Torgersen, Paul E. (Paul Ernest), 1931-2015
Biographical Note
Paul Ernest Torgersen (1931-2015) was the 14th president of Virginia Tech from 1994 until 2000. Torgersen received a B.S. degree in industrial engineering from Lehigh University in 1953 and earned M.S. and a Ph.D. degrees from the Ohio State University in 1956 and 1959, respectively. Torgersen served in the U.S. Air Force (1953-1955) and taught at Ohio State (1956-1959) and Oklahoma State University (1959-1966). He joined Virginia Tech's Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research as department chair and professor in 1967, becoming dean of the College of Engineering in 1970 and serving as interim president in 1988. In 1990, Torgersen became president of the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, until becoming university president in 1994. During his presidency, Torgersen continued to teach until his retirement in 2014. Torgersen Hall and Bridge at Virginia Tech were named in his honor in 2000.
Paul Torgersen married Dorothea Zuschlag on Sept. 11, 1954, and they had three children. She died in 2014, and he died on March 29, 2015.
Source: "Paul Ernest Torgersen", Presidents, https://history.unirel.vt.edu/administration/presidents.html, accessed Nov. 4, 2024.