Lucy Ferrari’s legacy lives on at the Steger Center
May 13, 2026
The Steger Center for International Scholarship marked the end of the semester by honoring the life and legacy of Lucy Ferrari, whose vision, generosity, and deep belief in study abroad helped make the center possible.
The gathering paired students’ final project presentations with a celebration of Ferrari’s impact, bringing together student learning, remembrance, and community. Members of the surrounding community, partners, and friends of the Steger Center joined students, faculty, and staff for the tandem event.
The pairing reflected and honored Ferrari’s influence as a teacher and study abroad leader. Together with her late husband, Olivio Ferrari, she helped launch one of Virginia Tech’s first extended study abroad programs in 1968 and later helped envision a permanent university-owned home in Europe where students could live, learn, and experience another culture.
Ferrari invested deeply in students’ learning and believed education was inseparable from cultural experience and human connection. By inviting the local community to celebrate alongside students, the event carried forward the spirit with which Ferrari helped build the Steger Center — as a place where global learning, personal growth, and community engagement come together.
“Without Lucy Ferrari, there would be no Steger Center for International Scholarship,” Sara Steinert Borella, the center’s executive director, told the crowd gathered for the event. “She touched the lives and hearts of generations of students and set the stage for the Steger Center to become a vibrant place for international exchange.”
