Bill Hopkins had the opportunity to brief the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors on April 1, 2019 about Interdisciplinary Graduate Education initiatives at Virginia Tech.  He used his experience directing the Interfaces of Global Change IGEP to discuss how these programs benefit the University, including their impact on achieving our land grant mission, as well as their positive influence on student recruitment and the research enterprise.  This is the third time Bill has addressed the BOV over the last few years; previous discussions centered on The Global Change Center and the provost’s initiative focused on Global Systems Science.