Tech names VP of campus planning, infrastructure, facilities

Christopher H. Kiwus has been with the university since 2014

Published June 18, 2020 by Sydney Lake

Christopher H. Kiwus. Photo courtesy Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech announced Thursday that Christopher H. Kiwus has been named vice president for campus planning, infrastructure and facilities, a position in which he oversees the university’s six-year plan for approximately 30 projects totaling nearly $3 billion.

Kiwus had been Tech’s associate vice president and chief facilities officer since 2014. In his new role, which he started June 10, Kiwus is leading campus planning, infrastructure and facilities with a focus on care, maintenance and expansion of Tech’s Blacksburg, Roanoke and Northern Virginia campuses.

He oversees more than 500 employees and provide direction and supervision for capital planning and construction, university planning, sustainability, energy management, buildings and grounds, renovations, engineering operations, real estate and leasing and campus utilities. He is also responsible for the Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

A retired U.S. Navy captain, Kiwus was commanding officer of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, in Jacksonville, Florida, before coming to Tech. He led more than 1,800 naval employees at 15 bases across the Southeast U.S. and the Caribbean and oversaw maintenance of 20,000 facilities.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Union College and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He also holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College and a doctorate in civil and environmental engineering from Rutgers University.