(Bluefield)—Bluefield State College faculty member Roger Owensby will participate in The West Virginia International Education Mission to China, a ten-day trip to explore and strengthen cultural, faculty, student, and intellectual exchange opportunities between West Virginia and Chinese institutions of higher education.

One faculty representative from each of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission's (HEPC) member institutions has been selected to take part in the trip, which has been organized by the Marshall University Center for International Programs and is being underwritten by the HEPC. The delegation will depart for China on October 19 and return on October 29.

This will be Owensby's third trip to China. He was a member of the BSC delegation that traveled to the People's Republic in 1992 to develop three collaborative agreements with institutions of higher education there. The following year, Owensby taught for one semester in China.

"This promises to be a productive trip," Owensby, Professor and Department Head/Mining Engineering Technology at BSC, said. "We will have the opportunity to talk to students about our academic programs, and explore the possibility of establishing a study abroad program with Chinese higher education institutions."

Participants in the International Education Mission will participate in the Chinese International Education Expo, the group will also visit the Great Wall of China, the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and they will take a Huangpu River Cruise in Shanghai.

"We will visit some of the top 100 universities in China," Owensby continued. "It's going to be very interesting for me to be able to travel back to China and see how things have changed in the nearly 20 years since my last visit."

(Bluefield)—Dr. Jeff Bolton is passionate about teaching, and he transmits that enthusiasm to his students. However, the Bluefield State College Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology didn't plan from the start to enter a career in education.

A Mercer Christian Academy graduate, Bolton says, "It was somewhat accidental that I became a teacher." After beginning his collegiate studies at Bluefield State College, he transferred to Virginia Tech and enrolled in the Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) program. "I had a friend who had started in that program, and after I had taken a few courses, I was 'hooked' on ESM," he explained.

He continued his studies at Virginia Tech, earning a Master's Degree, and began a graduate teaching assistantship as a statics and dynamics instructor. "I really started to like teaching, especially the interaction with students," he recounted. In fact, Bolton was selected to receive the university's prestigious 2010 Sporn Award for Excellence in Teaching Engineering Subjects.

His popularity among his students is a result of his high demands. "It's good to hold high standards for students' performance," he continued, "but you have to be fair. If you treat students with respect, they'll reciprocate. I love what I teach and it comes across to the students. It's a partnership between the student and the faculty. So much depends upon the students' work ethic."

With a strong Princeton-area connection, Bolton and his wife Aimee decided to return to the area to be closer to family. After receiving his Ph.D. earlier this year, Bolton joined the BSC Engineering Technology faculty this semester.

"A strength of Bluefield State College's Engineering Technology program is the 'hands on' teaching that's offered," he said. "Students here take several laboratory classes and have the opportunity to balance the theory of the classroom with the 'hands on' experience of the lab."

"The classes at BSC are small enough to permit individualized attention to students' learning. We teach them how to do something," he continued. "A graduate from Bluefield State College can travel as far as someone from a major university. And as a teacher, I have an opportunity to have a direct impact upon my students' future success."

Bluefield) — Dr. Sapphire Cureg, Director of Multicultural Affairs at Bluefield State College, recently completed the acclaimed 52-hour classroom training program leading to the Certified Affirmative Action Professional (CAAP)  Level I certification. Granted by the American Association for Affirmative Action Professional Development and Training Institute in Washington DC, the certification demonstrates commitment and competence in the equal employment opportunity, affirmative action and diversity profession.

“This intense training sharpened my knowledge and skills on Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and  Office of Federal Contract Compliance  Programs (OFCCP) compliance, identification of adverse impact on selection, promotion and tenure, complaint processing/counseling/resolution, affirmative action plan development and recordkeeping regulations,” noted Dr. Cureg.  “I am amazed at the vast and changing dynamics with respect to the field of equal employment opportunity.”

On October 20 and 21, Dr. Zsuzsanna Boegre of Hungary, currently Fulbright Scholar in Residence at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia, will share her professional expertise at Bluefield State College and Pikeview High School.

On Thursday, October 20, at 11 a.m.in Bluefield State College's Ned Shott Physical Education Building, Room 303, Dr. Boegre will discuss the "Hungarian Revolution (1956) and the US" with Dr. David Haus' Modern World Civilization students and Dr. Jamkhandi's English 102 students.

At 4:00 p.m., on Thursday, October 20, in the Basic Sciences Building, Room 204, Dr. Boegre will present her research on "Religious America-Secular Hungary" to Dr. Anthony Woart's sociology students.

On Friday, October 21, Dr. Boegre will discuss the "Hungarian Revolution (1956) and the US" with Pikeview High School students. At 10:00 a.m., in Bluefield State College's Conley Hall, Room 316, Dr. Boegre will discuss the same topic with Dr. Howard Wade's students of Diplomatic History of the United States.

Dr. Boegre and her husband will enjoy a home stay with Dr. Robin Ware, Planner and Supervisor for BSC's Off-Campus Sites.

Dr. Boegre, who has two doctoral degrees in history and philosophy, is Associate Professor of Sociology at Peter Pazmany Catholic University in Piliscsaba, Hungary, where she teaches courses on History of Hungarian Society after 1945; Social Structures and Mobility; Rural Sociology; Introduction to Sociology; Introduction to Sociology of Religion; Theories in Sociology of Religion; Introduction to Sociology of Knowledge; Role of Phenomenology in Sociology; Use of Qualitative Methods in Sociology; Application of Interview Techniques; and Ways of Analyzing Qualitative Research.

Dr. Boegre's research focuses on the role of the church in building civil society, religion and biography, identity and biography, the social returns to women who participated in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, transformation of villages and village politics, the development of towns and settlements, problems of border areas, and private farming and regional differences.

Dr. Boegre's visit to Bluefield State College and Pikeview High School is funded by the Fulbright Occasional Lecturer Program which also relies on the willingness of host institutions of Fulbright Scholars in Residence to share their scholars with other U.S. institutions of higher education. The Fulbright Scholars Program is funded by the U.S. Department of State and managed by the Council of International Exchange of Scholars, a subsidiary of the New York-based Institute for International Education.

This project has also received financial assistance from the West Virginia Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

BSC's Office of International Initiatives is coordinating this activity in collaboration with BSC's School of Arts and Sciences and Paul Hodges, Advisor to Pikeview High School's Model UN students. For information about this initiative, contact BSC's Office of International Initiatives Coordinator Dr. Sudhakar R. Jamkhandi at internationalbsc@bluefieldstate.edu or call (304) 327-4036.

(Bluefield)—Bluefield State College has selected Jamaal Jackson as the College's Interim Men's Head Basketball Coach. Jackson was the Associate Men's Head Basketball Coach at Stillman (AL) College prior to accepting the interim head coaching position at BSC.

"I'm grateful to the decision-makers at Bluefield State College for this opportunity," Jackson noted on Wednesday. "I look forward to arriving in Bluefield later this week, meeting with the players on the team, and beginning practice on October 15."

His coaching background includes an internship with The Ohio State University men's basketball program, and assistant basketball coaching positions at Kentucky State University and Stillman College.

Looking toward the 2011-12 basketball season at BSC, Coach Jackson said, "We will work on conditioning, evaluating personnel during the first week or two, and implementing our team concepts. My first priority is to the student-athletes on the team. I want them to know that they are in good hands and that I have their best interests at heart."

(Bluefield)—At Old Dominion University, Dr. Shannon Bowling was the graduate program director of the largest Engineering Management Program in the nation. This fall, the Bluefield State College Electrical Engineering Technology (EET) graduate has returned to his alma mater as a member of the faculty, and he's certain that his career move was the right one.

"I'm delighted to be at home," the Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering Technology noted during a break between classes recently. "Spending one month at BSC has convinced me that coming back was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made."

Bowling brings a balanced appreciation for new education technologies and "old school" hard work to the table. At ODU, he received the "Teaching with Technology Award" and the "Faculty Innovator Grant for his work in developing online and distance learning courses using the latest technology.

His presentations at national conferences have detailed the equipment, software, and practices that institutions of higher education can implement to develop live online interactive courses to students anywhere in the world. "I was very fortunate to be at the right time and place to be one of the first people in the world doing this," he continued. "I've had students on oil rigs in Siberia taking my classes in real time from an Internet satellite connection. It's very rewarding to be able to provide education to people who would otherwise have had no opportunity to continue their education."

He envisions tremendous potential for BSC to provide these access-enhancing opportunities for residents in rural West Virginia and Virginia who would otherwise have to travel great distances to either the BSC campus in Bluefield or to the College's classrooms at the Higher Education Center in Beaver.

The future of higher education over the next 20 years is both exciting and scary, according to Bowling. "We have to accept the fact that the world has changed and will continue to change," he continued, "and it's not going to return to the way things used to be. We must embrace the potential for technology and see how it can benefit both the students and their faculty."

Upon returning to BSC, Bowling hopes to help a new generation of students just as he was helped during his undergraduate years at the campus on the terraced hills. "People like Frank Hart (Dean/School of Engineering Technology & Computer Science), Roy Pruett (Professor & Department Head/Electrical Engineering Technology) and John Cardwell (Vice President/Student Affairs & Enrollment Management) really inspired and assisted me when I was a student," Bowling recalled. "I hope that, in my career, a few students can site me as someone who had a positive influence on their lives, as well."

"One of my goals is to help them understand how competitive they really are, both in industry and in graduate school," he said. "The students at Bluefield State have a work ethic that is amazing."

(Bluefield)—Dr. Anthony Curtis has taken to heart the adage that "there's a little bit of good in everyone (or everything)." Curtis, who recently joined the Bluefield State College faculty as an Assistant Professor of Biology, is one of the region's authorities on termites.

He has put together a web-based source of information (www.thetermitepage.com) on the seven families and 2500 species of termites, but just as important, he's transmitting his passion for biology to his students at Bluefield State College.

"The students here are eager to learn," he observed. "I have an enthusiasm for biology, but I'm only one-half of the equation, at most. The students' preparation out of class and their participation in class combine to constitute the other side of the equation. I want them to be engaged in what we are studying. It's tremendously satisfying to see students 'turned on' to biology."

Curtis earned a bachelor's and master's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, then received a Ph.D. in Ecology from Old Dominion University. He met his wife, Dianna (now an OB-GYN M.D.), at ODU. "I taught primarily at the adjunct level at several institutions including Roanoke College, Virginia Western Community College, and Randolph-Macon," he recalled. He accepted an opportunity to join the BSC faculty for the start of the fall 2011 semester, and he's splitting time teaching at BSC's Bluefield campus and the College's location in the Erma Byrd Higher Education Center in Beaver.

In his role as scholar/teacher, he'll defend the oft-maligned termite. "The ecological importance of termites is significant," he explained. "They contribute to the global carbon cycle and nitrogen cycle. While termites may be very destructive to human carpentry endeavors, they are very favorable to forest ecosystems because they are involved in the biogeochemical (nutrient) cycling of carbon and nitrogen."

On October 13, Dr. Santoshi Halder of India, currently Fulbright Nehru Senior Research Fellow at Indiana University, Bloomington, will share her professional expertise at Bluefield State College and Princeton Senior High School.

On Thursday, October 13, at 11 a.m.in Bluefield State College’s Ned Shott Physical Education Building, Room 305, Dr. Halder will discuss “Disabilities in India: a developing world perspective and/or Accessibility issues with respect to people with disabilities for an inclusive community” in the  “Foundations of Education” class taught by Stephanie Musick, BSC adjunct instructor in education.

At 3:30 p.m. that afternoon, Dr. Halder will share her thoughts about “India, its people and its culture” with members of Princeton Senior High School’s Model UN and International Awareness Club.

Dr. Halder will enjoy a home stay with Dr. Robin Ware, Planner and Supervisor for BSC’s Off-Campus Sites.

Dr. Halder’s research focuses on environmental constraints on the physically challenged, the psycho-social variables of the orthopedically challenged women in West Bengal (eastern part of India), special education and educational technology, married women with disabilities, and information-seeking behavior of university students.

At the University of Calcutta, Dr. Halder teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on special education (Introduction to Special Education; Policies: Global perspective; Physically challenged; Learning Disability, Speech and Language impairment, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation, Gifted, Autistic); Educational Psychology (Introduction to Psychology; Personality, Motivation, Intelligence, Learning; Child Development; Abnormal psychology; Mental Hygiene); Educational Technology (Introduction to Educational Technology; Micro Teaching, Communication and Instruction;     Models of Teaching, Programmed Instruction; Instructional Design, Instructional Strategies, Personalized System of Instruction; Computer Assisted Instruction); Educational Sociology (Culture and Education; Social Problems in India; Education of the minorities); and, Research Methodology (Tools and Techniques of Research).

Dr. Halder’s visit to Bluefield State College and Princeton Senior High School is funded by the Fulbright Occasional Lecturer Program which also relies on the willingness of host institutions of Fulbright Scholars in Residence to share their scholars with other U.S. institutions of higher education. The Fulbright Scholars Program is funded by the U.S. Department of State and managed by the Council of International Exchange of Scholars, a subsidiary of the New York-based Institute for International Education.

This project has also received financial assistance from the West Virginia Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

BSC’s Office of International Initiatives is coordinating this activity in collaboration with BSC’s School of Education and Sherry Strow, Advisor to Princeton Senior High School’s Model UN and International Awareness Club. For information about this initiative, contact BSC’s Office of International Initiatives Coordinator Dr. Sudhakar R. Jamkhandi at internationalbsc@bluefieldstate.edu or call (304) 327-4036.

(Bluefield)—Students in Gina Sturgill's first class this semester at Bluefield State College were greeted by a faculty member with a practical understanding of accounting. Sturgill, who joined the BSC faculty as a Visiting Professor of Accounting, has developed a teaching perspective based on her experience in business and in the classroom as she works with students.

"I really enjoy the process of working with students," she explained during a recent break between classes at the W. Paul Cole, Jr. School of Business. "I strive to explain and bring examples that can strengthen our students' understanding of the material."

Sturgill has taught on either an adjunct or fulltime faculty basis for nearly 30 years. The Beckley resident taught as a tenured associate professor at Concord University for12 years before she returned to industry in 2004. "After several years, the company for which I was working was sold, so I returned to teaching," she recounted.

She taught college courses online until earlier this year, when she learned of the accounting faculty opportunity at BSC, and she's now teaching three courses on the College's Bluefield campus and one at BSC's location in the Erma Byrd Higher Education Center in Beaver.

While she enjoys playing piano, cooking, and walking, her passion is teaching. "The students at Bluefield State are attentive and pleasant," she observed. "They really want to learn and that desire promotes a positive teaching environment. I really care about my students' success, in the classroom and thereafter."

(Bluefield)—Bluefield State College has been selected for inclusion in the top two ranking tiers/Regional Colleges-South in the USNEWS "Best Colleges 2012" edition.

BSC is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Bluefield State College maintains 14 nationally accredited programs and graduating an average of more than 350 students annually since 2002. The College's enrollment has increased by 15.4% from fall 2006 to fall 2010.

Bluefield State College offers the most affordable in-state tuition of all public four-year colleges and universities in West Virginia (source/WV Higher Education Policy Commission Report Card 2010).