He served as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Kentucky and was the 14th Vice President of the United States , to date the youngest vice president in U.S...
, the commanding Southern general, held the cadets in reserve and did not use them until Union troops broke through the Confederate lines. Upon seeing the tide of battle turning in favor of the Union forces, Breckinridge stated, "Put the boys in...and may God forgive me for the order." The VMI cadets held the line and eventually pushed forward, capturing a Union artillery emplacement, securing victory for the Confederates. The Union troops were withdrawn and Confederate troops under General Breckinridge held the Shenandoah Valley. VMI suffered fifty-two casualties with eight cadets killed in action,two who died of their wounds shortly after the battle and forty-two wounded. The cadets were led into battle by Commandant of Cadets and future VMI Superintendent Colonel Scott Shipp
Scott Shipp
Scott Shipp was an American military figure, Confederate States Army officer, educator and educational administrator born in Warrenton, Virginia...
. Shipp was also wounded during the battle. Six of the ten fallen cadets are buried on VMI grounds behind the statue "Virginia Mourning Her Dead" by sculptor Moses Ezekiel, a VMI graduate who was also wounded in the Battle of New Market.
On 12 June 1864 Union forces under the command of General David Hunter
David Hunter
David Hunter was a Union general in the American Civil War. He achieved fame by his unauthorized 1862 order emancipating slaves in three Southern states and as the president of the military commission trying the conspirators involved with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.-Early...
shelled and burned the Institute as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864
Valley Campaigns of 1864
The Valley Campaigns of 1864 were American Civil War operations and battles that took place in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia from May to October 1864. Military historians divide this period into three separate campaigns, but it is useful to consider the three together and how they...
. The destruction was almost complete and VMI had to temporarily hold classes at the Alms House in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. In April 1865 Richmond was evacuated due to the impending fall of Petersburg and the VMI Corps of Cadets was disbanded. The Lexington campus reopened for classes on 17 October 1865. One of the reasons that Confederate General Jubal A. Early burned the town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Chambersburg is a borough in the South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is miles north of Maryland and the Mason-Dixon line and southwest of Harrisburg in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley. Chambersburg is the county seat of Franklin County...
was in retaliation for the shelling of VMI. Following the war, Matthew Fontaine Maury
Matthew Fontaine Maury
Matthew Fontaine Maury , United States Navy was an American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator....
, the pioneering oceanographer known as the "Pathfinder of the Seas", accepted a teaching position at VMI, holding the physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
chair. Following the war, David Hunter Strother, who was chief of staff to General Hunter and had advised the destruction of the Institute, served as Adjutant General of the Virginia Militia and member of the VMI Board of Visitors; in that position he promoted and worked actively for the reconstruction.
World War II
VMI produced some of America's most significant commanders in World War II. The most important of these was George C. Marshall, the top U.S. Army general during the war. Marshall was the Army's first five-star general and the only career military officer ever to win the Nobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
. Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
dubbed Marshall the "Architect of Victory" and "the greatest Roman of them all". The Deputy Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army during the war was also a VMI graduate as were the Second U.S. Army commander, 15th U.S. Army commander, the commander of Allied Air Forces of the Southwest Pacific and various Corps and Division commanders in the Army and Marine Corps. China's General Sun Li-jen
Sun Li-jen
Sun Li-jen was a Kuomintang General, best known for his leadership in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. His achievements earned him the laudatory nickname "Rommel of the East". His New 1st Army was reputed as the "1st [Best] Army under heaven" and credited with defeating...
, known as the "Rommel of the East", was also a graduate of the VMI.
During the war, VMI participated in the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
's Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) from 1943 to 1946. The program provided training in engineering and related subjects to enlisted men at colleges across the United States. Over 2,100 ASTP members studied at VMI during the war.
Superintendents
Since 1839, VMI has had fourteen superintendents. Francis H. Smith was the first and the longest serving, filling the position for 50 years. Only three of the fourteen superintendents were not graduates of VMI.- Francis H. Smith (1839–1889)
- Scott ShippScott ShippScott Shipp was an American military figure, Confederate States Army officer, educator and educational administrator born in Warrenton, Virginia...
(1890–1907) - Edward W. Nichols (1907–1924)
- William H. Cocke (1924–1929)
- John A. LejeuneJohn A. LejeuneLieutenant General John Archer Lejeune, was the 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps. Known as the "greatest of all Leathernecks" and the "Marine's Marine", he served for nearly 40 years. His service included commanding the U.S...
(1929–1937) - Charles E. KilbourneCharles E. KilbourneCharles Evans Kilbourne was an officer in the United States Army who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Philippine–American War.-Biography:...
(1937–1946) - Richard J. Marshall (1946–1952)
- William H. Milton, Jr. (1952–1960)
- George R. E. Shell (1960–1971)
- Richard L. Irby (1971–1981)
- Sam S. WalkerSam S. WalkerSam Sims Walker , United States Army, is a retired General who served as the Commanding General of Allied Land Forces, South East Europe from 1977 to 1978.-Military career:...
(1981–1988) - John W. Knapp (1989–1995)
- Josiah Bunting IIIJosiah Bunting IIIJosiah Bunting III is an American educator. He has been a military officer, college president, and an author and speaker on education and Western culture.-Biography:...
(1995–2002) - J. H. Binford Peay III (2003–present)
Campus
The VMI campus covers 134 acres (54.2 ha), 12 of which are designated as the Virginia Military Institute Historic DistrictVirginia Military Institute Historic District
Virginia Military Institute Historic District is a portion of the Virginia Military Institute that was declared a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974....
, listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. The campus is referred to as the "Post." A training area of several hundred additional acres is located near the Post. All cadets are housed on campus in a large five-story building, called the "barracks." The Old Barracks
Barracks, Virginia Military Institute
Barracks, Virginia Military Institute, also known as Old Barracks is a historic building still in use on the campus of the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. They were designed by architect Alexander Jackson Davis and built in 1848....
, which has been designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
, stands on the site of the old arsenal. This is the structure that received most of the damage when Union forces shelled and burned the Institute in June 1864. The new wing of the barracks ("New Barracks") was completed in 1949. The two wings surround two quadrangles connected by a sally port
Sally port
The primary modern meaning for sally port is a secure, controlled entryway, as at a fortification or a prison. The entrance is usually protected in some way, such as with a fixed wall blocking the door which must be circumvented before entering, but which prevents direct enemy fire from a distance...
. All rooms open onto porch-like stoops facing one of the quadrangles. A third barracks wing was completed, with cadets moving in officially spring semester 2009. Four of the Five arched entries into the barracks are named for George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, George C. Marshall '01
George Marshall
George Catlett Marshall was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense...
and Jonathan Daniels '61. Next to the Barracks are offices and meeting areas for VMI clubs and organizations, the cadet visitors center and lounge, a snack bar, and a Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
-operated bookstore.
VMI is continuing with significant construction projects under the "Vision 2039" program. Under this capital campaign, VMI's alumni and supporters raised over $275 million over three years. The Barracks are being expanded to house 1,500 cadets, all academic buildings are being renovated and modernized, and VMI is spending an additional $200 million to build the VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics. The new Leadership Center will be used by VMI cadets, Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States.The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, about north of its present location. In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of...
students, and other students throughout the country and abroad to develop leadership abilities combined with a focus on integrity and honor to benefit tomorrow's world. The Center will also be home to VMI's Distinguished Speaker Series and its Leadership Symposia. The funding will also support "study abroad" programs including joint ventures with Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
Universities in England and many other universities.
Academic programs
VMI's academic programs are grouped into four areas: Engineering, Liberal Arts, Humanities, and the Sciences.The Engineering department has concentrations in three areas: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. Two recent Chiefs of Engineers
Chief of Engineers
The Chief of Engineers commands the US Army Corps of Engineers. As a staff officer at The Pentagon, the Chief advises the Army on engineering matters and serves as the Army's topographer and the proponent for real estate and other related engineering programs....
of the Army Corps of Engineers, Lieutenant Generals Carl A. Strock
Carl A. Strock
Carl Ames Strock was a United States Army officer, and was Chief of Engineers and the Commanding General of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. He was born in Georgia and grew up in an Army family. He enlisted in the Army and received his commission as an infantry second lieutenant...
and Robert B. Flowers
Robert B. Flowers
Lieutenant General Robert B. Flowers was born in Pennsylvania and resided in several areas of the world as his family moved during his father's military career. Following graduation and commissioning from the Virginia Military Institute in 1969, he completed Airborne and Ranger training and began...
, were VMI Engineering graduates. VMI offers 14 major and 22 minor areas of study, with the majority of classes taught by full-time professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
s, 96 percent of whom hold terminal degrees. Within four months of graduation, an average of 97 percent of VMI graduates are either serving in the military, employed, or admitted to graduate or professional schools.
The scholarly achievements of VMI cadets and alumni are significant. A strikingly large number of graduates go on to attend graduate and professional schools. VMI has produced more Rhodes Scholars than all other senior military colleges (Va. Tech, the Citadel, Texas A&M, Norwich University and North Georgia College and State University) combined and has graduated more Rhodes Scholars per graduate than any state college or university in the United States. VMI has graduated 11 Rhodes Scholars since 1921 and 2 in the last six years. The most recent VMI Rhodes Scholar (as of 2009), Gregory Lippiatt, was named in 2009. In 2007, VMI had two Rhodes Scholarship finalists and one Marshall Scholarship
Marshall Scholarship
The Marshall Scholarship, a postgraduate scholarships available to Americans, was created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom when the Marshall Aid Commemoration Act was passed in 1953. The scholarships serve as a living gift to the United States of America in recognition of the post-World War...
finalist.
Academic
In 2009 VMI ranked third, after the United States Naval AcademyUnited States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
and the
United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
, in the US News and World Report rankings of the 27 top public liberal arts college
Liberal arts college
A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...
s in the United States. There is some question as to whether or not the service academies should be rated in competition with colleges that are not fully funded with U.S. government appropriated funds. Compared to the top US liberal arts colleges, public and private, VMI ranked 62nd out of 122 (including ties) in the top tier of schools.
Also for 2009, US News ranked VMI's Civil Engineering program seventh, its Mechanical Engineering program 14th, and its overall Engineering program improved from 25th in the United States in 2008 to 21st out of 105 in the 2009 category of "Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (where doctorate is not offered)." In the newly-added 2009 category of "High School Counselor Rankings of Liberal Arts Colleges," VMI is ranked 57th of the 266 best liberal arts colleges.
Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
' 2008 Special Report on America's Best Colleges ranked VMI in the top 10 Public Universities in the Nation, well ahead of any other Senior Military College in the country. VMI was ranked 9th in the "Top 25 Publics" section, just behind the United States Military Academy, the Air Force Academy
United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States...
, and the Naval Academy, but ahead of such schools as UCLA
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy
United States Coast Guard Academy
Founded in 1876, the United States Coast Guard Academy is the military academy of the United States Coast Guard. Located in New London, Connecticut, it is the smallest of the five federal service academies...
, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
United States Merchant Marine Academy
The United States Merchant Marine Academy is one of the five United States Service academies...
. Overall, VMI ranked 108th out of the 569 colleges and universities evaluated.
Kiplinger's
Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Kiplinger's Personal Finance is a magazine that has been continuously published, on a monthly basis, from 1947 to the present day. It was the nation's first personal finance magazine, and claims to deliver "sound, unbiased advice in clear, concise language"...
magazine, in its ranking of the "Best Values in Public Colleges" for 2006, made mention of the Virginia Military Institute as a "great value", although the military nature of its program excluded it from consideration as a traditional four-year college in the rankings.
VMI has also produced 11 Rhodes Scholars
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
since 1921, with the two most recent having been selected in 2003 and 2008.
Alumni giving
VMI is known for strong financial support from its alumni—in a 2007 study by the National Association of College and University Business Officers, VMI's $343 million endowment at the time was the largest per-student endowment of any public undergraduate college in the United States. , VMI's current endowment of over $343,516,000 is the largest per-capita endowment of any public college in the United States. 35.4 percent of the approximately 12,300 living alumni gave in 2006. Private support constitutes more than 31 percent VMI's operating budget, as compared with 26 percent from state funds.Students
Prospective cadets must be between 16 and 22 years of age. They must be unmarried, and have no legal dependents, physically fit for enrollment in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and be graduates of an accredited secondary schoolSecondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
or have completed an approved homeschool curriculum. New cadets at VMI have an average high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
GPA of 3.39 and a mean SAT score of approximately 1140.
Eligibility is not restricted to Virginia residents, although it is more difficult to gain an appointment as a non-resident, because VMI has a goal that no more than 45 percent of cadets come from outside Virginia. Virginia residents receive a discount in tuition
Tuition
Tuition payments, known primarily as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in British English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English and Indian English, refers to a fee charged for educational instruction during higher education.Tuition payments are charged by...
, as is common at most state-sponsored schools. Total tuition, room & board and other fees for the 2008-2009 school year is approximately $17,000 for Virginia residents and $34,000 for all others. These fees can be misleading, because VMI's endowment enables VMI to meet a substantial amount of a cadets's financial need before the cadet needs loans.
Of the 1251 students enrolled in 2005, 66 were African-American, 39 were Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
, 34 were Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
and 71 were women. Of 446 students that matriculated
Matriculation
Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings...
in August 2008, 39 were women. The first Jewish cadet, Moses Jacob Ezekiel
Moses Jacob Ezekiel
Moses Jacob Ezekiel was an American sculptor who lived and worked in Rome for the majority of his career. In the American Civil War, he was a highly-decorated soldier in the Confederate States Army.-Biography:...
, graduated in 1866. While at VMI, Ezekiel fought with the VMI cadets at the Battle of New Market
Battle of New Market
The Battle of New Market was a battle fought on May 15, 1864, in Virginia during Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War. Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute fought alongside the Confederate Army and forced Union General Franz Sigel and his army out of the Shenandoah...
. He became a sculptor and his works are on display at VMI. One of the first Asian cadets was Sun Li-jen
Sun Li-jen
Sun Li-jen was a Kuomintang General, best known for his leadership in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. His achievements earned him the laudatory nickname "Rommel of the East". His New 1st Army was reputed as the "1st [Best] Army under heaven" and credited with defeating...
, the Chinese National Revolutionary Army
National Revolutionary Army
The National Revolutionary Army , pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928-1947 as 國軍 or National Army was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule...
general, who graduated in 1927. The first African-American cadets were admitted in 1968. The first African-American regimental commander was Darren McDew, class of 1982. McDew is currently a US Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
major general
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
and vice-commander of the Eighteenth Air Force
Eighteenth Air Force
Eighteenth Air Force is a Numbered Air Force component of the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command . It was activated on 1 October 2003 and headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois...
at Scott Air Force Base
Scott Air Force Base
Scott Air Force Base is a base of the United States Air Force in St. Clair County, Illinois, near Belleville.-Overview:The base is named after Corporal Frank S. Scott, the first enlisted person to be killed in an aviation crash...
. It is unknown when the first Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
cadet graduated from VMI, but before the Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
, under Shah
Pahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
, several Persian cadets attended and graduated from VMI. Other Muslim graduates have included Cadets from Bangladesh, Jordan, Indonesia and other nations.
VMI has traditionally enrolled cadets from the armed forces of Thailand and the Republic of China
Military of the Republic of China
The Republic of China Armed Forces encompass the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Military Police Force of the Republic of China . It is a military establishment, which accounted for 16.8% of the central budget in the fiscal year of 2003...
(Taiwan). Graduates have gone on to pursue graduate degrees after VMI at prestigious universities throughout the United States before returning to their countries to continue their military service. Several graduates reached general and flag officer ranks. During the 1990s many other nations were represented in the Corps of Cadets, including Great Britain, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Botswana
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Gregory E. Lippiatt '09 of York, PA was chosen as VMI's eleventh Rhodes Scholar
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
in 2009.
Admission of women
VMI was the last US military college to admit women. VMI excluded women from the Corps of Cadets until 1997. In 1990 the US Department of JusticeUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
filed a discrimination lawsuit against VMI for its all-male admissions policy. While the court challenge was pending, a state-sponsored Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership (VWIL) was opened at Mary Baldwin College
Mary Baldwin College
Mary Baldwin College is a private, independent, and comprehensive four-year liberal arts women's college in Staunton, Virginia. It was ranked in 2008 by US News & World Report as a top-tier, master's level university in the South. Mary Baldwin offers pre-professional programs in law, medicine,...
in Staunton, Virginia
Staunton, Virginia
Staunton is an independent city within the confines of Augusta County in the commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 23,746 as of 2010. It is the county seat of Augusta County....
, as a parallel program for women. The VWIL continued, even after VMI's admission of women.
After VMI won its case in US District Court, the case went through several appeals until June 26, 1996, when the US Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
, in a 7-1 decision in United States v. Virginia
United States v. Virginia
United States v. Virginia, , is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the Virginia Military Institute's long-standing male-only admission policy in a 7-1 decision...
, found that it was unconstitutional for a school supported by public funds to exclude women. (Justice Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Succeeding Thurgood Marshall, Thomas is the second African American to serve on the Court....
recused himself, presumably because his son was attending VMI at the time.) Following the ruling, VMI contemplated going private to exempt itself from the 14th Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
, and thus avoid the ruling.
Assistant Secretary of Defense Frederick F.Y. Pang, however, warned the school that the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
would withdraw ROTC programs from the school if privatization took place. As a result of this action by Pang, Congress passed a resolution on November 18, 1997 prohibiting the Department of Defense from withdrawing or diminishing any ROTC program at one of the six senior military colleges
Senior Military College
In the United States, a Senior Military College is one of six colleges that offer military Reserve Officers' Training Corps programs and are specifically recognized under 10 USC 2111a...
, including VMI. This escape clause provided by Congress came after the VMI Board of Visitors had already voted 8-7 to admit women and the decision was not revisited.
In August 1997, VMI enrolled its first female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
cadets. The first co-ed class consisted of thirty women, and matriculated as part of the class of 2001. In order to accelerate VMI's matriculation process several women were allowed to transfer directly from various junior colleges, such as New Mexico Military Institute
New Mexico Military Institute
New Mexico Military Institute is a state-supported educational institution. NMMI is located in Roswell, New Mexico, United States. It is sometimes referred to as the West Point of the West and it is the only state-supported military college located in the western United States. NMMI includes a...
(NMMI), and forgo the traditional four year curriculum that most cadets had been subjected to. The first female cadets "walked the stage" in 1999, although by VMI's definitions they are considered to be members of the class of 2001. Initially, these 30 women who were held to the same strict physical courses and technical training as the male cadets until it became apparent that adjustments to the standards had to be made. VMI resisted following other military colleges in adopting "gender-normed
Gender norming
Gender norming is the practice of judging female military applicants or recruits, or female employees or job applicants in the civilian workforce, by less stringent standards than their male counterparts. This is sometimes seen as a useful and effective affirmative action policy, to increase the...
" physical training standards until 2008 when it was listed as a goal in VMI's 2039 Strategic Plan. On June 30, 2008, gender-normed training standards were implemented for all female cadets.
Student life
Just as cadets did nearly two hundred years ago, today's cadets forswear such comforts as beds, instead lying upon cots colloquially referred to as "hays". These hays, aired every Monday, are little more than foam mats that must be rolled every morning. Further, cadet uniforms have little changed; the coatee, worn in parades, dates back to the war of 1812. New cadets, Rats, experience even further deprivations, being unable to watch TV or listen to music or use the telephone outside the presence of their dyke.Ratline
New freshmen, known as "Rats" and collectively as the "Rat Mass", walk along a prescribed line in barracksBarracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
while maintaining an exaggerated form of attention, called "straining". This experience, called the Rat Line, is intended by the upper classes to instill brotherhood, pride, and discipline into the incoming class. Under this system, the Rats face mental and physical challenges, starting with "Cadre Week". During Cadre Week, Rats receive basic military instruction from select upper classmen ("Cadre"); they learn to march, they learn to clean their M-14 rifle, and they learn how to wear their uniforms. During Cadre Week, Rats also meet the members of various cadet-run organizations and learn the functions of each. Most notable of these is the Honor Court. By the end of the week, the new Rat Mass has significantly less hair than before and the Rats are on their way to becoming full-fledged cadets.
At the end of the first week, it is quite clear that the Rats have just begun. At this point, each Rat is paired with a first classman (senior
Senior (education)
Senior is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the 4th year of study .-High school:...
) who serves as their mentor for the rest of the first year. The first classman is called a "Dyke", reference to an older Southern pronunciation of "to deck out", or to get into a uniform. While the Dyke watches out for the Rat and the Rat works for the Dyke in accordance with Institute policy, Cadre still enforce all rules as the Rats. In combining the softness of the Dykes with the hardness of the system they lead, with countless push-ups, sweat parties, and runs, the Rats are instilled with the virtue of time management and attention to detail.
The Ratline experience culminates with Resurrection Week ending in "Breakout", an event where the Rats are formally "welcomed" to the VMI community. After the successful completion of Breakout, Rats are officially fourth class students and no longer have to strain in the barracks or eat "square meals". Many versions of the Breakout ceremony have been conducted. In the 1950s Rats from each company would be packed into a corner room in the barracks and brawl their way out through the upperclassmen. From the late 1960s through the early 1980s the Rats had to fight their way up to the fourth level of the barracks through three other classes of cadets determined not to let them get to the top. The stoops would often be slick with motor oil, packed with snow, glazed with ice, greased, or continuously hosed with water. The barracks stairs and rails were not able to take the abuse, so the Corps moved the breakout to a muddy hill where Rats attempt to climb to the top by crawling on their stomachs while the upper classes block them or drag them back down. As of 2007 the Rats no longer breakout in the mud but instead participate in a grueling day of physical activity testing both physical endurance and team work.
The entire body of Rats during the Ratline is called a "Rat Mass". Since the Rats of the Rat mass are not officially fourth classmen until after Breakout, the Rat Mass is also not officially considered a graduating class until that time either. Prior to Breakout, the Rat mass is given a different style of year identifier to emphasize this difference. The year identifier starts with the year of the current graduating class (their dykes' class), followed by a "+3" to indicate the anticipated year of their own class. For example, Rats that make up the future Class of 2015 are considered the "Rat Mass of 2012+3" as the members of their dykes' class will graduate in 2012 and they themselves will graduate three years onward from then.
Traditions
In addition to the Ratline, VMI has other traditions that are emblematic of the school and its history including the new cadet oath ceremony, the pagentry of close-order marching, and the nightly playing of "TapsTaps
"Taps" is a musical piece sounded by the U.S. military nightly to indicate that it is "lights out". The tune is also sometimes known as "Butterfields Lullaby", or by the lyrics of its second verse, "Day is Done". It is also played during flag ceremonies and funerals, generally on bugle or trumpet...
". An event second only to graduation
Graduation
Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...
in importance is the "Ring Figure" dance held every November. During their junior year, cadets receive class ring
Class ring
A class ring is a ring worn by students and alumni in the United States and Canada to commemorate their graduation, generally for a high school, college, or university.-History:...
s at a ring presentation ceremony followed by a formal dance. Most cadets get two rings, a formal ring and a combat ring; some choose to have the combat ring for everyday wear, and the formal for special occasions.
Every year, VMI honors its fallen cadets with a New Market Day parade and ceremony. These events take place on 15 May, the same day as the Battle of New Market
Battle of New Market
The Battle of New Market was a battle fought on May 15, 1864, in Virginia during Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War. Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute fought alongside the Confederate Army and forced Union General Franz Sigel and his army out of the Shenandoah...
in which the VMI cadets fought during the Civil War in 1864. During this ceremony, roll is called for cadets who "died on the Field of Honor" and wreaths are placed on the graves of those who died during the Battle of New Market.
The requirement that all cadets eat in the mess hall was the basis for a lawsuit in 2002 when two cadets sued VMI over the prayer said before dinner. The non-denominational prayer had been a daily fixture since the 1950s. In 2002 the Fourth Circuit ruled the prayer, during an event with mandatory attendance, at a state-funded school, violated the US Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
. When the Supreme Court declined to review the school's appeal in April 2004, the prayer tradition was stopped.
The tradition of guarding the Institute is one of the longest standing and is carried out to this day. Cadets have been posted as sentinels guarding the barracks 24 hours a day, seven days a week while school is in session since the first cadet sentinel, Cadet John B. Strange, and others relieved the Virginia Militia guard team tasked with defending the Lexington Arsenal (that later became VMI) in 1839. The guard team wears the traditional school uniform and each sentinel is armed with an M-14 rifle and bayonet.
Honor code
VMI is known for its strict honor codeHonor code
An honour code or honour system is a set of rules or principles governing a community based on a set of rules or ideals that define what constitutes honorable behavior within that community. The use of an honor code depends on the idea that people can be trusted to act honorably...
, which is as old as the Institute and was formally codified in the early 20th century. Under the VMI Honor Code, "a cadet does not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do." There is only one punishment for violating the VMI Honor Code: immediate expulsion in the form of a drumming out
Drumming out
Drumming out is the historical act of being dishonorably dismissed from military service to the sound of a drum. In modern figurative use it refers to any act of expulsion or dismissal in disgrace.-Origin:...
ceremony of dismissal.
Clubs and activities
VMI currently offers over 50 school-sponsored clubs and organizations, including recreational activities, military organizations, musical and performance groups, religious organizations and service groups. Although VMI prohibited cadet membership in fraternal organizations starting in 1885, VMI cadets were instrumental in starting several fraternities. Alpha Tau OmegaAlpha Tau Omega
Alpha Tau Omega is a secret American leadership and social fraternity.The Fraternity has more than 250 active and inactive chapters, more than 200,000 initiates, and over 7,000 active undergraduate members. The 200,000th member was initiated in early 2009...
fraternity was founded by VMI cadets Otis Allan Glazebrook, Alfred Marshall, and Erskine Mayo Ross at Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
on September 11, 1865 while the school was closed for reconstruction.
After the re-opening, Kappa Sigma Kappa fraternity was founded by cadets on September 28, 1867 and Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...
fraternity was founded by cadets on January 1, 1869. VMI cadets formed the second chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order
Kappa Alpha Order
Kappa Alpha Order is a social fraternity and fraternal order. Kappa Alpha Order has 124 active chapters, 3 provisional chapters, and 2 commissions...
fraternity. In a special arrangement, graduating cadets may be nominated by Kappa Alpha Order alumni and inducted into the fraternity, becoming part of Kappa Alpha Order
Kappa Alpha Order
Kappa Alpha Order is a social fraternity and fraternal order. Kappa Alpha Order has 124 active chapters, 3 provisional chapters, and 2 commissions...
's Beta Commission (a commission as opposed to an active chapter). This occurs following graduation, and the newly-initiated VMI alumni are accepted as brothers of the fraternity.
The VMI corps maintains and operates an independent student newspaper published as The Cadet
The Cadet (newspaper)
The Cadet is the weekly student newspaper of the Virginia Military Institute. Started in the fall of 1907, The Cadet has been independently run by the VMI Corps of Cadets since its first issue, and continues to be done so to this day. The paper is published almost every week while the corps is at VMI...
. The paper has been published weekly since its first issue from the fall of 1907.
Military service
As of 2006, VMI had graduated 265 General Officers and Flag OfficerFlag Officer
A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark where the officer exercises command. The term usually refers to the senior officers in an English-speaking nation's navy, specifically those who hold any of the admiral ranks; in...
s, more than any other college in the United States, except for West Point
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
, Annapolis
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
and the Air Force Academy. Among its most distinguished military alumni are the first five-star General of the Army
General of the Army (United States)
General of the Army is a five-star general officer and is the second highest possible rank in the United States Army. A special rank of General of the Armies, which ranks above General of the Army, does exist but has only been conferred twice in the history of the Army...
, George Marshall
George Marshall
George Catlett Marshall was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense...
; seven recipients of the highest military decoration
Awards and decorations of the United States military
Awards and decorations of the United States Military are military decorations which recognize service and personal accomplishments while a member of the United States armed forces...
awarded by the United States government, the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
; and more than 80 recipients of the second highest award, the Distinguished Service Cross/Navy Cross. VMI has graduated an Army Chief of Staff, an Air Force Chief of Staff and two Marine Corps Commandants making it the only college in the United States (including the federal service academies) to have graduated service chiefs of three of the four primary armed services.
VMI offers ROTC programs for four US military branches (Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force). While four years of ROTC is a requirement for all cadets, accepting a commission in the armed forces is optional. The VMI Board of Visitors has set a goal of having 70 percent of VMI cadets take a commission by 2015. The VMI class of 2008 achieved a 52.8 percent commissioning rate. Of the total of 127 cadets who commissioned in 2008, 63 commissioned in the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, 11 commissioned in the Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, 26 commissioned in the Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
, and 27 commissioned in the Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
.
The table below lists all United States Generals (four-star) who graduated from VMI (The table does not include four-star Alumni of the Institute who attended VMI but graduated elsewhere, such as Generals Patton and Walker. Nor does the table include the many graduates of VMI who attained the rank of four-star general in military service to foreign nations such as Thailand, China, and Taiwan):
| Name | VMI Class | Branch of Service | Date of Four-Star Rank | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Marshall George Marshall George Catlett Marshall was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense... |
1901 | Army | September 1, 1939 |
|
| Thomas T. Handy Thomas T. Handy Thomas Troy Handy was a United States Army four-star general who served as Deputy Chief of Staff, U.S. Army from 1944 to 1947; Commanding General, Fourth United States Army from 1947 to 1949; Commander in Chief, United States European Command from 1949 to 1952; Commander in Chief, U.S... |
1916 | Army | March 13, 1945 |
|
| Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr. Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr. Lemuel Cornick Shepherd, Jr. was a four-star general of the United States Marine Corps. A veteran of World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, he was the 20th Commandant of the Marine Corps... |
1917 | USMC United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States... |
January 1, 1952 |
|
| Leonard T. Gerow Leonard T. Gerow Leonard Townsend Gerow was a United States Army general.-Early life:Gerow was born in Petersburg, Virginia. The name Gerow is derived from the French name "Giraud". Gerow attended high school in Petersburg and then attended the Virginia Military Institute. He was three times elected class... |
1911 | Army | July 19, 1954 |
|
| Randolph M. Pate Randolph M. Pate Randolph McCall Pate was the twenty-first Commandant of the United States Marine Corps from 1956 to 1959.... |
1921 | USMC | January 1, 1956 |
|
| Clark L. Ruffner Clark L. Ruffner General Clark Louis Ruffner was born January 12, 1903, in Buffalo, New York, and graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1924. Most of his early career was spent in various cavalry units until his appointment as Assistant Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Norwich University in... |
1924 | Army | March 1, 1960 |
|
| David M. Maddox David M. Maddox David M. Maddox is a retired United States Army four star general who served as Commander in Chief, United States Army Europe/Commander, Central Army Group from 1992 to 1993; Commander in Chief, U.S. Army Europe from 1993 to 1994. He is a 1960 graduate of Virginia Military Institute... |
1960 | Army | July 9, 1992 |
|
| J. H. Binford Peay III | 1962 | Army | March 26, 1993 |
|
| John P. Jumper John P. Jumper John P. Jumper is a retired United States Air Force general, who served as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from September 6, 2001 to September 2, 2005. He retired from the Air Force on November 1, 2005. Jumper was succeeded as Chief of Staff by General T. Michael... |
1966 | Air Force United States Air Force The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of... |
November 17, 1997 |
|
Athletics
VMI fields 14 teams on the NCAANational Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Division I level (FCS, formerly I-AA, for football). Varsity
Varsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...
sports include baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, men's and women's cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, men's and women's rifle
Shooting sports
A shooting sport is a competitive sport involving tests of proficiency using various types of guns such as firearms and airguns . Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event...
, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's swimming & diving, men's and women's track & field, and wrestling
Collegiate wrestling
Collegiate wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the collegiate and university level in the United States. Collegiate wrestling emerged from the folk wrestling styles practised in the early history of the United States...
. VMI is a member of the Big South
Big South Conference
The Big South Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. The conference's football teams are part of the Football Championship Subdivision...
for almost all sports; it is an associate member of the Southern Conference
Southern Conference
The Southern Conference is a Division I college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision . Member institutions are located in the states of Alabama, Georgia, North...
for wrestling, the MAAC
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. MAAC teams compete in the NCAA's Division I. Most of the members are Catholic or formerly Catholic institutions; the only exception is the private but secular Rider...
for lacrosse, and the MAC for rifle. The VMI team name is the Keydets, a Southern style slang for the word "cadets".
VMI has the third-smallest enrollment of any FCS football college, after Presbyterian
Presbyterian College
Presbyterian College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, South Carolina, USA. Presbyterian College, or PC, is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA. PC was founded in 1880 by William Plumer Jacobs, a prominent Presbyterian minister who also founded the nearby Thornwell Home and...
and Wofford
Wofford College
Established in 1854 and related to the United Methodist Church, Wofford College is an independent, Phi Beta Kappa liberal arts college of 1,525 students located in downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. The historic campus is recognized as a national arboretum and features “The...
. Approximately one-third of the Corps of Cadets plays on at least one of VMI's intercollegiate athletic teams, making it one of the most active athletic programs in the country. Of the VMI varsity athletes who complete their eligibility, 92 percent receive their VMI diplomas.
Football
VMI played its first football game in 1871. The one-game season was a 2-4 loss to Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States.The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, about north of its present location. In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of...
. There are no records of a coach or any players for that game. VMI waited another twenty years, until 1891, when head coach Walter Taylor
Walter Taylor (American football)
-External links:...
would coach the next football team. The current head football coach at VMI, Sparky Woods
Sparky Woods
-External links:*...
, was named the 30th head coach on February 13, 2008. The Keydets play their home games out of Alumni Memorial Field at Foster Stadium, built in 1962.
Men's basketball
Perhaps the most famous athletic story in VMI history was the two-year run of the 1976 and 1977 basketball teams. The 1976 squad advanced within one game of the Final FourFinal four
Final Four isa sports term that is commonly applied to the last four teams remaining in a playoff tournament, most notably NCAA Division I college basketball tournaments. The term usually refers to the four teams who compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final round...
before bowing to undefeated Rutgers
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are the athletic teams that represent Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey...
in the East Regional Final
1976 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1976 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 32 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1976, and ended with the championship game on March 29 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, and in 1977 VMI finished with 26 wins and just four losses, still a school record, and reached the "Sweet 16" round of the NCAA tournament
1977 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1977 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 32 American schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the National Champion of Men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 12, 1977, and ended with the championship game on March 28 in Atlanta, Georgia. A...
.
The current VMI basketball team is led by head coach Duggar Baucom
Duggar Baucom
Duggar Baucom is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at the Virginia Military Institute.Baucom was hired as VMI coach following the 2004–05 season. He was previously the head coach at NCAA Division II Tusculum College. Before becoming Tusculum's head...
and associate head coach Daniel Willis.
Notable alumni
VMI's alumni include a Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, a Nobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
winner, Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winners, Rhodes Scholars, Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
recipients, an Academy Award winner, an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
and Golden Globe winner, US Senators and Representatives, a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, college and university presidents, many business leaders and numerous flag officers, including service chiefs for three of the four armed services.
| Name | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Edward M. Almond | 1915 | Lieutenant General, US Army, CG 92nd Division WW2, CG 10th US Corps Korean War |
| James E. Brown III James E. Brown III James E. Brown III is a Lockheed Martin test pilot and former United States Air Force officer. He is the chief test pilot for the F-22 Raptor program and is stationed at Edwards Air Force Base in California where he performs activities including avionics testing, flight envelope expansion, and the... |
1976 | F-22 Raptor F-22 Raptor The Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is a single-seat, twin-engine fifth-generation supermaneuverable fighter aircraft that uses stealth technology. It was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but has additional capabilities that include ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals... lead test pilot and F-117 Nighthawk F-117 Nighthawk The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk was a single-seat, twin-engine stealth ground-attack aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force . The F-117A's first flight was in 1981, and it achieved initial operating capability status in October 1983... chief test pilot; Fellow and past president of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots Society of Experimental Test Pilots The Society of Experimental Test Pilots is an international organization that seeks to promote air safety and contributes to aeronautical advancement by promoting sound aeronautical design and development; interchanging ideas, thoughts and suggestions of the members, assisting in the professional... (SETP) and Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a multidisciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community.-Function:... . |
| Josiah Bunting III Josiah Bunting III Josiah Bunting III is an American educator. He has been a military officer, college president, and an author and speaker on education and Western culture.-Biography:... |
1963 | Superintendent of VMI, 1995–2002; Rhodes Scholar; Author |
| Withers Burress | 1914 | Lieutenant General, US Army, CG 100th Division, VI Corps, US First Army |
| Harry F. Byrd, Jr. Harry F. Byrd, Jr. Harry Flood Byrd, Jr. is a retired American politician. He represented Virginia in the United States Senate from 1965 to 1983. He is most notable for leaving the Democratic Party in 1970 and becoming an Independent, although he continued to caucus with the Democrats. He is the son of Harry F.... |
1935 | US Senator (1965–1983) |
| Jason Conley Jason Conley Jason Conley is an American professional basketball player for Kataja Basket in Finland. A shooting guard and small forward, Conley is best known for being the only freshman to ever lead NCAA Division I in scoring.-Early life:... |
2002 (transferred) | First freshman in NCAA Division I men's basketball history to win the scoring title |
| Harold Coyle Harold Coyle For the Irish architect, see Harold Edgar Coyle.Harold Coyle is an American author of historical, speculative fiction and war novels including Team Yankee, a New York Times best-seller. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1974 and spent seventeen years on active duty with the U.S... |
1974 | US Army Major and Novelist |
| Jonathan Myrick Daniels Jonathan Myrick Daniels Jonathan Myrick Daniels was an Episcopal seminarian, killed for his work in the American civil rights movement. His death helped galvanize support for the civil rights movement within the Episcopal church. He is regarded as a martyr in the Episcopal church... |
1961 | American civil rights Civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include... activist and one of fifteen modern-day martyrs listed by the Anglican Church |
| Daniel J. Darnell | 1975 | USAF lieutenant general, former commander and lead pilot of USAF’s aerial demonstration team, The Thunderbirds |
| Richard Thomas Walker Duke Richard Thomas Walker Duke Richard Thomas Walker Duke, Sr. was a nineteenth century congressman and lawyer from Virginia.-Biography:... |
1844 | US congressman from Virginia Virginia The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there... , member of the Virginia House of Delegates Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbered years. The House is presided over by the Speaker of the House, who is elected from among the... , colonel Colonel Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures... in the Confederate States Army Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the... |
| Harry Watkey Easterly, Jr. | 1945 | President of the USGA and first Executive Director |
| Douglas J. Ewing | 1951 | U.S. Army Brigadier General Brigadier General Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000... |
| John D. Ewing John D. Ewing John Dunbrack Ewing, Sr. , was a Louisiana journalist who served as editor and publisher of both the Shreveport Times and the Monroe News-Star-World from 1931 until his death. He was also affiliated with radio station KWKH in Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish in northwestern Louisiana... |
1913 | Publisher of Shreveport Times, 1931-1952 |
| Benjamin Franklin Ficklin Benjamin Franklin Ficklin Benjamin Franklin Ficklin was a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, Class of 1849. He is famous for his help in starting the Pony Express and for establishing other stage coach and mail routes in the United States during the nineteenth century... |
1849 | A founder of the Pony Express Pony Express The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 3, 1860 to October 1861... |
| Robert Flowers | 1969 | US Army lieutenant general and commander, Army Corps of Engineers |
| Leonard T. Gerow Leonard T. Gerow Leonard Townsend Gerow was a United States Army general.-Early life:Gerow was born in Petersburg, Virginia. The name Gerow is derived from the French name "Giraud". Gerow attended high school in Petersburg and then attended the Virginia Military Institute. He was three times elected class... |
1911 | General, US Army; Commanding General, V Corps: Omaha Beach, Battle of the Bulge and European Campaign, July 1943 - January 1945; Commanding General, US Fifteenth Army, February 1945 - June 1948. A somewhat self-effacing general, Gerow was ranked by both Eisenhower and Bradley as one of the top U.S. field commanders of the war. He is given significant credit by historians for his performance at Omaha beach and for quickly establishing a critical defensive position with V Corps at Elsenborn Ridge during the Battle of the Bulge. |
| Ryan Glynn Ryan Glynn Ryan David Glynn is a pitcher for the Chinese Professional Baseball League's Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions.-College and MLB Career:... |
1995 | Professional baseball player. First, and only, alum to make it to the major leagues. Currently playing in Japan. |
| James B. Hickey James Hickey (soldier) Colonel James Hickey was the US Army leader of Operation Red Dawn which captured Saddam Hussein near Tikrit, Iraq.-Early life & Military Career:... |
1982 | US Army colonel who commanded Operation Red Dawn Operation Red Dawn Operation Red Dawn was the U.S. military operation conducted on 13 December 2003 in the town of ad-Dawr, Iraq, near Tikrit, that captured Iraq President Saddam Hussein, ending rumours of his death. The operation was named after the 1984 film Red Dawn. The mission was assigned to the 1st Brigade... , the operation which captured Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003... |
| John P. Jumper John P. Jumper John P. Jumper is a retired United States Air Force general, who served as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from September 6, 2001 to September 2, 2005. He retired from the Air Force on November 1, 2005. Jumper was succeeded as Chief of Staff by General T. Michael... |
1966 | Retired US Air Force general and former USAF Chief of Staff Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force The Chief of Staff of the Air Force is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Air Force, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Air Force, and as such is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the... |
| Charles E. Kilbourne Charles E. Kilbourne Charles Evans Kilbourne was an officer in the United States Army who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Philippine–American War.-Biography:... |
1894 | Recipient: Congressional Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross; Lieutenant General, U.S. Army |
| James H. Lane James H. Lane (general) James Henry Lane was a university professor and Confederate general in the American Civil War.He is considered to be the father of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and is the namesake of the University's oldest building, Lane Hall.-Early life:Lane was born in Mathews Court... |
1854 | Confederate Army brigadier general Brigadier General Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000... who fought in Pickett's Charge Pickett's Charge Pickett's Charge was an infantry assault ordered by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee against Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's Union positions on Cemetery Ridge on July 3, 1863, the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Its futility was predicted by the charge's commander,... , civil engineering professor, and founder of Virginia Tech |
| W. Patrick Lang W. Patrick Lang Walter Patrick "Pat" Lang, Jr. is a commentator on the Middle East, a retired US Army officer and private intelligence analyst, and an author. After leaving uniformed military service as a colonel, he held high-level posts in military intelligence as a civilian... |
1962 | Retired US Army Special Forces Officer, US intelligence executive, commentator on the Middle East, and author |
| Cary D. Langhorne | 1894 | Congressional Medal of Honor recipient |
| Dan Lyle Dan Lyle Daniel Joseph Lyle is an American rugby union footballer. A 1992 graduate of Virginia Military Institute, he took up rugby union aged 23 in an attempt to keep fit. He had been invited to train with American football team Minnesota Vikings and had a trial with the Washington Redskins... |
1992 | Former Captain of the USA Eagles National Rugby Team |
| William Mahone William Mahone William Mahone was a civil engineer, teacher, soldier, railroad executive, and a member of the Virginia General Assembly and U.S. Congress. Small of stature, he was nicknamed "Little Billy".... |
1847 | Confederate Army major general Major General Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general... , member Virginia General Assembly Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members,... , US Senator (1881–1887), and railroad executive |
| George Marshall George Marshall George Catlett Marshall was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense... |
1901 | General of the Army, Chief of Staff of the Army Chief of Staff of the United States Army The Chief of Staff of the Army is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Army, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, and as such is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the Army; and is in... during World War II World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... , US Secretary of State (1947–1949), US Secretary of Defense (1950), and Nobel Peace Prize Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who... winner for the Marshall Plan Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan was the large-scale American program to aid Europe where the United States gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to combat the spread of Soviet communism. The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948... in Europe after World War II |
| Richard Marshall | 1915 | US Army general during World War II World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... |
| Robert Q. Marston Robert Q. Marston Robert Quarles "Bob" Marston was an American physician, research scientist, governmental appointee and university administrator. Marston was a native of Virginia, and, after earning his bachelor's, medical and research degrees, he became a research scientist and medical professor... |
1944 | President of the University of Florida University of Florida The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906... , Director of the National Institutes of Health National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation... , Rhodes Scholar |
| Frank McCarthy | 1933 | Academy Award winning producer and Brigadier General, US Army Reserves Producer of the 1970 Academy Award Winning movie "Patton" |
| John McCausland John McCausland John McCausland, Jr. was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army, famous for the ransom of Hagerstown, Maryland, and the razing of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War.... |
1857 | Confederate Army Brigadier-General, serving under General Jubal Early Jubal Anderson Early Jubal Anderson Early was a lawyer and Confederate general in the American Civil War. He served under Stonewall Jackson and then Robert E. Lee for almost the entire war, rising from regimental command to lieutenant general and the command of an infantry corps in the Army of Northern Virginia... |
| Shannon Meehan Shannon Meehan Captain Shannon P. Meehan is a public speaker, author of a critically acclaimed memoir and spokesman for veterans' issues. He is a retired Captain in the United States Army. He was a tank platoon leader in the storied 1st Cavalry Division. He served with the U.S... |
2005 | US Army Captain, Bronze Star Medal Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the... recipient, author and wounded veterans activist |
| Darren W. McDew | 1982 | US Air Force Major General, Director of Public Affairs, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. General McDew was the first African-American Regimental Commander of the VMI Corps of Cadets |
| Giles H. Miller Giles H. Miller Giles H. Miller was born in his parents' home in Lynchburg, Virginia, while Theodore Roosevelt was serving his first term as President of the United States. As a young man, not yet graduated from Lynchburg High School, he wanted to contribute to his community and serve his country. He went to the... |
1924 | President and Chairman of the Board, Culpepper National Bank, President of VMI Alumni Association, Director of The George C. Marshall Foundation The George C. Marshall Foundation Founded in 1953 at the urging of President Harry Truman, the independent George C. Marshall Foundation is the place where the values that shaped and motivated Marshall are kept alive... |
| John Cherry Monks, Jr. | 1932 | Playwright, actor, author, screenwriter, producer and World War II US Marine |
| Thomas T. Munford Thomas T. Munford Thomas Taylor Munford was an American farmer and Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War.-Biography:... |
1854 | Confederate Army Brigadier-General |
| Randolph McCall Pate | 1921 | US Marine Corps general and twenty-first commandant of the Marine Corps Commandant of the Marine Corps The Commandant of the Marine Corps is normally the highest ranking officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff... |
| George Smith Patton | 1852 | Confederate Army colonel who served in the 22nd Virginia Infantry and died in the Battle of Opequon (the Third Battle of Winchester). Grandfather of namesake Namesake Namesake is a term used to characterize a person, place, thing, quality, action, state, or idea that has the same, or a similar, name to another.... , General George Smith Patton Jr. George S. Patton George Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from... |
| Lewis F. Payne, Jr. Lewis F. Payne, Jr. Lewis Franklin Payne, Jr. is a former member of the United States House of Representatives from the Commonwealth of Virginia. He served the of the state, which covers much of Southside Virginia.... |
1967 | US congressman from Virginia Virginia The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there... |
| J. H. Binford Peay III | 1962 | US Army general, commander 101st Airborne, commander United States Central Command United States Central Command The United States Central Command is a theater-level Unified Combatant Command unit of the U.S. armed forces, established in 1983 under the operational control of the U.S. Secretary of Defense... , and fourteenth superintendent of VMI |
| Robert E. Rodes Robert E. Rodes Robert Emmett Rodes was a railroad civil engineer and a promising young Confederate general in the American Civil War, killed in battle in the Shenandoah Valley.-Education, antebellum career:... |
1848 | Railroad civil engineer and a Confederate Army major general Major General Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general... killed during the Battle of Opequon Battle of Opequon The Battle of Opequon, more commonly known as the Third Battle of Winchester, was fought in Winchester, Virginia, on September 19, 1864, during the Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War.... in the Shenandoah Valley Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River... |
| Bobby Ross Bobby Ross Robert Joseph Ross is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at The Citadel , the University of Maryland, College Park , the Georgia Institute of Technology , and the United States Military Academy , compiling a career college football record of 103–101–2... |
1959 | Former head coach of the United States Military Academy United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City... , The Citadel The Citadel -Places:*The Citadel , a 201 m skyscraper in the United Arab Emirates*The Citadel , the old fortified city of Gozo, Malta*The Citadel , a shopping mall in Colorado*The Citadel , a diving spot in Martinique... , University of Maryland, College Park University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C... , Georgia Tech Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States... , the San Diego Chargers San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League... and the Detroit Lions Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and... football teams |
| Edward R. Schowalter, Jr. | 1951 | Congressional Medal of Honor recipient; Colonel, U.S. Army |
| Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr. | 1917 | US Marine Corps general and twentieth commandant of the Marine Corps Commandant of the Marine Corps The Commandant of the Marine Corps is normally the highest ranking officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff... |
| Scott Shipp Scott Shipp Scott Shipp was an American military figure, Confederate States Army officer, educator and educational administrator born in Warrenton, Virginia... |
1856 | Superintendent of VMI from 1890-1907. Led the VMI Cadets in battle at the Battle of New Market under Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge John C. Breckinridge John Cabell Breckinridge was an American lawyer and politician. He served as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Kentucky and was the 14th Vice President of the United States , to date the youngest vice president in U.S... |
| Henry G. Shirley Henry G. Shirley Henry Garnett Shirley was Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Highways. He was a leader in national highway policy and oversaw the development of an extensive state highway system in Virginia.... |
1896 | Commissioner, Virginia Department of Highways Virginia Department of Transportation The Virginia Department of Transportation is the agency of state government responsible for transportation in the state of Virginia in the United States. Headquartered in Downtown Richmond, VDOT is responsible for building, maintaining, and operating the roads, bridges and tunnels in the... |
| Joseph Short Joseph Short Joseph H. Short was White House Press Secretary from 1950 to 1952 and served under President Harry S. Truman-Timeline:* 1904 Born, Vicksburg, Mississippi* 1925 A.B., Virginia Military Institute... |
1925 | White House Press Secretary White House Press Secretary The White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration.... under Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his... |
| C. Bascom Slemp C. Bascom Slemp Campbell Bascom Slemp was an American Republican politician. He was a six-time United States congressman from Virginia's 9th congressional district from 1907 to 1922 and served as the presidential secretary to President Calvin Coolidge... |
1891 | US congressman from Virginia Virginia The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there... and Philanthropist |
| Adolphus Staton Adolphus Staton Adolphus Staton was born in Tarboro, North Carolina and died in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1902.... |
1899 | Congressional Medal of Honor recipient |
| Carl A. Strock Carl A. Strock Carl Ames Strock was a United States Army officer, and was Chief of Engineers and the Commanding General of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. He was born in Georgia and grew up in an Army family. He enlisted in the Army and received his commission as an infantry second lieutenant... |
1970 | US Army lieutenant general and commander, Army Corps of Engineers |
| Clarence E. Sutton Clarence E. Sutton -External links:... |
1890 | Congressional Medal of Honor recipient |
| Sun Li-jen Sun Li-jen Sun Li-jen was a Kuomintang General, best known for his leadership in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. His achievements earned him the laudatory nickname "Rommel of the East". His New 1st Army was reputed as the "1st [Best] Army under heaven" and credited with defeating... |
1927 | Republic of China Republic of China The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor... (R.O.C.) / TAIWAN Taiwan Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following... Lieutenant General, Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War, nicknamed "Rommel of the East" |
| Walter H. Taylor Walter H. Taylor Walter Herron Taylor was an American banker, lawyer, soldier, politician, author, and railroad executive from Norfolk, Virginia. During the American Civil War, he was an officer in the Confederate States Army, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel as an aide to General Robert E. Lee... |
1857 | Confederate Army lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence... , chief aide-de-camp Aide-de-camp An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state... to General Robert E. Lee Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War.... (1861–1865), lawyer Lawyer A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political... , banker, author Author An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:... , railroad executive based in Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach.... , and Senator in the Virginia General Assembly Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members,... |
| Bobby Thomason Bobby Thomason Robert Lee "Bobby" Thomason is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League for the Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers, and the Philadelphia Eagles. He was selected to three Pro Bowls. Thomason played college football at Virginia Military Institute and was drafted in... |
1949 | Former NFL Pro Bowl Pro Bowl In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those... quarterback |
| Ernest O. Thompson Ernest O. Thompson Ernest Othmer Thompson was a general in the United States Army during World War I, a mayor of Amarillo, Texas, an attorney, a businessman , and a 32-year member of the Texas Railroad Commission. He was recognized as a world authority on petroleum and natural gas production and conservation... |
1910 | General, Texas National Guard Texas National Guard The Texas National Guard consists of the Texas Army National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard. The Guard is administered by the adjutant general, an appointee of the governor of Texas. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and state... ; Texas Railroad Commissioner, mayor Mayor In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city.... of Amarillo Amarillo, Texas Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census... , expert on petroleum Petroleum Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling... issues |
| William P. Upshur William P. Upshur Major General William Peterkin Upshur was the recipient of his nation's highest military decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in 1915 during the Haitian Campaign.-Biography:... |
1902 | Congressional Medal of Honor recipient; Major General, U.S. Marine Corps; Commander, Dept. of the Pacific, 1940-1942 |
| Reuben Lindsay Walker Reuben Lindsay Walker Reuben Lindsay Walker was a Confederate general who served in the artillery during the American Civil War.-Early life:... |
1845 | Confederate Army brigadier general Brigadier General Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000... and one of the Confederacy's most noted artillerymen. |
| Thomas Marshall Boyd | 1968 | Currently Co-Chairman of Government Affairs at international law firm DLA Piper DLA Piper DLA Piper is a global law firm with 76 offices across 30 countries and more than 4,200 lawyers. As of May 2011, it was the largest law firm in the world by number of attorneys. The firm's global revenues were $1.92 billion in 2009-2010. The firm is composed of two partnerships, DLA Piper... ; Former Assistant Attorney General of the United States under President's Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. |
Fred Willard Fred Willard Fred Willard is an American actor, comedian, and voice over actor, best known for his improvisational comedy skills. He is known for his roles in the Christopher Guest mockumentary films This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration as well as... |
1955 | Comedic Actor, served as an officer in the US Army |
| Reggie Williams Reggie Williams (basketball, born 1986) Reggie Williams is an American basketball player.-College career:He attended the Virginia Military Institute. He led the NCAA in scoring two straight times for the fast-paced VMI team. In April 2007 he decided to skip his senior season and enter the NBA Draft, but decided to return to school... |
2008 | Led NCAA Division 1 scoring in 2006 and 2007, and is currently playing for the Golden State Warriors Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association... in the NBA. |
| Dabney Coleman Dabney Coleman Dabney Wharton Coleman is an American actor, best known for his roles in 9 to 5, WarGames, You've Got Mail, Sworn to Silence, The Beverly Hillbillies and as the voice of Principal Peter Prickly in Recess and Recess: School's Out.-Early life:Coleman was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Mary... |
1949 | Movie and television actor. |
Notable non-alumni
- James A. WalkerJames A. WalkerJames Alexander Walker was a Virginia lawyer, politician, and Confederate general during the American Civil War, later serving as a United States Congressman for two terms...
was expelled in 1852 just before his graduation for "disobedience" in Stonewall JacksonStonewall Jacksonຄຽשת״ׇׂׂׂׂ֣|birth_place= Clarksburg, Virginia |death_place=Guinea Station, Virginia|placeofburial=Stonewall Jackson Memorial CemeteryLexington, Virginia|placeofburial_label= Place of burial|image=...
's classroom. Cadet Walker had challenged Jackson to a duelDuelA duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
over a perceived insult. VMI granted him an honorary degree in 1872 in recognition of his Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
service, where he rose to the rank of brigadier general and commanded the "Stonewall Brigade". - Lewis Burwell "Chesty" PullerChesty PullerLieutenant General Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller was an officer in the United States Marine Corps. Puller is the most decorated U.S...
resigned from VMI after his freshman year to enlist as a PrivatePrivate (rank)A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...
in the United States Marine CorpsUnited States Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
in August 1918. He retired as a Lieutenant GeneralLieutenant GeneralLieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
as the most decorated Marine in US history. - George Patton, like his father and grandfather who were both VMI graduates, studied at VMI. After leaving VMI, Patton graduated from West Point.
In popular culture
- Ernest HemingwayErnest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
's protagonist in his novel Across the River and Into the Trees was Army Colonel Richard Cantwell, a fictional graduate of VMI. Though not one of Hemingway's best known works, many critics say that Cantwell was Hemingway's most autobiographical character. - Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
starred in the films Brother RatBrother RatBrother Rat is a 1938 film about cadets at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, directed by William Keighley and starring Priscilla Lane and Wayne Morris....
and Brother Rat and a BabyBrother Rat and a BabyBrother Rat and a Baby starring Priscilla Lane, Wayne Morris, Jane Bryan, Eddie Albert, Jane Wyman, and Ronald Reagan, is the sequel to the 1938 film Brother Rat about cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Mayo Methot and Alan Ladd appear in small roles...
, which were both filmed at VMI. Originally a BroadwayBroadway theatreBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
hit, the play was written by John Monks Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoffe, both 1932 graduates of VMI.
Further reading
- Pancake, John, Virginia Reveres Civil War Bravery, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/25/AR2008112502112.html