University Distinguished Achievement Award
Presented annually, the University Distinguished Achievement Award is given to an individual with nationally distinguished achievement, whether personal and/or professional, in any field or endeavor of enduring significance and value to society.
| Year | Recipient |
| 2022 | Regina Dugan ’84 and Hoda Kotb ’86 |
| 2021 | Charles Pryor ’66, ’68, ’70 |
| 2019 | Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm Inc. |
| 2018 | Lynne Doughtie, chairman and CEO of KPMG LLP since 2015. |
| 2017 | Letitia A. Long, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency from August 2010 until October 2014 |
| 2016 | Joseph M. DeSimone, chief executive officer and co-founder of Carbon |
| 2015 | William Lewis Jr., Virginia Tech’s first Rhodes Scholar and a retired partner of McKinsey & Company |
| 2014 | Robert Lewis Turner, an architect for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and in his own practice |
| 2013 | Tracy D. Wilkins, an emeritus member of Virginia Tech’s faculty, former university leader, and co-founder of the TechLab company |
| 2012 | Joseph R. Loring, started his own engineering firm, Joseph R. Loring & Associates Inc., now known as LORING |
| 2011 | Betty P. Chao, founder, president, and chief executive officer of Westech International Inc. |
| 2010 | Lance Smith, retired U.S. Air Force general, served as commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command, and as NATO’s supreme allied commander for transformation |
| 2009 | Henry A. Long Sr., co-founder, Long and Foster; founder, Scott-Long Construction; founder Henry A. Long Company |
| 2008 | Gene James, retired president and CEO, Southern States Cooperative |
| 2007 | Homer H. Hickam, author of best-selling fiction and non-fiction novels; retired engineer, National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| 2006 | Dr. Evaleen Jones, family practitioner; assistant professor, Stanford University’s School of Medicine; founder, Child Family Health International |
| 2005 | William H. Goodwin Jr., chairman of the board, CCA Industries Inc.; founder, Commonwealth Foundation for Cancer Research |
| 2004 | Maj. Gen. Archie S. Cannon Jr., retired deputy chief of staff, personnel, U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army |
| 2003 | James Gills, founder and director, St. Luke’s Cataract and Laser Institute |
| 2002 | William E. Jamerson, president, J. E. Jamerson & Sons Inc. |
| 2001 | Charles M. Forbes, fundraiser, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; former vice president for Development and University Relations at Virginia Tech |
| 2000 | George C. “Jack” Guynn, president and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta |
| 1999 | John H. Chichester, member, Senate of Virginia |
| 1998 | Roger K. Crouch, visiting scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; astronaut; March 1997 flight, United States Space Shuttle Columbia |
| 1997 | William H. Daughtrey Jr., founder, president, and CEO, Princeton Associates |
| 1996 | Sidney C. Smith Jr., former chief of cardiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; president, American Heart Association |
| 1995 | Olivio Ferrari, (posthumously) Alumni Distinguished Professor, College of Architecture and Urban Studies; founder, CAUS study abroad program Richard B. Tallbot (posthumously) founding dean, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine; director, Office of New Animal Drug Evaluation, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. |
| 1994 | James E. Turner Jr., president, General Dynamics Electric Boat Division |
| 1993 | Owen B. Pickett, member, U.S. House of Representatives |
| 1992 | Mary Virginia Jones, director of design engineering, Atlantic Research Corp. |
| 1991 | Robert B. Delano, retired president, American Farm Bureau Federation John Grado Jr., owner, chairman, and CEO, Technographics, Inc. |
| 1990 | Gen. Thomas C. Richards, former deputy commander in chief, U.S. European Command; member of a presidential commission to President George Bush |
| 1989 | Alexander F. Giacco, former rector, board of visitors; former chief executive officer, Hercules, Inc.; chief executive officer, Himont, Inc. and Montedison, S.P.A. |
| 1988 | No award recommended |
| 1987 | Thomas L. Phillips, chairman and CEO, Raytheon Company (designated in 1986) |
| 1986 | J. Kenneth Robinson, businessman, former 7th District Congressman |
| 1985 | Charles H. Burchard, dean emeritus, College of Architecture and Urban Studies |
| 1984 | Clifford A. Cutchins III, chairman and CEO, Sovran Bank and Sovran Finanial Corp. |
| 1983 | Clifton C. Garvin Jr., chairman and CEO, Exxon Corp. |