WASHINGTON POST

The second floor of Norris Hall at Virginia Tech, scene of the nation’s deadliest shooting rampage by a lone gunman, will become in part the home of a new Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, university officials announced Thursday.

The plan, announced at a 2 p.m. news conference on the Blacksburg campus, culminates a process that began in August when a task force was formed to determine the future use of about 4,300 square feet of academic space. In addition to the peace studies center, the space will be used to enhance engineering education, following recommendations from the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, officials said.