Collegiate Times

President Steger created the Office of Recovery and Support to help the university deal with the aftermath of April 16; Director Jay Poole speaks about the role of his department, one year later.

CB: What was your job prior to the director of the Office of Recovery and Support?

JP: I didn't even work at Virginia Tech. I had taken an early retirement package from Altria, which is the parent company of Philip Morris, USA, and at that time Philip Morris International ... After what happened in April, I had already been doing work with Larry Hincker. He and Dr. Steger asked if I would be willing to come open an office, basically this office and after I said "no" a couple of times, Dr. Steger kept asking and he finally got me.

CB: When did serious discussions about starting the office begin? Were you involved in the planning? How soon did they contact you with the idea?

JP: Basically, I was with Larry (Hincker) on a Friday afternoon, and he had been down with Dr. Steger. He came back and said, 'We're thinking about opening this office that would work with the families and some others, and trying to put some of these different functions in one place, what do you think?' I said, 'I think that'd be a great idea, it makes sense.' 'Would you be even remotely interested in doing something like that?' 'No.'

So then, a couple of weeks later Dr. Steger was going out to meet with some of the families and I went along with him to kind of hear what they were saying, and then we got back and he was driving me to my car which I had parked over behind Derring, and so we got to the car and he stopped and said, 'So did Larry talk to you about this thing?' I said, 'Yeah.' 'So what did you think?' I said, 'Well, I'm still thinking about it.'

So then two weeks later, it was on the Friday before the fourth of July, he called and said, 'Have breakfast with me Monday morning.' 'Sure.' So, he twisted my arm, and I think the next obvious question is, 'Why did you do it?'

There were two reasons. One, every good thing that I have in my life, except for my wife who didn't go here, every good thing that I have in my life is a direct result of having gone to school here and gotten a degree. The second thing is, our own son was killed in a bicycle accident in 1999, and the entire Virginia Tech community just embraced us. I don't know how I would've gotten through it without it. So, what are you going to say? I could, and we could.

CB:What was your transition into the position like?

JP: There was no transition. It was like, "OK, we've got our man. We don't know exactly what it is we need you to do or how you need to be doing it, but here."

CB: So the office just started from the bottom?

Continue Reading: 1234 Next »