We’ve all been, uurmm, a little busy since March, so you may have forgotten Virginia Western’s Educational Foundation funded another round of Innovation Grants in late spring. The college shared a news release in June, touting these creative projects. Your colleagues deserve a round of applause for their successful proposals, which they submitted just as the pandemic was upending our lives. These grant champions have been given the option to extend their project into 2021-22 due to COVID. Here are the innovators, listed in alphabetical order: Cathy Ferguson, School of CCT: Alleviating Barriers for Adult Learners Through Portfolio Assessment; will help create an innovative and more consistent credit for prior learning program, and some professional development. ($5,000)Matthew Goff, School of STEM: Microscopes and Slides for STEM Center, which will give students more access and time to study for biology lab exams. ($7,242)Cheryl Hilton, TRIO Pathways: VWCC/Northwest Collaborative: United for Impact, which will increase the footprint of VWCC in Northwest Roanoke through collaboration with neighborhood, nonprofits and grassroots organizations which promote health, education and training and community development. ($5,000)Wil Preston, School of CCT: Accelerating the Automotive Technology Pathway, which will expand program capacity and support new automotive course partnerships focused on… Continue Reading A round of applause for our innovative colleagues!Read More
Back in the Before Times, I was planning to blog about some inspiring examples of faculty and staff who excelled at creating communities, where students had a sense of belonging and trust. Our G3 planning grant discussions reinforced that relationships are the “secret sauce” to student success, and I saw specific examples across Virginia Western. My focus was going to be on the PHYSICAL spaces where students just like hanging out together. Examples include our Military Student Center in Webber; the new cybersecurity labs in Business/Science; and the numerous events and trips hosted by our TRIO Pathways coaching team. Of course, all of this changed in March. Many (but certainly not all) of Virginia Western’s classes will be conducted remotely this fall. One of the persistent criticisms of online learning has been the absence of face-to-face interactions that help build a sense of community. In fact, only 12% of community college students reported they preferred online-only instruction in a recent national survey conducted by the Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE). Much more popular was in-class only instruction (42%) and hybrid classes (46%). In the same CCCSE survey that asked how they were managing the pandemic, one of the… Continue Reading How do you build relationships in an online world?Read More
Last week, I shared some of the Virginia Western ingenuity and teamwork that we’ve witnessed during the pandemic. I continue to welcome more of your emails! Pam Woody, an advisor in the School of Health Professions, shared the following: “I would like to recognize everyone on the Help Desk team — especially during the last two weeks where we were allowed to be on campus. They took time with each person checking their laptops to make sure all was installed correctly and ready to go from home. They all have extreme patience and the grace not to become frustrated as their work load increased greatly prior to March 20 and had to work with so many people in a short amount of time. They are a great team and all members work well together and are ready to pitch in where ever needed — great teamwork!” When I shared Pam’s message with Shivaji Samanta, Director of Information and Educational Technologies (IET), he added: “Glad to hear that the Help Desk is stepping up to the challenges of the new reality we are in now. I do have one comment to add to that. The Help Desk staff are in the… Continue Reading Thank you, Team IET!Read More
About Shelley
Shelley Lyons is glad to be back on campus as she is a Virginia Western alum, and has served as the Administrative Officer for Grants Administration at Virginia Western since early 2022. Prior to VWCC, her career focus was within the Human Services and Arts fields. She wrote her first grant in 1996 on a whim and has continued to plan and learn since that time. She most enjoys seeing a well-planned project come to fruition, where funder, project manager and beneficiaries can all feel success and see impact.
Recent Posts
- Innovation, and the LOI. August 25, 2025
- Some 24/25 Highlights July 16, 2025
- Have you heard? October 28, 2024
- The Game of Life – Innovation Edition! August 29, 2024
- Why Try An LOI? May 10, 2024