A Brief Guide to Acronyms
Some of the common abbreviations you might hear around Outreach and International Affairs and Virginia Tech
Abbreviation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ACC | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| A/P | Administrative and Professional faculty |
| APLU | Association of Public and Land-grant Universities |
| BOV | Board of Visitors |
| CALS | College of Agriculture and Life Sciences |
| CAUS | College of Architecture and Urban Studies |
| CECE | Center for Economic and Community Engagement * |
| CIRED | Center for International Research, Education, and Development * |
| CLAHS | College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences |
| CNRE | College of Natural Resources and Environment |
| COE | College of Engineering |
| COIA | Commission on Outreach and International Affairs |
| COS | College of Science |
| COTA | Center for Organizational and Technological Advancement * |
| CPE | Continuing and Professional Education * |
| CSC | Catawba Sustainability Center * |
| E&G | Education and General Programs, a state budget-related code describing "all operations related to the institution's educational objectives.” |
| EBC | Executive Briefing Center * |
| FBRI | Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC |
| FTE | Full-Time Equivalent, a method of calculating employment and enrollment to adjust for part-time or part-year participation. |
| GA | Graduate assistant, a graduate student who provides academic and program support to faculty or departments |
| GEO | Global Education Office * |
| GRA | Graduate research assistant, a graduate student who conducts research under the direction of a faculty member who is typically a principal investigator on an external grant or contract that funds the GRA |
| GSS | Global Strategic Services * |
| GTA | Graduate teaching assistant, a graduate student who assists faculty in the teaching mission |
| IALR | Instute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville |
| ICAT | Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology |
| ICTAS | Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science |
| IPM | Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management * |
| ISCE | Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment |
| ISS | International Support Services (former name of Global Strategic Services *) |
| IVTSCC | The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center |
| LCI | Languange and Culture Institute * |
| LLI | Lifelong Learning Institute * |
| NVC | Northern Virginia Center |
| OIA | Outreach and International Affairs |
| OIS | Outreach Information Services * |
| OSP | Office of Sponsored Programs |
| PCOB | Pamplin College of Business |
| PI | Principal investigator, the person assigned responsibility for program and budgetary management of a grant or contract |
| SCHEV | State Council for Higher Education in Virginia |
| TLOS | Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies |
| T/R | Teaching and Research faculty, includes tenure-track instructional faculty and non-tenure-track faculty — clinical faculty, professors of practice, collegiate faculty, instructors, adjunct faculty |
| UCIA | University Committee on International Affairs |
| VMCVM | Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, often shortened to “vet med” |
| VPI | The university’s acronym/nickname from 1896 to 1970, this should be used only in historical contexts. The same is true for “VAMC,” the university’s acronym/nickname before 1896. |
| VTCRC | Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center |
| VTCSOM | Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine |
| VTTI | Virginia Tech Transportation Institute |
* OIA unit or program
A note on style
From the University Style Guide:
While abbreviations or acronyms are appropriate in some situations, particularly when dealing with a long college name or title, please refrain from turning your press release, feature article, or publication into something that resembles alphabet soup. Attempt to find other ways to identify the subject rather than repeatedly using an acronym. When they are used, you should usually spell out names first followed by the acronym in parentheses, although sometimes using the acronym first reads better or makes sense. If you do use the acronym first, use the full name or title shortly after.
What did we miss?
Is there an acronym or abbreviation that you frequently stumble upon? Send us an email and we’ll add it to the list!