BLACKSBURG -- Less than three weeks before the one-year anniversary of the April 16 shootings, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors heard plans to honor 32 students and faculty killed that day, the future of Norris Hall and the status of recommendations for campus safety.

Jay Poole, director of Tech's office of recovery and support, briefly explained Monday the ceremonies the university has planned for April 16. Gov. Tim Kaine plans to come to Blacksburg to participate in a morning ceremony on the Drillfield that will involve the reading of victims' names and a few words of tribute for each of them. A candlelit vigil will be on the Drillfield that night.

Poole described the day's ceremonies, listed in detail on the university's Web site, as "simple." He said the committee formed to plan the events based that on feedback from victims' family members as well as consultation with people from other communities that have suffered tragedies.

"Everybody wanted to do the right thing and they wanted to do the right thing by the victims," he said.

Tech President Charles Steger publicly referred to the April 16 memorial as a permanent memorial for the first time Monday. The memorial, 32 Hokie stones in a semicircle, is modeled after a tribute Tech students created April 17. The university's version was initially referred to as an "interim memorial" as a committee met to plan a permanent one. In August the "interim" label was dropped, but the idea of eventually replacing the memorial with something different at another location wasn't ruled out.

Steger said the decision to do so was based on "lots of discussion with many different people." He said Monday that he wanted the board to know "we do not have plans for building something else."

Steger also gave a presentation similar to the one he gave at a town hall-style meeting the administration held March 19. He explained how the more than 400 recommendations from internal reviews of the shootings and a state panel have been broken down into 33 groups, 17 of which are designated as priorities. Tech has already spent more than $10 million dealing with the shootings and their aftermath.

Some of the recommendations that will be implemented include banner text displays in classrooms to alert people of emergencies and a revamping of computer data such as class schedules to quickly identify the location of students and employees. Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said a complete breakdown of the recommendations should be available on Tech's Web site sometime this week.

Provost Mark McNamee updated the board on the status of Norris Hall, the site of most of the April 16 shooting deaths. In December, the university announced plans to convert former class space in the area of the shootings. The space will house communal study areas for the department of engineering science and mechanics and a center for violence prevention and peace studies. ESM space in Burruss Hall freed up by the renovation will be used to house a center for student engagement and community partnerships.

McNamee's presentation Monday included a timeline. Renovations, estimated at $1 million, are expected to begin this summer. They're scheduled for completion by late spring 2009, when the center for violence prevention will move into the building.

That will be followed by ESM vacating space in Burruss in the summer of 2009, allowing the center for student engagement to move into Burruss that fall.