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| BSC English Faculty Member Involves Students in Active Dialogue (w/photo) | Wednesday, September 03 1997 | BSC English Faculty Member Involves Students in Active Dialogue (w/photo) | When students enter Dr. Frank Ball's English classes at Bluefield State College, they are encouraged to bring an open mind and willingness to participate in classroom dialogue. Ball, a professor of English who received his Ph.D. from the University of Montpellier, France, realizes that the learning experience involves students. "I encourage a dynamic classroom, where students have not only a right but a duty to express their ideas, while the rest of us are challenged to consider them," Ball noted. "Truth and insight result from these exchanges." "I don't want to coach students in how they should answer," he continued. "I can look in the mirror and see myself and know my thoughts. I seek independent thought and feedback from each student." In Ball's Humanistic (Classical) Tradition class, students read some of the greatest works of classical European literature. His goal is for each student to experience the insights of great writers in order to come to their own conclusions about the great truths of all time and how different human communities have dealt with them. Many of his most interested students are those majoring in engineering technology, computer science, or allied health sciences. "Some of our best students are in the technologies," he added. "They are better able to deal with the people of different cultural backgrounds after having had the class." As an undergraduate, Ball spent a semester as an exchange student in the French-speaking African nation of Senegal. The African people have an appreciation for the equality of human beings, he said. "They have a great deal of wisdom when it comes to the spirit and understanding the mystery of creation and the universe." In 1967, he traveled to southern France to pursue postgraduate education at the University of Montpellier. He met his wife, Anne, while he worked as a tutor in France. Their sons Arthur (age 20) and Philippe (1 8) are BSC students. "In France, I developed an appreciation for other social and political stances," he noted. "The French express themselves very freely and honestly. They will respect opinions and positions that they don't necessarily share." He brings that same openness into the "opinion-friendly environment" he seeks to foster in his classes at Bluefield State College. "Students entering my classes tell me they expect the reading to be difficult. However, once they see how the questions relate to their own lives, they start analyzing their values, motivations and attitudes--and those of the people around them," he said. "The excitement and participation keep the class entertaining." | |
| BSC "Going the Distance" by Offering A.S. Degree Program Completely by Distance Learning | Tuesday, September 02 1997 | BSC "Going the Distance" by Offering A.S. Degree Program Completely by Distance Learning | Bluefield State College's associate degree program in general studies is now available completely via distance learning. The program makes it possible for students to complete the requirements for the program through regular distance learning courses at BSC's electronic classrooms, along with PBS Instructional Television (ITV) courses at the institution's campuses in Bluefield, Beckley, and Lewisburg. As a participant in "Going The Distance," a national PBS initiative for the delivery of degree programs through distance learning, BSC will offer at least 10 telecourses per year at the College's three campuses, noted Dr. Tom Blevins, Bluefield State Director of Instructional Technology. "West Virginia needs to expand access to higher education for job training, as well as associate and baccalaureate education, because the state has one of the lowest college-going rates in the nation," Blevins said. "Adopting new technologies is a means of reaching more people who need our services. With less money and increased demand, distance learning permits the development of quality, technologically-driven instruction." "Baccalaureate classes may also be taken by ITV to complete the requirements for a Regents Bachelor of Arts (RBA)," Blevins added. Information on utilization of ITV instruction to meet RBA requirements may be obtained by contacting RBA Director Annette Osborne (327-4502), and additional information on the associate degree general studies program through distance learning may be obtained by calling Dr. Blevins (327-4059). Blevins was also named recently to the "Governor's Information and Technology Council," and has been invited to attend the monthly meetings of the "Governor's Science and Technology Committee." He has also been named to the Instructional Technology Advisory Committee, a committee of higher education representatives dealing with technology issues. | |
| BSC's J. D. Carpenter to Address State College System Central Office Staff (w/photo) | Tuesday, September 02 1997 | BSC's J. D. Carpenter to Address State College System Central Office Staff (w/photo) | J.D. Carpenter, Bluefield State College's Director of Campus Life, will present a "Team-Building Workshop," for State College System central office personnel later this month. The workshop, which Carpenter conducted for this summer's Regional Leadership Student Retreat in Bluefield, focuses upon the "dynamics of adjusting your style of leadership to work with individuals who may not share your professional viewpoints," according to the BSC campus life director. More than 60 central office personnel will attend the workshop, September 30 in Charleston. | |
| Two BSC Financial Aid Personnel Attend National Student Direct Loan Conference | Tuesday, September 02 1997 | Two BSC Financial Aid Personnel Attend National Student Direct Loan Conference | Bluefield State College's Director of Financial Aid and a counselor from that office attended the recent William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program in Atlanta, GA. The training series, coordinated by the U.S. Department of Education, included three different training opportunities. Thomas Ilse, BSC Financial Aid Director, and Terry Fox, financial aid counselor, participated in three workshops, including "Getting Started with Electronic Data Exchange Training," "Training for New Direct Loan Schools," and "Direct Loan Update Training for Current Direct Loan Schools." BSC has already implemented the student direct loan program, as well as electronic data exchange. In fact, more than 1,000 BSC students currently receive student direct loans. "The program gets money to the students much faster than previous methods," Ilse noted, "because the Department of Education becomes the lender." Fox observed that, with the direct loan program, students receive many repayment options. "There's really no reason for a student to default on a loan now," he said. "The William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program has had the effect of opening a window of opportunity for high school graduates to continue their education at the college level," Ilse commented. In addition to their workshop experiences, Ilse and Fox met several regional Department of Education representatives and received updates from those officials on the most recent developments pertaining to student financial aid. | |
| BSC August Activities Report | Sunday, August 31 1997 | BSC August Activities Report | Campus Activities Nearly 500 students and families participated in two new student orientation sessions at Bluefield State College (August 8 and June 27) Conducted Fall 1997 Semester general registration at BSC campuses and sites in Bluefield, Beckley, Lewisburg, and Welch BSC Beckley Campus second year nursing students conducted a program to welcome first year nursing students into the program, and provide encouragement, assistance, and support for new nursing students More than 70 area children took part in third annual Kids Kollege, a one-week summer enrichment program designed to enhance student learning in a fun environment Proceeded with work on a variety of campus improvement projects, finalizing work on campus signage and installation of elevator at administration building Work continued on the renovation/relocation project at BSC's Greenbrier Community College Center Partnership Activities BSC Division Chair of Engineering Technology and Computer Science was installed as Vice Chair of Operations for Technology Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology (ABET). He will be in charge of all ABET accreditation visits BSC Director of Instructional Technology has accepted invitations to be a featured presenter at West Virginia Community College Association annual conference (November 6) to discuss delivering distance learning and using the electronic classroom, as well as presentation at League for Innovation in Community College Technology Conference in Atlanta, GA (October 14) to present program, "Designing and Delivering Distance Learning Instruction through IPSI" Director of Instructional Technology has been named to the "Governor's Information and Technology Council" BSC will participate, with its distance learning classrooms at College campuses in Bluefield, Beckley, and Lewisburg, in a "Distance Learning Event," September 4. The event, involving eight institutions of higher education throughout West Virginia, demonstrates how the new Interactive Video Network (IViN) permits two-way, real-time audio and video links between sites BSC began work as one of four West Virginia public higher education institutions to participate in a distance learning project, "The Electronic Common Market," implemented by the Southern Region Education Board BSC student section team prepared to travel to Anaheim, CA to take part in ISA Bowl, International Society for Measurement & Control competition involving electrical engineering technology students from institutions of higher education throughout the world. Last year, the BSC student section team finished fourth in the world in this competition. BSC Director of Campus Activities has been named national president-elect of Gamma Beta Phi, honor and service society Telecast throughout Bluefield-area cable system two Bluefield City Board of Directors' meetings and the monthly Mercer County Board of Education meeting Produced and broadcast two 15-minute video features on BSC-TV, spotlighting Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce Chief Operating Officer and BSC student who has received national attention as a poet Nursing faculty member was a featured presenter at the fifth annual Associate Degree of Nursing Faculty Development Conference in Dayton, OH, August 7-8 BSC Center for Economic Enhancement and Educational Outreach began promotion of "Travel & Adventure Series," a series of film narratives hosted by BSC and presented as a public service in partnership with First Century Bank, AAA-The Bluefield Automobile Club, Bluefield Regional Wellness Center, and Bluefield Regional Medical Center BSC Director of Human Resources was recertified by the Society for Human Resource Management BSC Center for International Understanding has been awarded the contract for a training program, "Organizational and Management of Enterprises and Regional Economic Development Organizations" for three economic development officials from Hungary (September 14 - October 3, 1997) BSC CIU has begun negotiations to establish offices in Saratov, Russia and Bombay, India to serve as export assistance centers CIU is disseminating international bids to West Virginia companies CIU is negotiating relationships through its Washington, DC bureau with foundations and development organizations in Europe for development projects and international trade "English as a Second Language Program," has been initiated through CIU, to begin offering noncredit courses for international students and their spouses, beginning in 1998 CIU is continuing preparations for a trade mission to Russia, May 30-June 30, 1998 BSC Center for Economic Enhancement and Educational Outreach completed a customized Microsoft Office training program for DS Parts (Bluefield, WV) Completed customized National Electric Code training program for employees of American Electric Power (Bluefield, WV and Beckley, WV) Completed presentations on new compensation plan for all employees and management at Turner Vision (Bluefield, WV). This project has been funded through the Governor's Guaranteed Workforce Program. A proposal is now being prepared for training and technical assistance in performing effective performance evaluations and integrating performance evaluations with the new compensation system Developing a customized training program (desktop publishing) that will be taught on-site at Pemco, Inc. (Bluefield, VA) Developing a proposal for customized training and technical assistance for Microsoft Office that will be provided both on site and at BSC Bluefield campus computer labs for employees of Tabor Machine Company (Bluefield, WV) Completed "Effective Business Writing and Grammar" seminars for 18 employees from Acme Supermarkets (Tazewell, VA), MAPCO (Bluefield, WV) and First Century Bank (Bluefield, WV) Concluded presentation of Real Estate Appraisers' continuing education course for 11 students Conducted "Very Large Scale Integrated Circuits" seminar for 10 students from colleges and universities in West Virginia. This program was funded through a grant written by the BSC department head of electrical engineering technology Developing a customized supervisory training program for EWA (Beckley, WV) | |
| BSC Hosts VLSI System Technology Workshop | Wednesday, August 27 1997 | BSC Hosts VLSI System Technology Workshop | Bluefield State College recently hosted a two-day workshop--Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) technology--for professional development of faculty and staff from West Virginia and Virginia. Faculty from eight community and technical colleges attended the event. Frank Hart, chairman of BSC's Division of Engineering Technology and Computer Science, welcomed faculty visiting from other institutions. The workshop was directed by Dr. Shekhar Pradhan, department head of electrical engineering technology at Bluefield State. "VLSI is the emerging technology of this information age," Pradhan noted. "Bluefield State College, being a leader in this technology, is helping other colleges and universities by providing this training." Through a grant from the National Science Foundation, Bluefield State has also established a working arrangement with the University of Southern California/Marine Delray for fabricating VLSI chips designed by BSC students. Through another grant from the National Science Foundation, Bluefield State College has acquired six state-of-the-art SUN workstations to implement VLSI design. The VLSI workshop was funded by the community and technical college component of the State College System of West Virginia. Dr. Pradhan is the project director/principal investigator for all of these grants. | |
| Two BSC Business Faculty Participate in "Academy of Management" | Wednesday, August 27 1997 | Two BSC Business Faculty Participate in "Academy of Management" | Bluefield State College Business Division faculty members Dr. Steve Bourne and Associate Professor John Snead were featured presenters at the recent "Academy of Management," the nation's premier organization for management faculty. Bourne and Snead presented "Environmental Determinants of Organized Ethical Climate: A Community Perspective," at the annual meeting in Boston, MA. Their program focused upon how a community's values and norms can impact a business or industry located in that region. A company can't come into an area and establish its own "climate" as easily as it may think, Bourne noted. Snead observed that, when a company comes into a region, it will be most successful when it takes into account the norms and standards of the people living there. "Our experience at the Academy of Management underscores the need for Bluefield State College to continue to do research," Bourne said. "Such a commitment enables our faculty to remain abreast of current developments and technological advances in their field, and to learn what is happening at other institutions." Snead observed, "There's a large amount of good research conducted at the nation's leading business schools, but the Academy also demonstrated that there's a significant amount of very relevant scholarly research being conducted at several smaller institutions of higher education." The BSC business faculty pair's scholarly submission was submitted to the Academy of Management for blind review by three colleagues, with less than 30% of all submissions accepted for inclusion in the Academy meeting. Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline, and Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School faculty member and author of Frontiers of Management, were keynote speakers at the four-day Academy of Management convention. Bourne and Snead agreed that their experience at the Academy will provide long term dividends for both. "It was stimulating," Bourne noted. "You are exposed to many new approaches. Often, something said during a program triggers new ideas." "In addition to the factual information available, there's a rich diversity of the streams of research at the Academy," Snead added, "and there's abundant opportunity to network to other business faculty throughout the nation." At the Academy, Bourne and Snead met an international business educator now on the faculty at West Virginia State College, who noted that business trends identified in their presentation are also apparent in relationships between business and the regions in which they are located throughout the world. They discussed opportunities for collaborating and expanding upon their theme of "Environmental Determinants of Organizational Ethical Climate." | |
| BSC Beckley Campus Second Year Nursing Students Welcome New Class | Tuesday, August 26 1997 | BSC Beckley Campus Second Year Nursing Students Welcome New Class | "Been there, done that." Drawing on their experience as first year Bluefield State College/Beckley Campus nursing students a year ago, second year students paired with first year students, giving guidance, support, and encouragement to the program's new students. Deborah Vest, BSC Beckley Campus instructor of nursing, noted "This program is designed to reduce incoming students' anxiety. It enables them to meet students who can become a support group for them, right from the start of the academic year. We began the program three years ago. Response has been so enthusiastic that the second year students have taken on the job ever since." Second year nursing students recently conducted for first year students an informal welcoming picnic at Lake Stevens. | |
| BSC Electrical Engineering Technology Students to Participate in International Competition | Tuesday, August 26 1997 | BSC Electrical Engineering Technology Students to Participate in International Competition | Members of the student section/International Society (ISA) for Measurement and Control at Bluefield State College will travel to Anaheim, CA to compete with student teams from the United States, Canada, Russia, and Latin America in a day-long international student competition. BSC's electrical engineering technology students will also be involved in seminars designed to provide the opportunity to put their skills to the test. BSC's student section team will compete in the ISA Bowl, during which they will answer questions on basic and advanced instrumentation and control theory and practice. The ISA Practical competition gives students instrumentation and control exercises developed by local industry professionals. BSC associate professor of electrical engineering technology Roy Pruett, Student Section Advisor for the Bluefield chapter, noted the BSC team finished fourth in last year's international competition. "Our students will gain hands-on experience from the competition and also have the opportunity to meet exhibitors and potential job contacts in the future," he said. Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger will be the keynote speaker at the International Society for Measurement and Control event. BSC students attending the Anaheim program, and team members, include Sheri Webb, Jason Osborne, Shannon Bowling, and Byron Bishop. | |
| More than 70 Area Children Attend Kids Kollege at BSC | Tuesday, August 26 1997 | More than 70 Area Children Attend Kids Kollege at BSC | More than 70 area children attended two Kids Kollege sessions at Bluefield State College. Organizers held the second Kids Kollege session after the first session reached its enrollment capacity several weeks before its July 28 start. Kids Kollege is a one week summer enrichment program offered by the Center for Economic Enhancement and Educational Outreach. This program seeks to enhance the students learning with an opportunity to pursue a particular area of interest or to build skills in another area. The instructors in the Kids Kollege program will strive to make the learning experiences both relaxing and enjoyable for the students, demonstrating that learning can be fun and exciting. During the first session, students participated in classes like "Learning Fundamentals with Computers," "Math Made Fun," "Sign Language," "Creative Computer Design," and "Sounds of the Rainforest." During the second Kids Kollege session, August 11-15, students took part in classes that included "Adventures in Science: Exploring the World of Water and Space," and "Learning Fundamentals with Computers and Math." Students and/or family members interested in information about next summer's Kids Kollege sessions may be added to the mailing list by contacting the BSC Center for Economic Enhancement and Educational Outreach at (304) 327-4071. |
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