Virginia Tech helps students send personalized thank-you notes to instructors at the end of the academic term. Professors like it, but what are the possible benefits to students? Showing appreciation for K-12 teachers is a thing. Professor appreciation? Not so much. Virginia Tech is trying to change that, one letter at a time. The details: Since 2010, the university’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning has allowed students to submit personalized notes of appreciation for their professors via an online form. The center reviews these notes, incorporates them into formal letters and then delivers those letters to professors at the end of each academic term.