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Our Graduates
VMI has a storied history of producing leaders of honor across the public, private, and military sectors. Many of these impressive graduates have taken the time to sit down with the VMI Alumni Agencies to reflect on how their time at the Institute impacted them not only during their cadetships, but in their lives beyond post. This includes graduates so committed to the mission of VMI that they returned as employees. Here are some of their stories.
U.S. Army Maj. Chris Perry ’05
Like many cadets, U.S. Army Maj. Chris Perry ’05 came to VMI to play a sport—in his case, football—and he was seeking a challenge. But what kept him at VMI wasn’t time on the gridiron, sweat parties, or even the brother rat spirit. If you ask Perry why he stayed at the Institute despite academic challenges and then came back to work as a member of the commandant’s staff for 11 years, he will tell you: It was the bone-deep caring he experienced day in and day out.
No matter where he is, Perry continues to extol the virtues of VMI. To a young person considering VMI, he would say, “You need to go to [VMI]. … You need to learn discipline. You need to learn how to lead. You need to learn to work with others that aren’t from the same background as you, and you need to learn how to work with your peers to accomplish a task.”
I’m so grateful for the experiences, so grateful for the hard times, for the friendships that were built that to this day that are still so tight because of things we went through.
Kelly Sullivan ’01
Kelly Sullivan ’01 boasts an impressive resume: She is Blue Stream Fiber’s senior vice president of network construction and program management. In just four years in Lexington, she became part of VMI’s first class of women, earned a mechanical engineering degree, and captained the Institute’s track team. Sullivan also made many good friends. The women in her class—VMI’s first to enroll women—keep in touch. The “bond is still intact,” Sullivan said. They talk to each other using VMI terms and “in the same way we would at [age] 19 or 20.”
She accomplished a lot and changed a lot since matriculating. So has her alma mater. One thing she has learned is what she calls “working in the gray.” Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III ’62, VMI’s 14th superintendent, talked to her about this. The “gray” means not thinking everything is strictly one way or the other but working with people and resources on hand to accomplish a mission. This, Sullivan says, is how the real world works.
Sometimes you have to give, and sometimes you have to compromise. It’s more about understanding who you are as a person and how you’re going to deal … with overcoming obstacles.
Joseph A. Swider ’88
Joseph A. Swider ’88 is a longtime entrepreneur who has specialized in improving the performance of corporations involved in a range of fields, including mining and oil and gas development and in building companies that develop and bring to market what he describes as “high-value advanced technologies,” such as fiber optics, artificial intelligence, power systems, and nanotechnology.
As a cadet, Swider majored in mechanical engineering and then served as a U.S. Navy surface warfare officer for four years. “You remember the old recruiting poster, ‘Join the Navy and See the World?’ Well, I was the poster boy for that one.” While serving on two warships, he visited 48 ports in 24 countries.
Although he enjoyed his service, when his commitment ended, Swider immediately struck out on the entrepreneurial path he had determined to follow since he was a high school senior.
You’re going to face challenges throughout your life, and you need to figure out how to handle them. To accomplish things and conquer mountains, you must be resourceful, and VMI teaches you that.
Lt. Col. Daniel P. Harrison ’05, Ph.D.
Lt. Col. Daniel P. Harrison ’05, Ph.D., VMI chemistry professor, specializes in and teaches single-crystal X-ray diffractometry. In it, he seeks to foster a deep understanding of the three-dimensional makeup of molecules that his cadet researchers build at the atomic level by bombarding very small crystals with X-rays, analyzing how they react, and determining their structures. That might not seem like an important field, Harrison admits, until you consider that 14 scientists have received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry or Physics for work in the field.
As he worked toward his Ph.D. and then took a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Harrison admits “it had never occurred to me to come back to VMI.” Yet, in late 2012, at a conference in North Carolina, he met his mentor again. Col. Daren Timmons informed him that a position was open at VMI and, as Timmons described it, “it sounded right to me.” Harrison also saw the opportunity “to foster cadets’ ability to discover.” Another thing that drew Harrison back to VMI in January 2013 was the opportunity to help cadets like him. “I was a first-generation college student, and I wanted to help young people of a similar background to break their own barriers.”
We had equipment, of course, when I was a cadet, but now we have so much more advanced capabilities. In fact, we can do 95% of the research necessary to create published work. This not only gives cadets a better, more comprehensive education, but it also improves their marketability. The more equipment they have used, the more appealing they are to employers and graduate programs.
Christian Craft ’98
When he was considering colleges, Christian Craft ’98 was looking for something out of the ordinary, and VMI fit the bill. “I wanted to do something different. I thought to myself, ‘Of course, I could go to college and join a fraternity, but to go to VMI and finish … well that would be something!’” He saw the opportunity as a challenge. He was also aware of the close bond among alumni and the recognition VMI graduates receive for attending such a demanding college.
Throughout his career in the medical field, Craft has specialized in critical care, and was assigned a nursing rotation at the Surgery Trauma Intensive Care Unit at VCU Health in Richmond. After eight years with the STICU, he joined VCU Health’s Rapid Response Team in June 2014. His path then shifted again as Craft reached for another dream and took a commission as a first lieutenant in the Army Reserve with the Army Nurse Corps, Army Medical Division at the age of 45.
VMI taught me so much that has benefited me in my daily life. Discipline, hard work, time management, and endurance are a few of the things VMI instilled in me. I also learned that to reap life’s reward, you must put in the time and effort, and there will always be sacrifice.