After earning his undergraduate degree in civil engineering, a master’s degree in structural engineering (both at Virginia Tech) and completing his military service, Don Garst spent some time working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Evanston, Ill. and Greenland, researching properties of snow, ice and permafrost.



In a 1995 interview about his then pending retirement, Professor Garst spoke of his time in the Arctic. It was in the early 1960s. The engineers actually built a city under the ice where military personnel could live. “Our purpose was to place defense installations under the ice. This was during the Cold War, and a lot of what we were doing was classified work,” Mr. Garst recalled.



A Roanoke native, Mr. Garst graduated from Andrew Lewis High School. After studying two years at Roanoke College, he transferred to Virginia Tech, where he was recruited by one of Virginia Tech’s more influential alumni, Ed Harrison, who eventually became one of Georgia Tech’s presidents.



While a student at Tech, Mr. Garst said he “fell under the wing” of Professor Grove Lee Rogers. Rogers expected a lot from his young protege at the time: he signed Don Garst’s name to a sequence of three classes in one quarter, later enrolled him in a graduate program, and recruited him

to teach while he was a graduate student. Had it not been for Rogers’ interventions, Professor Garst might never have become a university professor.



Upon returning to Virginia Tech for additional graduate study, he was hired by architectural engineering as a full-time assistant professor. When that program was discontinued, he moved to

civil engineering, teaching courses ranging from freshman engineering and computer programming to structural theory, steel and wood structures, reinforced and prestressed concrete and bridges. Retiring after 37 years on the faculty, he continued to teach part-time for nine years.



During his tenure, Professor Garst served as advisor for off-campus graduate students, major advisor to master’s level students, and participated in various research projects. He has served on a number of committees at the departmental, college and university level, including the first university self study, and was a member of the Civil Engineering Departmental Scholarship Committee. Since 1974, Professor Garst has served as Virginia Tech Chapter Secretary of Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, a university-wide honor society, a position he still enjoys today.



He is a registered professional engineer and has done structural consulting work for a number of local and regional commercial projects. He has served on the Town of Blacksburg Board of Building Code Appeals since 1984 and Board of Zoning Appeals since 1998.



In 1985, Professor Garst received the Outstanding Civil Engineering Faculty Member Award and, in 1995 he was honored with the first Alumni Board Award for Teaching Excellence.



Don and his wife Frances have four children, Libby, Wayne, Mary and Jerry, and seven grandchildren