University Distinguished Achievement Award

BOV honors Chichester, Hickam

By Larry Hincker

Virginia Tech Spectrum

The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors has granted the 1999 University Distinguished Achievement award to Virginia Senator John H. Chichester of Fredericksburg.

Chichester, the Virginia Republican Party's senior senator, represents Virginia's 28th Senatorial District. He currently cochairs the Senate Finance Committee and serves on three other committees: Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, Commerce and Labor, and Education and Health.

Chichester attended Virginia Tech in the 1950s. Through his alumni status he has remained close to the university and higher education. He currently serves as treasurer of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and he chaired the Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Virginia, which completed its work in 1996.

In its resolution the board said Chichester has been, "a strong advocate for higher education, is a respected authority within the legislature, and has played a pivotal role in higher-education issues."

The university will formally confer the award at the Spring 1999 Commencement where Chichester's daughter, Holly, also will receive her bachelor's degree from the university.

The board also passed a resolution commending industrial-and-systems engineering alumnus Homer Hickam, for his recent literary successes. Hickam's memoirs, Rocket Boys, recently became a major motion picture and is currently playing around this country. His book was re-released in paperback under its movie title, October Sky, and is currently ranked number one in the nation on the New York Times bestseller list. Hickam retired from a career with NASA in 1998.

Noting the inspirational tone of his work, the board noted in its resolution that "Hickam's book, movie, and his life serve as an inspiration for all those who seek knowledge and discovery in order to answer questions posed by the unknown." Rocket Boys tells the story of Hickam's early self-taught exploits at rocket making and his childhood in Coalwood, W.Va., where academic achievement was not often a major aspiration.

The board commended Hickam because his "resultant successful and fulfilling career, which began from modest beginnings in the West Virginia coalfields, is a testament to the power of education."