Headlines
![Author and veteran Daniel Rodriguez speaks in Gillis Theater last night. – VMI Photo by Kelly Nye.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/RodriguezTalk2017KN085Web-1-400x276.jpg)
Veteran and author Daniel Rodriguez spoke on overcoming adversity to find success playing football at Clemson University and graduating with honors.
![Maj. Matt Jarman demonstrates a defensive move during his modern warriorship class. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/ModernWarriorship2017HLM0179-1-400x266.jpg)
A new course in the psychology department emphasizes mental toughness in addition to physical fitness.
![A photograph of Don Wilkinson.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/Don-WilkinsonList-400x266.jpg)
An Uncommon Purpose: A Glorious Past, A Brilliant Future: The Campaign for VMI will draw to a close June 30, having raised $311 million in gifts and commitments,.
![A portrait of Thomas Watjen '76](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/Watjen_hiList-400x266.jpg)
Thomas Watjen, VMI Class of 1976, will present a lecture, “Leadership in a Dynamic and Changing World,” in Virginia Military Institute’s Gillis Theater at 11:15 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 20.
![Army ROTC staff leads cadets on a march down the Chessie Trail during fall FTX. – VMI Photo by Kelly Nye.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/FallFTXFriday2017KN089-1-400x279.jpg)
For the third time in the past four years, the U.S. Army Cadet Command has named VMI among the eight winners of the MacArthur Award for the 2015-16 academic year.
![Tamara Teaff, a volunteer at the Stonewall Jackson House, leads visitors through Jackson’s kitchen. – VMI File Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/JacksonHouse2017HLM0039-1-400x266.jpg)
The approximately 60 volunteers at the Stonewall Jackson House tend gardens, give tours, and act as shop clerks. Without them, the Jackson House could not fulfill its mission.
With the Corps Physical Training Facility complete, it is time for VMI to look ahead to its next projects. And though there are no new buildings in the immediate future, a couple of current ones, Preston Library and Scott Shipp Hall, will see the upgrades they need.
![The ruins of the South River Bridge represent a break in the continuity of the Chessie Nature Trail. – VMI Photo by Maj. John Robertson IV.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/ChessieSR,Ent2017JRR0015-1-400x272.jpg)
Ever since Hurricane Isabel swept through the area in 2003, navigating the Chessie Trail has required a detour around the missing South River Bridge. But that could change if funding comes through to replace the bridge.
![Kerisha Goode ’18 and Greg Henderson ’17 take photos to document 2016 Chessie Trail Half Marathon and 5K. – Photo courtesy of Maj. Stephanie Hodde.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/DSC_0076[5]-1-199x300.jpg)
An English major’s life has traditionally been spent indoors, but last fall seven cadets majoring in English, rhetoric, and humanistic studies found themselves most decidedly outdoors as they undertook a field work project centered on the Chessie Trail.
![Julianne Knoblett ’20, Eryn Daman ’18, and Marlene Haag ’18, each members of WiSE, look at an image taken by a telescope with Col. Daniela Topasna, professor of physics and astronomy. – VMI Photo by H. Lockwood McLaughlin.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2016-17/WISE2017HLM0055-1-400x266.jpg)
There's a new group on post for female cadets majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.