Vaught receives 2005 Virginia Tech President's Award for Excellence

Bobby Vaught, a housekeeper at Lane Hall for 27 years, received a 2005 President’s Award for Excellence.

The award recognizes selected staff and administrative faculty for their outstanding contributions to Virginia Tech. and nominations are received from all areas of the university recognizing excellence in the performance of job duties and responsibilities Recipients are selected by a committee of classified staff and administrative faculty appointed by the president.

Vaught, who retired in June, worked for a very challenging building. One of the oldest buildings on campus, Lane has 84 offices in five bays, three floors, no elevators, and no connecting bays above the first floor. So people could find him when they needed him, he hung a white rag in the bay in which he was working at the time. He kept the building meticulously clean and safe and the old building in really good condition. He made Lane's inhabitants comfortable by vacuuming and straightening rugs, cleaning and stocking bathrooms, cleaning classrooms and conference rooms, checking the windows and radiator knobs for leaks and breakage and the light fixtures for burned-out light bulbs, and checking with each staff person each day to see if they need anything special.

In addition to his housekeeping duties, Vaught became a valued resource on local culture and provided information to the Appalachian Studies students and faculty. He knows the history of Lane and was proud to show it off to visiting alumni. Vaught retired from Virginia Tech with the knowledge of the appreciation the staff and faculty had for his work.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become among the largest universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.