Steve Darr

Responsibilities

Stephen (Steve) Darr serves as adjunct faculty in the Myers-Lawson School of Construction in the Construction Engineering and Management Program.

Education

Darr received a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Arkansas, a Master of Divinity from Duke University, and MS Architecture from Virginia Tech.  He also studied in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and Archaeology at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem.

Background

Steve has worked with over 120 academic, NGO, and corporate philanthropic project sponsors in 76 communities in 28 countries in seven key development fields – construction, health, agriculture, business, technology, human rights, and education. Those humanitarian projects surpass $100M in construction, renovation, or reconstruction of schools, children’s residential institutions, “mercy houses”, hospitals, clinics, bridges, and agricultural projects in vastly different environments.  Students, faculty, and alumni of Virginia Tech have participated in many of these projects from fields of human development, construction, business, architecture, international development, international agriculture, and honors.  He was on the committee convened to respond to the tragic 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech and, in the aftermath, design the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention in Norris Hall.  Steve is the founder of Alliance for Excellence, serves with the Office of Racial Healing at Duke University, and served on the $1.25B capital campaign committee from 2010-2020 at the University of Arkansas where he was also the 2015 Johnson Fellow.  Steve is a member of Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, in London.  He has construction experience with Universal Howard and Baldwin Construction in Arkansas and the Virgil Greene Company in New Orleans.  Among other publications, Steve was co-author of “Corporate Social Responsibility, A Strategic & Systematic Solution to Global Poverty” with Tony Songer in Organization Management in Construction, Chinowsky & Songer, eds. (London: Spon Press), 2011, pp. 174-187, and brings years of global experience to MLSOC.