Eugene P. Trani became the fourth president of Virginia Commonwealth University in 1990.  Since then, Trani has spearheaded an investment in the institution’s infrastructure currently worth more than $689 million, much of that devoted to facilities for the sciences, engineering, biomedical research, biotechnology and patient care.

In the summer of 1995, Trani served a sabbatical at the University of London, where he worked on his research on the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. The result, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations, which he coauthored, was published in the summer of 2002 by the University of Missouri Press and simultaneously in Russia by Olma-Press. His other book, The Presidency of Warren G. Harding, was selected by Book: The Magazine for the Reading Life as the best book on President Harding.