Ted Faulkner

As Assistant Vice President for Dining, Housing, and Student Centers, Ted Faulkner provides exceptional service, facilities, and dynamic physical environments for students. Ted champions a collaborative, unrelenting commitment to a robust student experience in dining services, housing services, and student centers within Student Affairs.

With a student-centered, service-oriented, and entrepreneurial mindset, the AVP for Housing, Dining, and Student Centers directly supervises the Senior Associate Director of Dining Services. In partnership with the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Experience VT, this position shares supervision for Student Engagement and Campus Life. Additionally, in partnership with the Assistant Vice President for Health and Wellness, this position shares supervision for Housing and Residence Life.

Ted also provides leadership for the establishment and implementation of organizational goals, objectives, strategic plans, policies, and operational procedures, and ensures that services are systematically assessed for efficiencies and effectiveness.

Ted has served as the director of Dining Services since 2012, bringing more than 40 years of food service experience to the position. He started at Virginia Tech in 1998 and has been involved in the design of award-winning dining centers and crucial sustainability initiatives.

During that time, the department has received numerous honors including an Ivy award, twice named College/University Innovator of the Year by Food Management magazine, and won several grand and gold prizes at the National Association of College and University Food Services’ Loyal E. Horton awards. For the last 15 years, Virginia Tech has also been ranked in the top 10 dining programs in the country by Princeton Review.

Ted and his team are responsible for innovative approaches in services, facility design, atmosphere, food, sustainability, and training, and are dedicated to advancing the university’s mission. They have collaborated to offer beef, pork, lamb, eggs, and milk produced on campus in the dining centers. The program also roasts its own coffee beans. In partnership with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Dining Services operates Homefield Farm, a 6.5-acre farm with a mobile high tunnel, food preservation, and composting.

Ted has been nationally recognized for his innovative leadership in Dining Services. He received the Silver Plate Award from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association, the Premier Illuminating Excellence Award for Food Service Operator of the Year, and the President’s Award for Excellence at Virginia Tech in 2017.

Ted earned an associate degree in social sciences from Jamestown Community College in New York and a bachelor's degree in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management – Human Nutrition and Foods from the Department of Hospitality and Tourism in the Pamplin School of Business at Virginia Tech. Prior to joining the college and university sector, Ted served as Food and Beverage Director for Marriot International.