Governor Youngkin joined Virginia Tech President Tim Sands at Boeing’s new headquarters in Crystal City where the state and the massive defense contractor announced the Boeing Center for Veteran Transition and Military Families, coming to Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus.
According to an announcement from Youngkin’s office, the public-private partnership is uniting industry, government, and academia to drive talent development and increased labor force participation in Virginia. The partnership builds upon Boeing’s $50 million, multi-year commitment that helped jump-start the development of Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus, which offers a new model for graduate education in computer science and engineering and aims to create the most diverse technology campus in the United States.
“Boeing’s recent announcement to move its headquarters to Virginia and reaffirm its commitment to building the next generation of tech talent is a timely development for the Commonwealth, and is made more exciting by their extensive partnership with Virginia Tech,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin.
“The relocation of a world-class company like Boeing to Virginia is testament to the wealth of talent and human capital in our state. Their pledge to create the Boeing Center for Veteran Transition and Military Families ensures that the Commonwealth and its businesses continue to invest in diverse career pathways for veterans and students alike, all the while helping businesses thrive.”
As part of the Boeing-Virginia Tech partnership, the world renowned Aerospace & Defense company has committed to providing student scholarships, facilitating recruitment of world-class faculty, funding K-12 STEM pathway programs, and supporting programs for non-traditional undergraduates, including veterans, to enroll in its state of the art programs.
“Boeing has a long, proud history of supporting veterans and their families during and after their service. We’re also a leading employer of service members, with veterans representing more than 15% of our workforce. So we’re honored to join Virginia and Virginia Tech to build on Boeing’s commitment to veterans with this Center for Veteran Transition & Military Families,” said Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun. “This initiative will unlock new career opportunities for veterans and their families and help develop leading technical talent while affirming our continued investment in Northern Virginia.”
“Virginia Tech has a long history of successful partnerships with Boeing and the Commonwealth, and we look forward to working with them to provide a home for this important initiative for veterans at the Innovation Campus,” said Virginia Tech President Tim Sands. “We know veterans bring unique talents and abilities to our campus, and the commonwealth’s workforce.”
When the program gets up and running in 2024, he said, “The initial focus will be on veterans transitioning and looking to upskill in technology fields, especially computer science and computer engineering related fields.”