The Friday agenda begins at 6 p.m. and continues through the evening on Feb. 17 with networking opportunities, inspirational talks, music, performances and food. The Saturday agenda begins on Feb. 18 with breakfast at 8 a.m. and features workshops throughout the day that will help students explore their potential as leaders. Lunch will be served. The registration cost for the conference is $50, allows students full access to all the workshops, keynote addresses, meals and gives them a chance to win an Apple iPad, provided by SunTrust Bank. Students can register online at http://www.virginiawestern.edu/services/bsrp/conference.php.

The Black Student Leadership Conference will feature award winning authors, speakers, and workshop leaders that include Dr. Carolyn Browning, Dr. Debyii L. Sababu-Thomas, Dr. Barbara Pendergrass, C. Oliver Junior, Jerel Rhodes, Tamara Futrell and more. Topical workshops for advisors and students are designed to inspire, challenge, and motivate conferees in pursuit of academic excellence through leadership, service and wellness.

For more information about the conference, please contact Cheryl Hilton at (540) 857-6328 or Chilton@virginiawestern.edu.

Students will have the opportunity to complete the 2012-2013 FAFSA form online and receive information on financial aid. The Virginia Western Financial Aid Department will be on hand to answer questions and assist with form completion. Bring your 2011 completed tax return and w-2's.

Guest speaker Bobbie Walker, Partnership Marketing Education Director for Virginia Tourism Corporation, will teach you ways to navigate difficult complaint situations.

You will learn to:

• Embrace complaints as a way to re-engage customers, and not view them as a necessary evil.
• Empower your front line staff to effectively deal with difficult situations.
• Learn when to say “NO” in a respectful, but authoritative manner.
• Recognize complaint management as a critical element of your business strategy.
• When you make your company a complaint-friendly organization, you not only improve the relationship with your external customers, you also gain a more satisfied, loyal and productive workforce.

WHEN/WHERE: January 18, 2012; Roanoke session, 9-11 a.m., Whitman Theater, Virginia Western Community College; Daleville session, 2-4 p.m. at the Greenfield Center

COST: Free

REGISTER: For the Roanoke session, contact Mike Greer at (540) 857-6407 or mgreer@virginiawestern.edu; For the Greenfield session, contact Cassandra Dove at (540) 966-3984 (ext. 16) or cdove@virginiawestern.edu

The program, Access ESL and College Preparation (AECP), will give students opportunities to acquire English listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar and pronunciation skills. AECP will also teach valuable study skills to help students understand what is expected in U.S. college classes so they can achieve their best results whether at Virginia Western or elsewhere.

A new student orientation will be held Jan. 5 with the 2012 program launching on Jan. 9. Interested students should visit http://www.virginiawestern.edu/workforce/programs/accessesl.php or contact Ginny Rossin at (540) 314-0992 or vrossin@virginiawestern.edu.

The program consists of three 15-week semesters (one year); however students may attend for shorter or longer periods depending on their skill levels upon entry and individual students’ needs and goals. The curriculum consists of non-credit college preparation courses so students can enter programs of study at accredited colleges or universities.

AECP is an educational consulting firm that serves as a liaison for international and ESL students interested in studying at Virginia Western.

The program is designed to allow students to progress through these skill levels:

• Skill Level I (ESLA 2601): A basic beginner level course for students with little or no academic English training, and with oral communication limited to frequently used phrases in predictable need areas.
• Skill Level II (ESLA 2602): Fluency skills are emerging through the use of learned material and students are beginning to combine skills to form limited interaction with others. Students can ask questions and make statements about topics learned in class and are able to write paragraphs and understand short readings.
• Skill Level III (ESLA 2603): In this course, students possess a strong grasp functional English language skills and exhibit creativity and spontaneity in their interactions with others and in their work. Students are capable of more complex topics at slightly more depth of content. Students can compose essays in variety of genre.
• Skill Level IV (ESLA 2604): Students in this course employ a variety of communication strategies to initiate conversation and discuss topics at greater length and depth. These students are generally understood by native English speakers, can differentiate between formal and informal communication, and are becoming aware of nuances. Students can compose longer essays and research papers.

Virginia Western professor Steve Huff, left, accepts a check for the Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence from Virginia Community College System Chancellor Glenn DuBois.

Virginia Western Community College associate professor Steve Huff accepted the 2011 Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence at the Virginia Community College System Annual Meeting dinner on Wednesday in Charlottesville. Huff, the Communication Design program head, is the first Virginia W

estern faculty member to earn the annual award, which is the top teaching honor throughout the state’s 23-community college system.

VCCS Chancellor Dr. Glenn DuBois established the award, which includes a VCCS stole and a $5,000 check. Each of the VCCS college presidents may only submit one faculty member for the Chancellor’s Award each year, and the application process is extensive. In addition to demonstrating evidence of excellence to the awards committee through course documents, presentations and outcomes, an applicant must also show the support of colleagues and students. Huff submitted a video of past and present students’ unedited comments on his teaching.

“It is amazing to be recognized with an award such as this, especially with the amount of wonderful teaching colleagues I have at Virginia Western and throughout the VCCS,” Huff says. “But what really means the most is hearing that I’ve made a positive impact upon students. I aspire to help students gain the skills that will lead to careers doing what they love, and seeing that happen is the greatest reward.”

Huff pushes his students to develop extensive portfolios and helps them prepare for what they may encounter in a job interview. But he doesn’t just want them to get a foot in the door at a marketing agency or another place of business, he wants them to thrive. Huff’s teaching style is to incorporate aspects of collaborative work that students are likely to encounter in the workforce.

“What makes Steve such a fantastic teacher is that his lessons extend beyond the classroom,” said Dr. Robert Sandel, President of Virginia Western. “He’s not only concerned by whether they make an ‘A’ or not, he wants to make sure students can thrive in whatever career they choose. And he keeps up with his students to see the end result.”

Beyond his students at Virginia Western, Huff strives to affect people’s lives in different parts of the world too. Huff and his wife, Stacey, started a nonprofit organization called World Relief Now (WRN) in 2005 after witnessing acute poverty during their travels to Africa. Through the organization, Huff has provided everything from vitamins to coloring books and helped build schools for people in places like Senegal, Nepal and South Africa.

In the end that may be what endears Huff to students and colleagues the most, he teaches by example.

ROANOKE — Registration for Virginia Western Community College’s Spring Semester classes is open to the public today. Along a wide variety of courses ranging from accounting to welding, students now have access to new offerings such as Full-Time Fridays and a shared distance learning program.

For a detailed listing of available classes this spring, visit: http://www.virginiawestern.edu/classes. Classes begin on Jan. 9 and finish on May 5.

Full-Time Fridays will give students the opportunity to earn an Associate of Science Degree in General Studies in just two years through on-campus courses on Fridays only. Students in the program will be able to take all their courses from 8 a.m.- 6:30 p.m. on Fridays and still be able to manage obligations to their work, family and themselves. The typical course load of 62 credit hours will be spread over Spring and Fall semesters for two years. Full-Time Fridays students will complete a set of required and elective courses like any other Virginia Western student, and tuition costs will be identical. For more information, visit: http://www.virginiawestern.edu/academics/fridays.php.                                                                                                                                                   

Virginia Western is also offering new shared distance learning courses through Northern Virginia Community College’s Extended Learning Institute (ELI). Students now have the opportunity to take unique online courses that offer a broader choice of career and educational content. These shared courses can also help with those last few courses students may need to complete their degree requirements.

Students will register and pay through Virginia Western for the ELI courses. Additional benefits include online tutoring, career counseling, student success coaches, 24/7 help desk and virtual student social activities. In addition, there will be a special assistant in Virginia Western distance learning department to provide support and ensure success.

To meet with an advisor to discuss your path to a college degree, call (540) 857-7237 or visit Chapman Hall, Room 105 during the office hours of 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on Monday-Thursday or 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Friday.

“We have consistently offered night, weekend and online classes to accommodate many of our working students, but we have found that for some, that still doesn’t mean they can attend,” said Elizabeth Wilmer, Dean of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. “They may have childcare issues in the evenings and they may not wish to spend their weekends in the classroom after a long week of work. And some students learn better by being in a classroom than by working online. Now, they can have a set schedule of on-campus classes for one day a week and coordinate with their employers to make a college education possible.”

With Full-Time Fridays, students will be able to take all their courses from 8 a.m.- 6:30 p.m. on Fridays and still be able to manage obligations to their work, family and themselves. The typical course load of 62 credit hours will be spread over Spring and Fall semesters for two years. Full-Time Fridays students will complete a set of required and elective courses like any other Virginia Western student, and tuition costs will be identical.

The Full-Time Fridays concept was the brainchild of Dr. Tresia Samani, Virginia Western’s Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs. Samani implemented a similar option at Rappahannock Community College.

“We found this route to be an immediate success with students and with employers,” she said. “Students who were working full-time were able to create alternate schedules and graduate in two years. It was a win-win because students were able increase their earning potential without getting behind financially, and employers were able develop a more skilled workforce.”

Students can begin enrolling in Full-Time Fridays for the Spring Semester on Monday, and the first day of Friday classes will be Jan. 13, 2012. For more information about enrolling in Full-Time Fridays, visit: http://www.virginiawestern.edu/academics/fridays.php.  To meet with an advisor to discuss your path to a college degree, call (540) 857-7237 or visit Chapman Hall, Room 105 during the office hours of 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on Monday-Thursday or 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Friday.

The new distance learning courses will also be available for Spring Semester registration, providing a broader choice of career and educational content for students. Especially beneficial will be a wide range of foreign language classes that have been previously unavailable such as Mandarin and French. Students will register and pay for the courses through Virginia Western, and professors from ELI will teach them. Virginia Western will have a special assistant in distance learning to provide support to students and ensure success. For more information on Spring Semester classes, visit: http://www.virginiawestern.edu/classes/index.php.