The strategic plan under which Virginia’s Community Colleges have been operating since 2003 is called Dateline 2009. As suggested by its name, the plan’s six-year window is approaching an end. You can see the progress that has been made on it by visiting this dashboard.
As you can read in this VCCS news release the process is beginning for establishing the next strategic plan:
A group of VCCS officials, led by Glenn DuBois, chancellor of the VCCS, [is conducting] a series of community discussions across Virginia to understand how the colleges can improve the service they provide to students, families and businesses. A dedicated email address, ideas@vccs.edu, is also being launched to collect comments.
…The regional meetings will include business, community and elected leaders along with economic development officials, students and other stakeholders.
The email address mentioned above is open to everyone both inside and outside of Virginia’s Community Colleges. It’s an effort to ensure that no good ideas are left behind for a network of colleges that serve more than 360,000 people across Virginia each year.
So the question is what can your community college do, or do better, to contribute to your success and to that of the larger community?
Up against national and international competition, Thomas Nelson Community College’s (TNCC) Workforce Development division couldn’t be beat.
Yesterday, Canon Inc. and Canon U.S.A., Inc. announced Canon’s plans to expand its U.S. operations with new facilities and jobs in the Hampton Roads area. Canon is expected to invest more than $600 million to expand the operations of Canon Virginia, Inc., a subsidiary of Canon U.S.A. and create more than 1,000 new jobs.
Dr. Deborah G. Wright, Vice President for Workforce Development for TNCC says,
The project was won on the basis of our Workforce Development proposal. Both Canon and the Virginia Economic Development Parternship said that the state’s economic proposal was good, but not good enough to win the project against at least two other states and three other countries. The proposal development team is the best I have had the opportunity to participate in over 30 years of my service.
The proposal included a customized, multi-campus advanced manufacturing recruiting and training program valued at over $16 million. Two-thirds of funding will come from sources that include the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), TNCC, the Virginia Department of Business Assistance (VDBA) and the Peninsula Workline One Stop.
The Southeast Virginia Community College Training Alliance, led by Dr. Wright, includes the VCCS, TNCC, four regional community colleges, VDBA, the Peninsula Council for Workforce Development, the Peninsula Worklink One Stop system, Old Dominion University and Canon Management. TNCC will recruit and train new employees to deliver 880 technicians and supervisors over three years.
Governor Timothy Kaine said a key driver of the expansion decision was the development of a pipeline to recruit and train the new employees. The Virginia Community College System provided the pipeline.
Dr. Glenn DuBois, Chancellor of Virginia’s Community Colleges said,
This is an incredible partnership that will connect highly-desired employees with highly-desired jobs, benefitting the entire community. By creating this pipeline, we are connecting people who have retired from the military, advanced technology students and others seeking a new opportunity with a college curriculum that has been explicitly designed to meet Canon’s demanding job specifications.
The hiring pipeline will be modeled after the Southeast Virginia Advanced Manufacturing Pipeline led by TNCC that in three years has placed more than 3,500 skilled workers in jobs with some 60 companies in Hampton Roads, working in collaboration with the region’s workforce boards, one stop centers, and community colleges.
During Special Session I of the General Assembly yesterday, the General Assembly quickly approved SB 5001/HB 5001 which set out planning and funding for capital projects encompassing higher education, state parks, mental health facilities, and state prisons. The capital package was not finished in time for the adjournment of the regular General Assembly session, and new legislation was introduced and conferees appointed on March 13. The capital package was kept confidential until it was unveiled yesterday in a briefing to the members of the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. After the General Assembly concluded the reconvened or “veto” session to finish up the governor’s amendments to various pieces of legislation and to the budget bill (HB 30), the General Assembly went into Special Session I to consider the legislation. The Governor has 30 days to sign the bill, but it is unlikely that further changes will be made to the bill.
There are 25 projects included for Virginia’s community colleges. The total value of the projects is estimated at $240.7 million. Community colleges received 23.8% of the total capital outlay funding provided in the bill.
Posted by Ellen Davenport
Special Session II of the General Assembly will be convened by the Governor to address transportation.
In a New York Times article, Mr. Jeff Seaman, survey director for the Sloan Consortium, a nonprofit group that studies trends in online learning, said the biggest growth in online teaching has been at two-year colleges and that “public colleges are at the forefront.”
Distance learning has come a long way. Virginia’s Community Colleges has seen the number of students taking distance learning classes increase 14.5 percent bewteen 2006 and 2007. We are ahead of the curve compared to the most recent national data,
“Nearly 3.5 million students were taking online courses in the fall of 2006, up nearly 10 percent from the previous year,” said Mr. Seaman.
What does this mean for our colleges? For starters, new job opportunities for online teachers! Online teachers host virtual classes, virtual office hours and streamline video that remote students can view online. Read the full article.
You know that frustration you get when you buy something only to bring it home and find it has no directions for assembly or usage, or even better, it has those text-free hieroglyphic instructions with random arrows suggesting a twist here and a snap there? Good taste requires me not to mention the colorful words that such “helpful” directions can inspire.
But imagine if someone came to you, worked with you to get it working right and even checked back with you awhile later to ensure there were no lingering problems - how wonderful would that be?
After their training is complete, the Expeditionary Forces, in teams of five to ten trainers, travel to their host countries to assess the foreign troops’ skills, develop training programs, and, after weeks of mentoring, return for periodic refreshers and progress reports.
They function as trainers and as ambassadors. Representing the United States to other countries, they deliver cultural as well as technical lessons.
Today’s geopolitical challenges are numerous and complex. It’s hard to say what implication this partnership carries in the way of global peace and stability. After all, we are so far talking only about a handful of people to complete the training course. But it’s telling that when the U.S. Navy needed high-quality workforce training skills and the ability to teach them to others, they came knocking on the door of a Virginia Community College.
Northern Virginia Community College Career Coach, Louise B. Robinson, has written a handbook Career Coaching for Parents: How to Help Your Teen Discover and Research Potential Career Pathways. Ms. Robinson did extensive research prior to writing the book, and includes excerpts from the VCCS Career Coaches Handbook. NVCC has printed the book, which is available upon request to VCCS career coaches.
In addition to producing a parent guide to career coaching, Louise has developed a two-hour workshop for parents interested in learning more about how to assist their teens in career and college searches, decision making, and action planning. Her Parent-Teen workshops have been sponsored by Loudoun and Fairfax County School Divisions, and by the Mentoring Partnership of Alexandria (an organization that trains mentors to work with young adults who are referred by the court system). Ms. Robinson has also been invited to present her material at a parent workshop on career exploration and college planning to be held May 3 at the Arlington Career Center. Can an appearance on the Today Show be far behind?
Finally, in a highly creative internal partnership with NVCC’s Workforce Development Services, Louise is teaching three sections of a Parent-Teen workshop in non-credit weekend classes open to the public.
Congratulations to Louise and her support team at NVCC! The VCCS looks forward to offering the Parent-Teen workshop model to coaches at the 2008 Career Coaches Academy.
Well, maybe I exaggerated. We shouldn’t forget Facebook, especially since the latest survey by Youth Trends indicated Facebook is the number one website for both males and females between the ages of 18 and 24. Read the full article on eMarketer.com.
But, what is Communiversity? Released this week, Communiversity is a website designed for,
“REAL students to share their college experience so that others can EXPLORE what post high school is really like.”
Communiversity is geared specifically towards high school students to learn “what college life is really about.” Apparently, every school’s page is managed entirely by students. Students are allowed to upload pictures, so visitors might see locations on campus not normally advertised.
Oh, and by the way, all of Virginia’s Community Colleges are already in the database with tuition and enrollment information. See for yourself!
While this new site is still small, news is spreading fast!!
VaHigherEd Podcast: Episode 5- Career Coaches Guide ‘Realistic Dreams.’ Jeff Kraus talks to Charles McLeod, a career coach for J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. He works at Highland Springs High School to encourage students to plan for the future. Students, he says, need to believe in themselves - and their parents have to believe in themselves, as well. Career coaches can help.
Tune in for the fifth in a series of podcasts featuring Voices from Virginia’s Community Colleges. Click on the audio icon at the top to hear the podcast. Or, click on the podcast title to download and listen on your own computer.
VaHigherEd Podcast Episode 4 - Jeff Kraus talks to Middle College students from J. Sargeant Reynolds and Germanna community colleges at the General Assembly Building, where three students shared the successes the Middle College program has brought to their lives. Listen to them talk about their Middle College experience. Pictured left to right, Erick Jones; Ebony Jackson; and Pablo Abana.
Tune in for the fourth in a series of podcasts featuring Voices from Virginia’s Community Colleges. Click on the audio icon at the top to hear the podcast. Or, click on the podcast title to download and listen on your own computer.
We are frequently asked how workforce services at community colleges are meeting the demands of business and industry. At Danville Community College, an entire class of 18 students in an intense manufacturing technician certification program was hired by Swedwood North America, a furniture manufacturer and subsidiary of IKEA that is building its North American manufacturing operation in Pittsylvania County and the City of Danville. The new facility represents the second largest investment ever in Southside Virginia.
Students said the program was intense, but worth every minute they spent in class at DCC’s Regional Center for Advanced Technology & Training.
“It’s everything I hoped for and the outcome was just what I wanted - I got a job!” said William Stapp, who also said he liked being part of Swedwood. “To be a part of something that brings wood manufacturing back when everything is going overseas is great.”
This program serves as a great example of how colleges are meeting the needs of their community and how pooling resources and working as a team can pay large dividends. The Danville/Pittsylvania Chamber of Commerce handled coordinating all the potential community partners:
“With the demands of today’s advanced manufacturing facilities, we must prepare our workforce with the skill sets and knowledge required by our new and existing employers,” Chamber president Laurie Moran said. “The Chamber served as the liaison between the business community and the training providers to make the connection between education and commerce, and the necessity of a well-trained workforce to support our growing economy.”
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