Kaine introduces legislation to establish HBCU business centers
U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) and Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) announced Tuesday they have introduced the Reaching America’s Rural Minority Businesses Act, which would establish up to 10 minority business centers at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to serve rural and underserved communities. The legislation would authorize the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) in the […][...]
Va. allocates $116M CARES funding for higher ed
As public universities and medical centers have depleted previously allocated federal dollars, Gov. Ralph Northam is directing more than $116 million in federal CARES Act funding to higher education institutions in Virginia, the governor announced Tuesday. Funding will go to public universities and medical centers in support of telework, distance learning, personal protective equipment, sanitization […][...]
Out of the lab, into the market
Virginia Tech was born to promote business. The 1862 Morrill Act, which created land-grant universities including Virginia Tech, requires such universities to “teach such branches of learning as are related to … agriculture and the mechanical arts … to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes.�[...]
Virginia Tech’s proof-of-concept grants
It’s about gaps. Gaps between the uncertainties that exist and the uncertainties investors are willing to accept. Gaps between a working prototype and a mass-produced model. Gaps between what researchers produce and what the market wants to buy. Virginia tech’s proof-of-concept (POC) grants aim to help university researchers[...]
VMI superintendent resigns amid racism probe
Following Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s announcement of a probe into allegations of racism at Virginia Military Institute, the school’s superintendent, retired U.S. Army Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, has resigned. In a letter dated Oct. 26, Peay said that the probe announced by Gov. Ralph Northam and other top state le[...]
U.Va. launches Sands Institute for Lifelong Learning
Using its largest-ever gift — a $68 million donation last year from Frank M. Sands Sr., founder of Sands Investment Group Inc. — the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business announced Friday it has launched the Marjorie R. and Frank M. Sands Sr. Institute for Lifelong Learning. The Sands Institute for Lifelon[...]
VCU received record $335M in research funding for 2020
Virginia Commonwealth University received a record $335 million in sponsored funding for research during fiscal year 2020 — an 8% increase from 2019, the university announced Wednesday. “VCU’s ongoing commitment to its faculty, interdisciplinary research and investment in research infrastructure have translated into these record levels — which have grown by a third — over […]
Liberty University finance probe issues call for whistleblowers
A firm conducting an investigation at Liberty University will use an encrypted website to allow anonymous whistleblower complaints focused on financial misconduct by “current or former members of university leadership,” the university announced Tuesday night. Chicago-based public accounting firm Baker Tilly US began [...]
VCU College of Engineering receives $1M anonymous gift
An anonymous donor has made a $1 million gift to the Virginia Commonwealth University College of Engineering to provide funds for programming and support for international students, VCU announced Tuesday. Part of the gift will establish a global education and international student support fund (to be administered through VCU’s Global Education Office) and additional funding […]
More Virginia colleges scrap traditional spring break
RICHMOND, Va. — A growing number of Virginia colleges are announcing that spring break will be canceled or modified in an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Virginia Tech, located in Blacksburg, announced plans Monday. The biggest change is that the university will not have a week-long spring break. It will instead[...]
Northam calls for VMI racism probe
Before the academic semester begins, new cadets at Virginia Military Institute must endure Hell Week, a punishing 10-day rite of passage that introduces students to the military discipline, drill and physical fitness expectations required of them. For one Black freshman in 2018, it meant a white sophomore telling him he’d “lynch” his body and use […]
Northam announces wind training alliance
Gov. Ralph Northam on Wednesday announced the formation of the Mid-Atlantic Wind Training Alliance, Virginia’s first workforce training collaborative for the offshore and onshore wind energy industries. The program will offer industry-required certifications for wind project operations and long-term maintenance. The New Coll[...]