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Counting on change
Royce Burnett remembers how challenging it felt in 1981 as a freshly graduated audit associate starting work at a Big Eight accounting firm in Texas. Of about 250 new employees hired at the time, Burnett, who’s now an associate professor and chair of Old Dominion University’s School of Accountancy, believes he was the only African […]
April Va. hotel revenues down slightly from pre-pandemic
Virginia hotel revenues in April were down 3.5% compared with pre-pandemic April 2019 revenues, largely due to the lagging Northern Virginia market, according to data released Wednesday by STR Inc., a division of CoStar Group Inc. that provides market data on the U.S. hospitality industry. Hotel rooms sold decreased by 4.7% last month, compared with […]
Next stop — civilian life
“About every 15 minutes,” Shawn Avery’s phone at the Hampton Roads Workforce Council rings with an employer calling to find skilled workers to fill vacancies, he says. Avery is president and CEO of the council, which oversees federally funded workforce development programs and links employers and workers. In the present tight labor market, he says, […]
Solid prospects
Detlev Peters has walked into convenience stores in the Hampton Roads area a couple of times recently to find the candy aisle shockingly empty. “Hershey’s, Reese’s, M&M’s, everything, like they would just have a clean shelf of just nothing,” marvels Peters, who graduated with a degree in maritime and supply chain management from Old Dominion […]
Executive insights
Leaders from Virginia’s maritime and logistics industries share their thoughts about where their sectors stand amid labor shortages, growing cargo volumes and the pandemic’s lingering impacts. Devon C. Anders President, InterChange Group Inc.; Chair, Virginia Maritime Association Valley Logistics Chapter Harrisonburg VB: How is your company hiring and retaining staff? Anders: We have intensifi[...]
ODU names new engineering dean
Old Dominion University has named Kenneth Fridley its new dean of the Batten College of Engineering and Technology, the university announced April 14. He will start at ODU July 1. Khan Iftekharuddin, the Batten Endowed Chair in Machine Learning in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been serving as the college’s interim dean. […]
Va. Tech to lead cybersecurity workforce initiative
Virginia Tech has received a $1.5 million award to lead an initiative that could help close a gap in the cybersecurity workforce. The award, announced April 5, comes from the nonprofit Griffiss Institute, a New York-based STEM and defense technology incubator that runs the Department of Defense’s Virtual Institutes for Cyber and Electromagnetic Spectrum Research […]
Fertilizer shortage hits Va. farmers
Lewis Everett farms cotton, peanuts and small grains in Southampton County, on the Virginia-North Carolina line. He expects to take a loss this year due to the rising costs of fertilizer and crop protectants, which include herbicides and fungicides. Farmers have already negotiated some contract prices, he said. “A lot of those decisions were made […]
Feb. statewide hotel revenues were 6.1% lower than 2019
February hotel revenues in Virginia were 6.1% lower than those recorded in February 2019, according to data released Monday by STR Inc., a division of CoStar Group Inc. that provides market data on the U.S. hospitality industry. Hotel rooms sold decreased by 5% last month, compared with 2019 levels. The average daily rate (ADR) paid […]
ODU and IALR to launch manufacturing engineering tech degree
Old Dominion University will launch Virginia’s first four-year degree in manufacturing engineering technology (MfgET) at its Norfolk campus and a satellite campus at The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) in Danville, the university announced Thursday. “This partnership reinforces Old Dominion University’s commitment to workforce development and leadership in the maritime in[...]
ODU’s Strome Center to host tech entrepreneur weekend
Old Dominion University’s Strome Entrepreneurial Center will hold its 3 Day Startup weekend entrepreneurship program, where participants develop and pitch a product, from Feb. 4 to Feb. 6. ODU previously held the program in 2018, 2019 and 2021. This year’s event is focused on technology solutions. Attendees form groups on Friday afternoon and begin to […]
Va. economic growth will slow in 2022, ODU economists predict
Virginia’s economy is likely to grow at a slightly slower pace in 2022 than it did last year, with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to make future predictions murky, according to the 2022 Annual Economic Forecast released Wednesday by Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. “If we can control COVID-19, the economy […]
