The Center for European Studies and Architecture, located in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland, had another very successful year, filled with many exciting developments. Of particular note was the approval from Swiss tax authorities for the establishment of a foundation in Switzerland. This foundation will be a subsidiary of the Virginia Tech Foundation. A board of directors is being established for the new foundation, which will be named the Foundation Olivio Ferrari, in honor and memory of the founding director of the center. The board of this new foundation will be elected by the Virginia Tech Foundation Board of Directors. This new foundation will greatly facilitate operations on a number of levels and will better enable fund raising in Switzerland and Europe.

Center Director Arthur Hirsh stepped down from his position to return to teaching in the History Department in Blacksburg. A search is currently underway for a successor.

The fall of 1998 brought 30 students from the Pamplin College of Business to study at the center, along with faculty members from the departments of finance, management, and marketing. Thirteen students and a faculty member from the College of architecture and Urban Studies were in residence during the same semester. Additionally, 39 Architecture students visited the center during their travel semester. In the spring, 28 students and one faculty member from the College of Arts and Sciences spent the semester at the center. These students were joined by 19 architecture students and a faculty member.

Over the summer, 71 students and faculty from building construction, agricultural economics, interior design, communications studies, and architecture studied at the center. Also, 30 Virginia Tech faculty and staff members visited the center for orientation, as a way of developing additional programs. The fiscal year's activities concluded with the College of Architecture and Urban Studies hosting its third alumni continuing education program at the center in June.