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In 1872, the Virginia General Assembly purchased the facilities of Preston and Olin Institute, a small Methodist school in rural Montgomery County with federal funds provided by the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act. The Commonwealth incorporated a new institution on that site, a state-supported land grant military institute called the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College.
Under the 1891–1907 presidency of John M. McBryde, the school organized its academic programs into a traditional four-year college. The evolution of the school's programs led to an 1896 name change to Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute. The "Agricultural and Mechanical College" portion of the name was popularly omitted almost immediately, and the name was officially changed to Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1944. During those years, there was a short-lived merger with Radford College which at the time was a women's college.
VPI President T. Marshall Hahn, whose tenure ran from 1962 to 1974, was responsible for many of the successes that have shaped the modern institution of Virginia Tech. His presidential agenda involved transitioning the school into a major research university. To achieve this, the student body was increased by roughly 1,000 additional students per year, new dormitories and academic buildings were constructed, faculty were added (In 1966, for instance, the faculty added more than 100 new professors) and research budgets were increased. During the Hahn Presidency Virginia Tech dropped the two-year Corps training requirement for its male students and allowed women to join the Corps. It was the first school in the nation to open its corps of cadets to women.
One of Hahn's more controversial missions was only partially achieved. He had visions of renaming the school from VPI to Virginia State University, reflecting the status it had achieved as a full-fledged research university. As part of this move, VPI would have taken over control of the state's other land-grant institution, a historically black college in Ettrick, Virginia, south of Richmond, then called Virginia State College. This plan failed to take root, and as a compromise, VPI added "and State University" to its name in 1970, yielding the current formal name of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. In the late 1970s, the shorthand name "Virginia Tech" was adopted as the proper identification of the university's athletic teams over the acronym "V.P.I." and the media were requested to use "Virginia Tech" in their reporting of sport scores. In the early 1990s, the school authorized the official use of Virginia Tech as equivalent to the full VPI&SU name. Many school documents today use the shorter name, though diplomas and transcripts still spell out the formal name. Similarly, the abbreviation VT is far more common today than VPI or VPI&SU, and appears everywhere, from athletic uniforms, to the university's Internet domain name vt.edu.
'''Some of Zeta Mu’s Outstanding Alumnae:''' (If you have chapter alumna who have received recognition in any of these three categories, please list them with the date(s) of recognition.)
'''The Early Years '''Installation''' Dateline: Blacksburg, Va. ... campus of Virginia Tech University: Zeta Mu Chapter was formally installed November 16, 1985 and 72 charter members were initiated. Big sisters from six Lambda Province chapters of West Virginia, William & Mary; George Washington; Maryland; Duke; Virginia ..impressive Fireside Service, followed by gift-opening at reception held at Sheraton Red Lion Inn, hosted by Roanoke Alumnae Association. The beautiful initiation and chapter installation service was held at the magnificent German Club facility. The installing officers included Marian Klingbeil Williams, Missouri, Fraternity president; Juliana (From J. J.) Fraser Wales, Ohio State, director of chapters; current Lambda Province officers, Sally Hamilton Staub, Mississippi, PDA; and Beverly Shumaker Blew, Arizona, PDC; Many special Fraternity guests participated: Marjorie Matson Converse, Purdue, Extension Chairman; Polly Tomlin Beall, George Washington, 1978 Loyalty Award recipient; former province officers, Mary O. Shumate Cumberpatch, Maryland, and Jane Boswick, Duke; Maureen Kelly, Lafayette, and Kimberly Schlundt, Miami, Traveling Consultants; Jane Coombs Chadwell, Miami, Superviser of Chapter Finance; Gilly Chamberlain, Tulane, Chapter Consultant. The History weekend was highlighted by a campus reception for 400 guests; Candlelight Banquet featuring Dr. Sandra Sullivan, Virginia Tech Vice-President of Kappa Kappa Gamma 1870–1976)'Student Affairs; presentation ofthe New River Alumnae Clubcharter to its first president, Katherine Autrey Quinn, Georgia, and presentation ofthe chapter president's badge by New River to Deanna Claybourne, first ZM president; model chaptermeeting and installation of the first ZM officers. Installation weekend was chaired by GiniAnding La'Chartte, IWilliam & Mary, Fraternity History Chairman and Coordinator of Chapter Development for Zeta Mu.
In April of 1985, 73 new members were recruited to form Zeta Mu chapter at Virginia Tech. This was the 10th NPC group to colonize on the campus which only opened to women twenty years ago. Fraternity President Marian Klingbeil Williams, Missouri, was on hand during installation weekend, Alumnae from Blacksburg and Roanoke were present as were actives from the College of William and Mary and the University of Virginia, who served as Big Sisters to the new members.