AP Photo

Steger and Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum speak at a news conference. They have met criticism for actions taken during the shootings.

Charles Steger

• Position: President, Virginia Tech, since 2000
• Age: 59
• Education: Bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Tech
• Annual compensation: $663,000

Related

Complete coverage: Stories, photos and multimedia

BLACKSBURG -- Since becoming Virginia Tech's 15th president in 2000, Charles Steger has faced his share of challenges. But dealing with deep state budget cuts, a poorly behaved quarterback and struggles with diversity and racial climate on campus couldn't have prepared the Richmond native for the past week.

Thrust into the middle of a national tragedy and faced with immediate criticism in the aftermath of the worst shooting ever on a college campus, the Tech graduate has received support from all over Hokie Nation for his handling of the crisis.

"He has been a rock that we all needed," said Tom Tillar, vice president of alumni relations. "I truly believe this is his finest moment."

As a vice president, Tillar was with Steger last week to witness his interactions with grieving families and his decisionmaking at meetings.

The 59-year-old hasn't shown any signs of wearing down through the sadness, stress and lack of sleep, those close to him say.

"He will not let himself get pulled down, and he knows he's a symbol of leadership," Tillar said.

Perhaps Steger's best-known pronouncement before this week was in 2000 when he set a goal for the university to become a top-30 research institution by 2010. Despite swift growth in spending on research and development, the university has fallen slightly in the research rankings since 2000. Steger also signed a statement proclaiming the university's commitment to diversity and tolerance in 2005 and helped orchestrate Tech's move to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2003.

His total compensation adds up to some $663,000 annually, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. But for someone leading a nationally prominent university with nearly 30,000 students, he has maintained a relatively low profile, doing more work behind the scenes than in front of audiences.

"Charles is a quiet guy. He listens to people," Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said. "And yet, we know there's one guy in charge at the end."

Steger's personality didn't change during this crisis. Delegating authority, listening to advice and carefully planning actions characterized his leadership. Times were dark and morale was low all week, and no rah-rah speech was going to change that, Hincker said.

Instead, Steger showed calm, steely reserve while addressing topics unthinkable before Monday -- such as how to go about awarding 32 posthumous degrees.

Ray Smoot, chief operating officer and secretary-treasurer of the Virginia Tech Foundation, said that meeting took about 90 minutes. There was no debate of if the degrees would be awarded, only how. Steger made that clear from the beginning, Tillar said.

Since the shootings, each victim's family has had a university employee assigned to them, trying to take care of whatever needs they have. Steger, who has two sons, has met with several of the grieving families. Kurt Krause, Tech's former vice president for business affairs, said the president's personality lends itself to those difficult conversations.

"In his outward appearance, he's gentle and kind by nature," Krause said. "In all of the conversations I've ever had with him, I don't think there was one that didn't end with or begin with, 'Kurt, how are you doing?' "

But while the administrators' focus has been first on comforting victims' families, they have had to spend some of their time addressing questions from people looking to assign blame for the tragedy.

How a person who shot and killed two people at 7:15 a.m. could re-emerge two hours later on the other side of campus to kill again was the question posed in various forms by some angry students and parents and a suffocating news media. Steger and Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum received the brunt of the criticism, with the president doing five interviews with national media outlets Tuesday morning. On Wednesday morning, police converged on Tech's administrative building amid reports of a death threat against Steger.

Although an independent state panel will examine whether the school responded appropriately to the shootings, most students, faculty and alumni have defended the university's leaders against criticism from outsiders.

"If you attack the president, you attack the entire school," said Jesse Johnson, a Christiansburg resident who will be transferring to Tech from New River Community College next year. "They did what they could with the information they had."

Johnson and some Tech students started a Web site -- wesupportvt.com -- Friday to support the administration. Thousands have signed a petition on the site in support of the administration. But the most telling show of solidarity came at Tuesday's convocation. At an event where he shared the stage with Gov. Tim Kaine and President Bush, Steger received the longest ovation. The crowd of mostly students stood and applauded for about 30 seconds.

Steger followed that with a simple speech expressing the sorrow of the university community and his hope to move forward.

But it was the ovation that those in attendance remember.

"As soon as he took that stage, it was evident that the way he was handling this was exactly what the students needed," said Tech senior Liz Hart.

Except for a few years at a Lynchburg architecture firm, Steger has been at Virginia Tech since arriving as a student in 1965. He has received three degrees from the school and been a faculty member, architecture dean and head of a $337 million fundraising campaign.

While Steger's reserved nature has been met with a similar quiet respect from students in recent years, his history at the university endears him in a community where being a Hokie is a major point of pride.

His resume led Kerry Redican, president of the faculty senate, to introduce him as a person with more knowledge of the university than "just about anybody," when Steger made his annual address to the faculty senate April 10, six days before the shootings.

Steger joked and spoke freely and candidly with faculty about higher education funding issues and boasted about the university's capital campaign, then scheduled for its public kickoff on April 28.

"What you see, when you go around this country, is an enormous love for this university," he said, recounting discussions he had had with donors.

That love has manifested itself in thousands of e-mails this week from alumni and friends in support of their school and their president.

While those messages of support have come from all over the world, Smoot received one from someone while leaving Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea in downtown Blacksburg. A stranger followed him out of the coffee shop to his car Wednesday morning. When Smoot turned to him, the man asked him to relay a message.

"I just hope you can tell Dr. Steger that we think he's doing a fantastic job," he said.