Collegiate Times

Jay Poole, the director of the Office of Recovery and Support, will be stepping down from his post in July.

"We have been advised by colleagues at other institutions that have experienced similar tragedies that those who were directly affected by the events of April 16 will be looking to the university for various types of support for a number of years to come," President Charles Steger said in a statement.

The Alumni Association's Associate Vice President Debbie Day will assume control of the Office of Recovery and Support on Poole's departure.

Steger said in a statement the office's mission is approximate to the Alumni Association, making Day a natural successor.

"All of the injured students will eventually become alumni, and we wish to keep those families who lost loved ones engaged with the university (if that is their wish) - in much the same manner that we seek to engage alumni," Steger said.

"Therefore, I have determined that it would be logical to move the Office of Recovery and Support under the senior management area of Vice President for Alumni Relations, effective July 1," Steger said.

The Office of Recovery and Support was created in the April 16 shootings' aftermath to coordinate different university services for students directly affected by the event; the victims' families, the injured and wounded and their families and others affected.

"Jay's top responsibility will be to address the needs of the April 16 victims ... families, injured students, or students closely connected with the event," Steger said in a press release.

"He will report directly to me and be our person who works daily with the many ramifications of that terrible day. Additionally, Jay will help coordinate the efforts of the dozens of offices throughout campus that deal with the aftermath on a daily basis," Steger said.

The Office of Recovery and Support is one of several new posts the university created to handle unforeseen developments among students and surviving family members who experience distress in moving forward.

"Each family and injured student has different needs - informational needs, emotional needs, or financial needs. We will do our best to assist," Poole said.

With a 39 percent increase in demand for assistance from the dean of students' office, the dean has also created other posts.

The Thomas E. Cook Counseling Center at Tech saw a 55 percent increase in the number of appointments students made with counselors there over the past two years, Chris Flynn told the Roanoke Times. Flynn is the center's director.

The counseling center increased the number of full-time counselors from 10 to 12 and expanded hours for part-time staff.

A case manager position was also added to the center, one of three such positions created as part of a grant from the Department of Education.

That person attends all temporary detention order hearings involving Tech students and follows up with them afterward, Flynn said to the Roanoke Times.

One of the president's objectives in the reforms was refining and expanding the Care Team, a student affairs group that identifies and responds to at-risk students, and also additions to the Virginia Tech Police Department to standing membership and involving academic personnel in deliberations where appropriate.

Virginia Tech Dean of Students Tom Brown's office also received a case manager through the grant and added two other positions.

In addition to the emotional turmoil from the April 16 shootings, the university dealt with 11 student deaths: four from car crashes, three by suicide, two from illness, one from an accidental drowning and one cause not reported to the university. Apart from the April 16 shootings, that's the most student deaths in one academic year at Tech since 2001-02.

"We tried our best to be supportive of those families and those friends," Brown said. "Was that harder this year? Yeah, it was. Did some of it seem even sadder, if you can imagine? Yeah ... You just get to a point where you just can't hear all that sadness."