Beautiful Gardens - Outreach & International Affairs - Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech and Skclron C onferenceC enter () pened in July 2005 and the adjacentH()ltzman Alumni Center o penedthat fa II . "There just wa sn't a ny pl aceelse where we could make the familiescomfortable or where there was a placesu itable for prc>s con fe rences and roomfor the news media to park their satellitetrucks."M ed ia Frenz)1For Vice Prc>ident for Alumni Reiatilln ,;Tom Tillar and his staff, life at theHoltzman Alumni Center changed rapidlyon April 16. Tillar ag reed to o penthe first rwo floor,; of the building to thenews media."We really hegan ro understand what we\\'ere facing Mo nd ay afternoon '.vILen thefirst nerwork news crew arrived," ,;aysDebbie Day, associate vice president foralumni re lations.The numhers of journalists and supportcrew members arri\'ing on campus werestaggeri ng, with 714 signing in representing285 med ia outlets. Internationalnews med in se nt about 60 reporrer,;.Dozens of news transmi ssion sardliterruck;; appeared (we rnight in the pa rkinglots around the hotcl/conference cente,!alumni center complex.For much of Associate Vice Pres identfor U ni\'l;~ r s it y Relations Larry Hincker'sstaff, virtually all wak ing h()ur,; the weekof ApriI 16 were spent un the telepho neor working with news medi a at theHo ltz man Alumni Center, hamling outpress passes or press releases. Hincker,who pres icled at the II press con fe rencesheld in the 135-seat Alumni AssemblyHJll foll owing the rragedy, reca lis, "Themedia presence o n ca mpus was unprecedentedfor any single e\·ent. We alsologged in tho usands of calls from reponersaround the \\'orld askin ,[!' fo r informationo r fo r interviews."Alumni relations turned over its hoardroom to Un iversity Relations for use asthe pubLic informatio n office. Banks o ftelephones and computers fo r researchand lo.gg ing ca lls enabled Tech publicrel ati o ns personnel and vo luntcersfrom other state age ncies to handle theunprecedented volume of inquiries.Andy Ha ll , then the interim ass istantvice presid ent for alumni relati ons,started provid ing computers and pho nelines Monday afternoon to accomm()­d ate t he temporary tenants. "He acted aslia is"n ior the majo r telev ision netwo rks,helping them connect to the bu ilding'swireless Internet and find space," saysDay. " He worked mo re than 36 hoursstraight." Alumni rela rio ns set aside thelibra ry fo r one network and conferenceroums for others, so each network had adedicated room.""\lI/e did eve rything fro m printing outreporters' scripts to copying pressreleases for those \Vh n missed the pressconferences to printing our hundredsof campus maps to give to the journalists,"says Cathy Lally, Tillar's assistant."\Ve also got telephone calls consramlyfrom the news media, from rel atives ofstudents be.fme the casualty lists were;l\'ailable, and fro m internatio nal newsmedia wanting to talk to faeLdty, alumni,and students fro m their cOlIIHries ."Alumni rel ations sraff abo helped jo urnalistsfind lodging, arranged transportationto and fro m t he Roanoke Airport,and kept the coffee flowing."Members of the Virginia Tech StudentAlumni Assoc i8tes, Ollr on-campusliaisons, showed up at a critical timeand wnrked around rhe clock to help us,"Day note,;. "We couldn't h:we m8nagcdwithout them."Focus on FamiliesAssisting the families of students whowere killed o r wou nded \Vas, of course,the most critical task. According toBrown,"Very, very ea rl y o n, by lateMomiai;'or ea rly Tuesday, it was clea r\that ollr s l1~a ll staff of six full-rime"­employees \\:O uldn't he ahle to copebecause family interactio n and iami lyli aison work in the evenr of a studentdeath is a lways the responsi bility ofthis office ." Brown recall, o nly a fewoccasions in Virginia Tec h's h istorywhen more rh an o ne ,[Udenr died atonce. "It became very clea r we neecled[0 recruit others to serve in that familyli aison role."Despite the di ffi culty of what Brown wasOVlreachNDW , 13