Here’s a roundup of education briefs from around Southwest and Southside:
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Liberty sends students to Romania to work with Ukrainian refugees
Liberty University is sending eight students and two group leaders to Romania to help work with Ukrainian refugees who have fled their home country due to the Russian invasion.
The team will land in Bucharest, Romania, on Jan. 29, and will fly back to the U.S. on Feb. 4. The trip will be in partnership with Greater Europe Mission (GEM) and local Baptist partners in Ukraine.
The team will serve at the various refugee centers doing warehouse clean-up, preparing and serving meals, activities with children, and distributing donations.
Additionally, LU Serve partnered last fall with Christian humanitarian organization World Help to send supplies to Romania to be distributed by GEM and local Baptist partners in Ukraine. The supplies were made possible by donations to the Liberty University Fund for Ukraine’s Future.
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Sweet Briar names presidential search commitee
Sweet Briar College has named a search committee as it seeks a new president to succeed Meredith Woo, who has announced she is stepping down in 2024. The committee members are:
Mason Bennett Rummel ’83, Board and Committee Chair; President and CEO, James Graham Brown Foundation
The Honorable Verda Andrews Colvin ’87, Board Member; Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia
Michela English ’71, Emeriti Board Member; former Senior Executive, Discovery Communications; former Senior Vice President, National Geographic Society
Sally Mott Freeman ’76, Secretary of the Board; author, public relations executive, nonprofit leader
Michelle Gervasio, Assistant Professor Engineering
The Honorable Robert “Bob” Goodlatte, Board Member; former Member of the United States House of Representatives, Sixth Congressional District of Virginia
Fred Griffin, Vice Chair of the Board; Real Estate Developer; former Chairman, Space Center Houston
Elisabeth “Betsy” Muhlenfeld Wollan, former Sweet Briar President and Honorary Class Member, 1953
Kaitlin “Kat” Navarro ’24
Michelle O’Neill ’85, Board Member; Vice President of Global Government Affairs, Corning, Inc.
Steve Smiley, Board Member; Managing Partner, Madison Lane Partners LLC
Barb Watts, Director of Career Services
Dwana Waugh, Associate Professor of History
Kathryn Hagist Yunk ’91, Alumnae Alliance Representative; Director of Global Marketing Communications, GE Healthcare
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Wytheville Community College now accepting nomination for service award
Wytheville Community College is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Distinguished Service Awards Program. The deadline for nominations is Friday, February 10, 2023.
This program, which consists of a teaching award and a service award, was established in 1990 by Nathaniel W. Pendleton, Jr., and his family in memory of his father, Nathaniel W. Pendleton, Sr., who was a Wytheville construction company executive and member of the Virginia House of Delegates. He was instrumental in passing legislation in 1962 that established Wytheville Community College and provided its operating funds. He passed away in 1968.
Recipients of the Distinguished Teaching and the Distinguished Service Awards receive a plaque and a monetary award. The program is intended to recognize excellence in teaching and to acknowledge outstanding service to the college. Any full- or part-time WCC faculty member is eligible for the Teaching Award, and the recipient will also receive a special fund to be used for personal academic enhancement. The Service Award may be conferred upon any current or past employee of WCC, local board or foundation board member, alumnus or friend of WCC.
Award descriptions and nomination forms for the Distinguished Teaching and Distinguished Service Awards may be accessed at the college’s website: www.wcc.vccs.edu/distinguished-service-awards-program.
Completed nomination forms must be received by February 10, 2023. Forms may be returned by mail to the WCC Foundation Office, 1000 East Main Street, Wytheville, Virginia 24382 (postmarked on or before February 10, 2023), or forms may be submitted via email to foundation@wcc.vccs.edu. Questions should be directed to the Foundation Office at 276-223-4771.