BRCC’s ABG Business Honor Society hosts fourth annual Career Expo
Job seekers are encouraged to attend the fourth annual Alpha Beta Gamma Business Honor Society Career Expo on Tuesday, April 5, from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., at Blue Ridge Community College’s Plecker Workforce Center and the Advanced Technology Building.
The Expo will offer career seminars, job finding assistance, employer exhibitors, a résumé clinic, tours of the new Advanced Technology Building and giveaways of gas cards.
“The focus of the Expo is to help students find necessary tools to build careers, and if needed, find part-time jobs in a challenging marketplace,” said Audrey Lail, PhD, assistant professor of business management and ABG advisor.
Several seminars, all held in the Plecker Center Auditorium, will help accomplish this goal:
- At 11 a.m., Patrick Sturges, tour manager with Casterbridge Tours, will explain the benefits of international education and travel abroad opportunities. Sturges, from Sorges, France, has led BRCC’s last two travel abroad seminars in Great Britain.
- Two highly successful BRCC graduates, Bruce Bowman, DVM and Rosalie Nicosia, will discuss how their start at Blue Ridge helped launch their dynamic careers. Dr. Bowman, a BRCC Board member, founded Commonwealth Veterinary Clinic in 1988. Nicosia has served as Chief Operating Officer for Whitaker Securities in New York since 2003. Dr. John Downey, BRCC president, will moderate this panel discussion at 2 p.m.
- At 3:30 p.m., back by popular demand, Ben Irick, financial advisor with LPL Financial Services, and Jim Leech will lead a symposium on career building. Irick will impress upon students the necessity of not only preparing for a good career, but also doing the right things to build wealth in that career. Leech, BRCC manufacturing technology instructor, will encourage students to use their leadership skills to compete successfully for the job of their dreams. Dr. Kevin Ratliff, dean of Business, Humanities, Workforce Services and Continuing Education, will moderate.
- Throughout the day, ABG students will assist attendees in accessing various job banks. Area employers with both full-time and part-time positions available will be on hand. The Expo is sponsored by the BRCC Educational Foundation, the Cultural Affairs Committee, the Division of Business, Humanities, Workforce Services and Continuing Education, Casterbridge Tours and ABG.
For more information, contact Dr. Audrey Lail at 540.453.2411.
It’s official: BRCC is a great place to work
Blue Ridge Community College is one of the best colleges in the nation to work for, according to a new survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The results, released earlier this week in The Chronicle’s third annual report on The Academic Workplace, are based on a survey of more than 42,000 employees at 277 colleges and universities.
In all, only 97 of the 277 institutions achieved “Great College to Work For” recognition for specific best practices and policies. Results are reported for small, medium, and large institutions, with BRCC included among the small two-year institutions.
BRCC won honors in 10 of 12 categories this year:
- Collaborative Governance
- Professional/Career-Development Programs
- Teaching Environment
- Compensation and Benefits
- Facilities, Workspaces, and Security
- Job Satisfaction and Support
- Work/Life Balance
- Confidence in Senior Leadership
- Supervisor or Department-Chair Relationship
- Respect and Appreciation
As a result of achieving this designation in so many different areas, BRCC was also listed on the Chronicle’s “Honor Roll” as one of the top three two-year colleges in its size category.
“I am delighted that Blue Ridge has been recognized two years by the Great Colleges to Work For program. Our employees are happy at BRCC because we all recognize the importance of the work we do and the teamwork that is an essential aspect of getting the work done well,” commented BRCC President Dr. John Downey.
The Chronicle is the nation’s most important source of news about colleges and universities. “With the Great Colleges program, The Chronicle can provide even more of the vital information our readers rely on – unbiased reporting on which colleges are being innovative in their workplace practices,” said Jeffrey J. Selingo, The Chronicle’s editor.
The survey results are based on a two-part assessment process: an institutional audit that captured demographics and workplace policies from each institution, and a survey administered to faculty, administrators, and professional support staff. The primary factor in deciding whether an institution received recognition was the employee feedback.
To administer the survey and analyze the results, The Chronicle worked with ModernThink LLC, a strategic human capital consulting firm that has conducted numerous “Best Places to Work” programs, surveying hundreds of thousands of employees nationwide.
Great Colleges to Work For is one of the largest and most respected workplace-recognition programs in the country. For more information and to view all the results of the survey, visit The Chronicle’s Web site at http://chronicle.com/academicworkplace .
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Latin Ballet of Virginia performs at BRCC on Saturday
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Blue Ridge Community College’s Fine Arts Center plays host to the Latin Ballet of Virginia’s Baile & Rumba on Saturday, April 10 at 7 p.m. Continue reading “Latin Ballet of Virginia performs at BRCC on Saturday” »
Valley gets $5M for green job training
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Blue Ridge Community College and James Madison University are among a group of Shenandoah Valley partners that will take part in a new program to train workers for jobs in the emerging green sector.
U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb on Friday announced a $5 million investment from the federal economic-stimulus package that will go to the Shenandoah Valley Workforce Investment Board to get the job-training program off the ground.
“The formation of the Shenandoah Valley Energy Partnership is exactly the kind of forward-looking collaboration we need to help jump-start our economy and create next-generation jobs in the clean energy field,” said Sen. Warner. “This investment in training workers for new green energy represents an exciting opportunity for the entire Valley region.” Continue reading “Valley gets $5M for green job training” »
A story of survival
BRCC group gets out of Haiti
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Mass chaos. People running through the streets ripping their clothes off.
“People thought it was the apocalypse, that it was the end of the world,” remembers Rebecca Evans, an accounting professor at Blue Ridge Community College, who led a group of students and faculty to Haiti last week to work on a sustainable-agriculture project outside the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.
You are probably aware of at least a bit of what happens next. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit just outside Port-au-Prince at 4:53 p.m. local time the afternoon of Jan. 12, pancaking buildings across the Port-au-Prince area almost instantaneously.
Evans and another faculty member, Gail Foley, a laboratory specialist in the veterinary-technology program, and two students in the BRCC Students in Free Enterprise program, Michael Aronoff and Megan Samples, were on the road back to their base of operations at a local school when the earth moved. Continue reading “A story of survival” »
Report: BRCC students safe in Haiti
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
As of the most recent report, a group of Blue Ridge Community College students and staff members in Haiti this week on a service project is accounted for and safe.
“We have received an encouraging message from an American volunteer who is currently in Haiti and who has worked closely with BRCC. She has e-mailed her organization, letting them know that she is OK and that our BRCC group is with her and fine as well,” a message from BRCC president John Downey posted to the college’s website last night reported.
The message from the volunteer on the ground in Haiti indicated that the group, working on a service project near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, has “safe accommodations and food, and are not harmed.” Continue reading “Report: BRCC students safe in Haiti” »
In the News
- Local News: Expect delays on I-64 between Afton and Crozet
- Local News: Staunton PD needs help in solving hit-and-run
- Local News: BRCC breaks ground on tech center
- Event: Memorial Day service in Waynesboro Continue reading “In the News” »
BRCC business group to lend a hand to Haiti
The Blue Ridge Community College Students in Free Enterprise Team will travel to LaGonave, Haiti Jan. 18-24. Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has been ravaged by four hurricanes this year that destroyed 60 percent of domestic crops and caused billions of dollars in damages. Continue reading “BRCC business group to lend a hand to Haiti” »
BRCC free-enterprise team repeats as national champion
Item by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
They are national champs – again.
The Blue Ridge Community College Students in Free Enterprise team repeated as national champions at the SIFE USA National Exposition held May 13-15 in Chicago.
More than 140 teams with more than 3,000 students took part in the competition. More than 650 business executives served as judges. Continue reading “BRCC free-enterprise team repeats as national champion” »
