Tech’s engineering graduates receive diplomas

REX BOWMAN / Media General News Service
Published: May 12, 2007

BLACKSBURG - Virginia Tech's College of Engineering led off the school's second day of commencement ceremonies yesterday with a moment of silence for 14 of the 32 students and teachers killed by a gunman on April 16.

The 14 belonged to The engineering college, which suffered the heaviest losses in the deadliest shooting spree in U.S. history.- three professors, eight graduate students and three undergraduates.

"What unselfish service might they have contributed in the years ahead-" lamented engineering Dean Richard C. Benson before a crowd of about 6,000 at Cassell Coliseum.

In a ceremony that began at 8 a.m., the three undergraduates were awarded posthumous degrees. The crowd and the hundreds of graduating seniors gave standing ovations to the family members and friends who accepted the degrees on behalf of the dead students.

Families of the eight slain graduate students were given posthumous degrees in a ceremony Friday.

Gunman Seung-Hui Cho killed 30 of his 32 victims in Norris Hall, where the engineering college has its administrative offices and where many engineering classes are taught.

Professor Liviu Librescu was killed while trying to keep Cho outside the door to give his students time to leap out of the windows.

Professor G. V. Loganathan was killed, along with nine of his students, after Cho interrupted his lecture on advanced hydrology.

And professor Kevin Granata was shot after he rushed down from the third floor to help students trapped on the second floor with the gunman.

"Dr. Granata was the only professor killed who was not teaching a class," said Benson during a tribute to the slain professors. "He headed to the second floor to see if he could bring other students to safety."

The three undergraduate students given posthumous degrees were Maxine Shelly Turner, a 22-year-old senior from Vienna who majored in chemical engineering; Jarrett Lane, a 22-year-old senior from Narrows who majored in civil engineering; and Henry Lee, a 19-year-old freshman from Roanoke who majored in computer engineering.

Among those who picked up their degrees yesterday was Kevin Sterne, of Eighty Four, Pa. Sterne, who was wounded twice in the leg and used an electrical cord as a tourniquet, hobbled across the stage on one crutch. His fellow students and the crowd gave him a thunderous ovation.

"There is something different about the class of 2007," Benson said. "You're the best known class ever to graduate from Virginia Tech. In interview after interview, you demonstrated courage, compassion, poise, professionalism, love for Virginia Tech and love for one another."

Contact staff writer Rex Bowman at or (540) 344-3612.