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SWCC to expand workforce development programs
Southwest Virginia Community College in Cedar Bluff is expanding its workforce development programs this year with the help of three grants totaling $307,142 from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority. These grants will support the college’s existing automotive technology and workforce development scholarship programs and help launch a new electric vehicle and hybrid vehicle [...]
Pharma hub workforce training wins $3.9 million grant
The talent pipeline for the Richmond-Petersburg region‘s growing advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing and biotech industries is getting a boost from a $3.9 million federal grant. Announced in mid-January, the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Good Jobs Challenge grant was awarded to the Community College Workforce Alliance in Disputanta, a shared division of Brightpoint and [...]
Community colleges accomplish much on shoestring budgets
A flat tire can mean different things to different people. Maybe it’s a postponed appointment and a call to AAA. Or maybe you have to get a ride to work from your spouse. But for some folks, a flat tire can start a snowball effect. “For so many, that flat tire, that’s the end, right? It […]
VCCS senior vice chancellor to retire
Sharon Morrissey, Virginia Community College System’s senior vice chancellor for academic and workforce programs, will retire at the end of 2023, VCCS announced Monday. Morrissey joined VCCS in 2014. She held leadership roles for multiple initiatives, including eliminating placement testing, providing expanded credit for prior learning for military veterans and creating the system’s Op[...]
Top of the class
In April, David Doré started his new job as Virginia Community College System chancellor, stepping into the shoes of the retired Glenn DuBois, who held the position for 21 years. A Pennsylvania native who once considered becoming a Jesuit priest, Doré is a former high school teacher who once took his students to meet PBS […]
The big freeze
Given pandemic-caused interruptions, college students have been through a lot so far this decade, but one silver lining at many Virginia schools has been frozen tuition. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin made it a priority to keep costs flat this academic year, and he succeeded in getting all 15 of the state’s public colleges and universities […]
Work it out
The Virginia Community College System is experiencing what one top official describes as a “tectonic shift.” Although transfer programs to four-year colleges still account for the largest enrollment demand in community colleges, fewer students are interested in academic programs that can provide transfer credits to a four-year institution, a traditional mission of community colleges. Instead, [...]
VCU, VCCS to receive $3.5M for transfer student program
The Mellon Foundation will award a combined $3.5 million to Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Community College System, VCU announced Tuesday. “We are excited to continue our partnership on the Mellon Pathways Program and build upon the strong history of collaboration between VCU and the Virginia Community College System,” Deborah Noble-Triplett, senior vice provost […]
SW community colleges to create wind manufacturing workforce
The presidents of four community colleges in Southwest Virginia signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday to establish a wind manufacturing workforce development partnership. “Today’s MOU signing is meaningful because it demonstrates our resident and abiding interest in collaborating. Our four community college presidents are setting an example of how to find ways to work together[...]
VFCCE names Ben Davenport chairman
Davenport Energy Inc. Chairman Ben Davenport is the next chairman of The Virginia Foundation for Community College Education, the Richmond-based foundation announced Tuesday. In 2016, Davenport and his wife, Betty, invested $1 million through VFCCE to create a pilot program with four community colleges that provided early childhood programs to 150 early childhood professionals. Those […]
VHCC tech center to expand welding, diesel tech
Demand for welders is so great that some of Eddie Fultz’s Virginia Highlands Community College students are being hired for part-time jobs while they’re still completing their training. “We’re in a manufacturing area where we cannot meet the demand,” says Fultz, coordinator of VHCC’s welding program. “It’s a great problem to have for the college. […]
