Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Kevin Granata: Professor’s reputation in department was growing
Kevin Granata
- Status: Professor, department of engineering science and mechanics
- Residence: Blacksburg
- Family: A wife, two sons and a daughter
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Their Norris Hall offices were three doors apart, so after joining Virginia Tech’s faculty in 2003, Kevin Granata and Demetri Telionis became friends. The fellow engineering professor visited Granata’s house, knew his wife and met his children.
They often talked about sports or politics or the business of the department.
But as Monday morning stretched into a long, wordless and worry-filled afternoon, Granata, a father of three and a rising star in Virginia Tech’s engineering school, still was missing.
Granata was teaching in Norris Hall when the massacre began inside the building.
After the shooting, staffers from the engineering department began driving from hospital to hospital, said Ali Nayfeh, a distinguished professor in the engineering school. They were trying to account for everyone.
Granata was not in any of the hospitals. No one received a phone call from the young professor who Telionis guesses was in his 40s. Time passed. Granata’s wife called Telionis’ wife. She was getting worried.
Athletic, confident and good-looking, Granata’s reputation had grown since he moved to Blacksburg from the University of Virginia, Telionis said.
Granata and his students worked on human stability and movement dynamics. He sat on committees and supervised graduate students. He would teach almost any course if no one else was willing.
He carried that same commitment from his to job to his family. Telionis tried talking Granata into taking up sailing, but the younger professor was often too busy coaching his kids’ sports teams.
When the news was confirmed Monday evening that Granata’s name was on the victims list, many people’s worst fears suddenly came to fruition.
“I was so much afraid this would be the case,” said Telionis, who learned of his friend’s death when Granata’s sister-in-law called his house. “He was probably one of the best in the department.”
— Erinn Hutkin
