As director of Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Center (NVC), Karen Akers is responsible for day-to-day operations and services in the National Capital Region’s primary graduate education center. The NVC offers advanced degrees in more than 30 academic programs and serves approximately 1200 students per semester.

Her extensive experience encompasses nearly twenty years in the field of academic administration. Akers served as associate director of budget and administration at The Brookings Institution’s Center for Public Policy Education. In 1997, she joined Virginia Tech as assistant to the dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, representing the College’s interests in the Northern Virginia Center. She was named interim administrator of the Northern Virginia Center in 2001, and director of the Center in 2002.

Akers earned a B.A. degree in creative writing and communications from Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio. She also earned an M.A. in higher education administration from The George Washington University, and is working on a dissertation toward an Ed.D. in higher education administration from GWU.

Contact Information

E-mail: kakers@vt.edu

Office: (703) 538-8310