To commemorate the lives lost six months ago today in the Virginia Tech shootings, Charles W. Steger, the university’s president, is calling on students, faculty and staff members, and alumni — on his campus and others — to participate in a community-service initiative.

The project, dubbed VT-Engage, asks participants to perform at least 10 hours of service or service learning by the end of this academic year. “We believe that through this action, Virginia Tech will demonstrate to the world its unique character and steadfast values while integrating social responsibility into the learning experience,” Mr. Steger said in announcing the project.

The goal of the project, which officially kicks off this afternoon in Blacksburg, Va., is for campus participants to complete 300,000 hours of service, with a match from the alumni association that would total 600,000 hours of volunteer labor.

In his announcement, which appeared as a full-page advertisement in this week’s issue of The Chronicle, Mr. Steger reflected on the “outpouring of sympathy and offers of help” from other colleges and universities in the aftermath of the April shootings. He said that Virginia Tech would be “heartened” if other institutions around the world joined in volunteer service as well. —Anna Weggel