Here’s a round-up of education briefs. Want more education news? There’s no full-time education reporter west of Richmond. You can help change that. Help us fund this position.
* * *
UVA Wise issues credit to offset tuition increase
The University of Virginia’s College at Wise has announced that in-state students will receive a $182 credit for the 2022-2023 academic school year. The one-time tuition credit was approved Friday by the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors, which sets tuition and fees for the College. The credit is equivalent to the three percent tuition increase adopted last December by the BOV for this academic year.
Students will receive a credit on their student accounts for the fall 2022 and spring 2023 semesters, and UVA Wise’s Office of Financial Aid and Cashier’s Office have already begun reviewing student’s individual financial packages to implement the change.
The one-time action is in alignment with Governor Glenn Youngkin’s request this summer that all state public colleges and universities consider ways to hold tuition flat for the current academic year.
In a release, the school said the one-time reduction is in keeping with UVA Wise’s other efforts to make college affordable. In the 2021-22 academic year, 96 percent of students received financial aid with the College awarding nearly $17 million in scholarships and assistance.
In 2019, the College debuted its Within Reach program, which provides scholarships for students from Virginian families who have an income of $40,000 or less to cover the cost of tuition and fees. The year before, the college announced a special, significantly reduced tuition rate for students living within Appalachian Regional Commission territory, which includes select counties in a geography stretching from New York to Mississippi.
The one-time tuition credit will result in a $156,000 budgetary impact to the College’s 2022-2023 operating budget. However, the overall reduction will be absorbed through savings resulting from cost efficiencies and an additional $1 million in legislative funding, as part of a package of more than $12 million announced in June, designed to support affordable access, the school said in a statement.
* * *
New medication aide program offered at NRCC
Registration is now open for the new medication aide short-term training program at New River Community College.
Students in the medication aide program will be trained to work closely with patients in long-term care facilities. This program prepares students to take the Registered Medication Aide State Board Exam. The course includes 68 hours of instruction and consists of classroom and hands-on skills.
Students will learn basic pharmacology, the five rights of medication administration and proper techniques for oral and topical administration of medications. They will also administer insulin and perform blood glucose tests. Interested students must have the Certified Nursing Assistant license. The certification will increase employability in long-term care facilities.
The first course begins Oct. 31, 2022, and runs through Jan. 5, 2023. The classes will be held Mondays and Thursdays from 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. for in-class instruction and Saturdays from 6:45 a.m. – 3:15 p.m. for clinicals.
The course is one of 12 NRCC FastForward programs that provide affordable and short-term training through the Office of Workforce Development. Virginia residents may qualify for special pricing.
To register, visit https://www.nr.edu/fastforward/medication-aide.php, call (540) 674-3613, or email WFDtraining@nr.edu.
* * *
Christine M. Anderson-Cook to speak in inaugural Douglas C. Montgomery Distinguished Lecture
Christine M. Anderson-Cook, a recently retired research scientist in the Statistical Sciences Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, will kick off the Douglas C. Montgomery Distinguished Lecture Series at Virginia Tech on Sept. 20.
While at Los Alamos, Anderson-Cook contributed to more than 80 projects and led projects in a wide range of areas, including nuclear nonproliferation, sequential design of experiments for carbon capture, cybersecurity, complex system reliability, and using data competitions to advance algorithms for detecting radioactive materials.
The focus of Anderson-Cook’s discussion is the relevance of designed data collection in the era of big data. She will present several scenarios highlighting how strategic data collection using designed experiments can guide the choice of big data. She will also demonstrate how new methods and innovative uses of existing designed experiments have facilitated better solutions to complex problems.
“The new era of big data challenges us to adapt our methodologies to better meet project needs with our data while carefully managing limited resources,” said Anderson-Cook, who was a faculty member in the Department of Statistics at Virginia Tech from 1996-2004.
This event will take place Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 3:30 p.m. in the Fralin Hall Auditorium and virtually via Zoom webinar. It is free and open to the public; to register, visit aimsbbis.vt.edu/MontgomeryLecture2022.
Anderson-Cook’s discussion launches the Douglas C. Montgomery Distinguished Lecture Series, a collaborative effort between the Department of Statistics in the College of Science and the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering in the College of Engineering.
* * *
Roanoke College hires new college editor
Roanoke College welcomed a new college editor to the Office of Marketing and Communications on Aug. 1.
Lindsey Nair, a 1998 graduate of Roanoke College, brings 24 years of communications experience to her new role, including more than six years in higher education. As college editor, Nair will oversee production of the school’s biannual alumni publication, Roanoke College Magazine, and collaborate with stakeholders across the College community to help tell Roanoke’s story to key audiences.
Nair, a native of Clifton Forge, Virginia, earned a B.A. in English at Roanoke and replaces former editor Leslie Taylor, who retired in July. (Disclosure: Taylor is a member of our journalism advisory committee but committee members have no role in news decisions.)
After graduation from Roanoke, Nair spent 17 years at The Roanoke Times, where she was an award-winning reporter and editor. As a reporter, she covered the police beat, state courts and federal courts, then penned a popular food column for the Extra section called Front Burner. She capped her tenure at the newspaper as editor of the Extra section.
In 2016, Nair joined the Office of Communications and Public Affairs at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, where she worked as a senior writer and director of content development before stepping into the role of senior director of content strategy.
* * *