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 us change that. Help fund this position.
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Liberty to host business summit expected to draw 630
Liberty University’s School of Business will host more than 630 CEOs, political figures, athletes, and world-class faith leaders on campus Oct. 5-7 for its second annual Networking the Nations CEO Summit.
Keynote speakers include Marvin Ellison, CEO of Lowe’s; Steve Green, President of Hobby Lobby; Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House; Winsome Sears, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia; and Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation. Liberty President Jerry Prevo, Pastor Jonathan Falwell, and Liberty Provost and Chief Academic Officer Scott Hicks are also slated to speak.
The event will feature several former professional athletes, including Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports Jeff Gordon and former NFL player and president of Opportunity Zones Jack Brewer.
The summit will also welcome a large roster of African business heads and leaders, including the former President of the Republic of Ghana H.E. John Dramani Mahama, and the entire Democratic Republic of the Congo delegation with their Prime Minister H.E. Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge. Additional guests from Africa include CEOs in energy and agriculture from Nigeria, such as Dr. Cosmas Maduka, President & CEO of Coscharis; Dr. Stanley Uzochukwu, CEO of Stanel Group; Hon. Benjamin Oviosu: Octogone International Gas & Oil Ltd; and Pastor Forson Swanzy, President of Forerunners Generation International, who is also co-sponsor of the Summit.
Panel discussions will cover a broad spectrum including domestic and foreign affairs, the rise of technological frontiers, the untapped business and ministry potential in Africa, and more. Panel topics will cover the following:
- War, Leadership, China, National Defense and the Malacca Straight
- Christian Leadership Lessons through the eyes of CEO Women
- Kingdom Financial Planning and the Economic Outlook from leading CEOs
- Supreme Court Justice Clerks on Business Outlook for 2023 Decisions
- Africa Win-Win Opportunities – Driving Business and Capital to 600 million Christians
- Technology/Platforms/Networks: Exploring New Frontiers
In a release, Liberty said the event will give students “the opportunity to network with hundreds of Christian CEOs, interact with heads of state, and learn how to promote Christ through the sphere of international business. Multiple students landed internship and job connections as a direct result of last year’s summit.”
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Roanoke College invites public to robotics event
Roanoke College is co-hosting an off-season FIRST Robotics Competition with Salem High School’s Spartan Robotics team. This competition allows students to get up-close experience with the real-world engineering industry. These students will learn problem solving skills, teamwork, and sportsmanship while they dive into the world of STEM. Students will have to learn to work under strict rules, limited time and resources to build industrial-sized robots. These robots will be coded to play a challenging field game with other teams.
This event will take place in the Cregger Center on Saturday, October 8, 2022 from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. The public is invited.
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Four schools recognized for educator prep
Four Virginia colleges are among 32 nationwide to received the 2022 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement, presented by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP).
The four are Averett University, Emory & Henry College, Mary Baldwin University and Virginia Commonwealth University.
According to CAEP, recipients of the Murray award produce nearly 7,500 graduates who will make an impact on early education learning up to the twelfth grade. These institutions are selected from the educator preparation providers (EPPs) that were granted accreditation by CAEP at the initial level from the previous year, which provided a full complement of evidence with demonstrated data trends, and which received no stipulations or areas for improvement.
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Roanoke College president named Senior Aspen Index Impact Fellow
Roanoke College President Frank Shushok has been named one of The Aspen Institute’s inaugural Senior Index Impact Fellows. Shushok will join a larger community of youth and professionals who are “advancing an urgent agenda focused on research, interventions and strategies necessary to accelerate youth leadership programs nationally,” according to a release from the school.
The Impact Fellowship is sponsored by The Aspen Institute, an international educational and policy studies nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. Their goal is to increase youth exposure to those programs by more than 50 percent over the next five years.
The Aspen Institute reports that fewer than 32% of youth under age 25 in the United States are exposed to any form of leadership development.
Impact fellows will assist with the development, optimization and beta testing of the Aspen Index, and co-create supporting learning architecture to ensure it is successful. Together, the Aspen Institute is working with impact fellows to create a movement of greater access to and quality of youth leadership programs.
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