Campus
Communicator
JANUARY • 2013
Tracing the Struggle For Racial Equality
its own bustling slave auction block,
at 10th and Market streets, in sight of
the historic Suspension Bridge.
John Mattox delivers his presentation on
Jan. 24 on the Underground Railroad at
the College’s B&O Building auditorium
before a large and appreciative audience.
John Mattox firmly believes that to
have any idea where you’re going, you
must understand where you’ve been.
It was that conviction that led Mattox,
whose great-grandmother was a slave
in Raleigh, N.C., to open the Underground Railroad Museum in Flushing about 20 years ago. Mattox spoke
Thursday at West Virginia Northern
Community College as part of the
school’s events surrounding Martin
Luther King Jr. Day, which was officially observed Monday.
Mattox has dedicated his career to
preserving the memory of the Underground Railroad - the network of
secret routes and safe houses used by
escaped slaves, at great risk to themselves and mostly under the cover of
night, to seek freedom in the North or
even Canada - and its ties to the Ohio
Valley.
As he discussed early America’s history, he pointed out that Wheeling had
Even though slaves were bought and
sold in downtown Wheeling, Mattox
said there were many blacks in the
area who were free. But that freedom
could sometimes be tenuous, Mattox
noted, as a sign near the old auction
block read “Unattended children will
be sold as slaves.”
“This could happen. It did happen. We
have documentation,” he said.
But the Ohio Valley was also rife with
places where slaves could seek refuge
on their journey to freedom, including the Joel Wood and Jacob Van Pelt
houses in Martins Ferry, the Quaker
meeting house in Mount Pleasant and
others. Many of these sites are stops
on guided tours of four to five hours
arranged through the museum.
Admission is free to the museum,
where Mattox acts as storyteller and
invites visitors to share their own
stories with him. And unlike at other
museums, patrons are encouraged to
handle some of the artifacts in order
to help the past to come to life.
“I want you to feel. I want you to
touch. When I show you a yoke, I
want you to know that someone’s neck
was in that yoke,” Mattox said.
Mattox’s talk traced the struggle for
racial equality through the abolition
of slavery by the 13th Amendment,
the formation of the Ku Klux Klan by
former Confederate leaders, the enforcement of “Jim Crow” laws aimed
at preventing blacks from voting and
exercising other constitutional rights,
until the present.
The election of Barack Obama as
America’s first black president, he said,
was an event that as a child, he never
predicted he would see.
“Look how far we have come. ... No
matter what comes out of it, it’s a
great day for America,” Mattox said of
Obama’s presidency.
He added that as a youth, he found
that because of the color of his skin
he could not do many of the things he
wanted to.
“Today I can, and I am blessed for
that,” Mattox said.
By IAN HICKS - Staff Writer The Intelligencer/
Wheeling News-Register
Wheeling Ca mpus
the event may be purchased through
Rana as well.
Since 1995, Klempa has been service
representative of the Mid-Atlantic
Regional Council of Carpenters West
Virginia District. He was elected
in November to the Ohio County
Commission seat vacated by David
Sims when he was named a Circuit
Court judge. Klempa was sworn
into office by Sims on Dec. 20 and
he attended his first meeting as a
commissioner on Jan. 2.
Orphy Klempa, seated center, will be honored for his outstanding community
service at the annual fund-raising dinner sponsored by the Wheeling campus
Friends of the College and the West Virginia Northern Community College
Foundation. The dinner will be held in the EC lobby area, the Culinary Arts dining
room and in the multi-purpose room. Planners for the event include Dr. Mary
Marockie, president of the Foundation board of trustees, seated at the left, and Nick
Zervos, president of the Wheeling Friends board, seated at right. Standing, from
left, are Rana Spurlock, fundraising and development assistant, and Dr. Martin J.
Olshinsky, president of Northern.
Friends with Dinner
Orphy Klempa is very familiar to the
West Virginia Northern family: not
only is he a graduate, he’s a former
member of the Board of Governors,
a past recipient of the Outstanding
Alumnus award, and a consistent
supporter and friend. Now, Orphy
Klempa’s name will be added to
the list of persons honored by the
Wheeling Friends of the College and
the Foundation for long-standing
community service.
Klempa will be acknowledged at the
annual fund-raising dinner sponsored
by the Wheeling campus Friends of
the College and the West Virginia
Northern Community College
Foundation on Saturday, March 23, at
the Education Center.
Past recipients include Mary Beth
Hughes, Waneta Acker and Larry
Bandi and, as is tradition, those in
attendance will be treated to gourmet
dining as prepared and served by the
WVNCC Culinary Arts department
and students. Theme for the 2013
dinner is “New York, New York,” and
those in charge of the dinner details
promise appropriate entertainment,
silent and live auctions and, of course,
some surprises. Initially, the chefs
in the Culinary Arts department are
mulling menus that could include “a
study in traditional New York street
fare” at the reception along with plans
to “delve into the fine cuisine of this
culinary mecca.”
Faculty and staff are reminded that
gift baskets will be auctioned at the
event and if Northern colleagues
are interested in donating baskets
they should contact Rana Spurlock,
fundraising and development
assistant, at extension 8906. Tickets to
Previously, Klempa, a Democrat,
was the state senator representing
West Virginia’s first district which
covers the counties of Hancock,
Brooke, Ohio and a portion of
Marshall County and resigned that
position Dec. 10 to take his seat as
commissioner. Before being selected
a state senator, he served two terms in
the West Virginia House of Delegates
representing the third district,
Wheeling proper.
Klempa is co-chairman of Project
BEST, the labor/management
group representing some 6,000
union building tradesmen and 600
contractors in the Upper Ohio Valley.
Cisney Joins
Crowder Society
Jack Cisney, center, retired emeritus
faculty member and current member
of the WVNCC Foundation board of
trustees, receives an engraved Blenko
Glass pitcher as the newest enrollee
in the Crowder Legacy Society from
President Martin J. Olshinsky, at left,
and Dr. Mary Marockie, Foundation
board president.
donor to name a fund. A second
enrollee, retired emeritus faculty
member Tom Danford, was not
available for the photograph.
Crowder was president from
1972-85; he and his wife, Wreatha,
are residents of Florida.
The Crowder Legacy Society, which
honors founding WVNCC President
Daniel B. Crowder, was initiated
last year as an exclusive way to
remember WVNCC in donors’ wills.
According to Olshinsky, donors
informing the College that they’ve
made a charitable gift in their wills
for WVNCC will be enrolled in
the Crowder Legacy Society. A gift
of $25,000 or more will enable the
Fiber Optics School
WVNCC Information Technology Assistants Mike Harbourt and Dan Eddy recently completed a fiber optic installation
training course at The Fiber School in Breinigsville, Pa.
According to the IT department, this course is designed for those who layout, install or maintain fiber optic cabling
systems. It identifies those completing the training as
installers able to demonstrate a practical knowledge
of fiber optic theory, codes, standards and practices
widely accepted in the fiber optics industry.
In addition, this training incorporates two days of
individual hands-on training validating installer skills,
including fiber terminations, cable preparations,
fusion splicing, optical time-domain reflectometer
and optical loss testing. These skills are applicable to
all the requirements to safely and competently install,
maintain, and test fiber optic cabling systems.
Dan Eddy & Mike Harbourt
Harbourt and Eddy demonstrated a practical
knowledge of individual hands-on skills including
performing industry standard fiber optic terminations,
preparing cables for inside and outside applications,
performing fusion splicing and splice tray preparation
and testing with the OTDR and optical loss test
equipment.
New Martinsville Ca mpus
Discovery Fair
Julie Horton watches as Stephanie Smith
talks to student Jason Allen.
The Discovery Fair was held in the
lobby of the campus on Thursday,
Jan. 17. This event provided an
opportunity for new and returning
students to learn about some of the
services that the College has available.
Julie Horton, Career Services;
Stephanie Smith and Dennis Bills,
Tutoring Center, and Janet Corbitt,
LRC, met with several students and
shared information on how they
could help with preparing resumes,
applying for jobs, using the LRC
Biology Symposium
Dr. Sherri Buerdsell’s biology classes
participated in the 4th Semiannual
Biology Symposium by preparing
posters and reports on a variety of
topics.
About 60 students presented the results
of their individual research Dec. 4 and
5 on the New Martinsville campus.
Faculty, staff, students, and members
of the community enjoyed the
information presented, as well as the
refreshments provided. Room 115 was
filled with tables of scientific posters
covering topics such as: Metabolic
Syndrome and What It Can Do To
the Body; Hand Sanitizer vs. Regular
Soap: Which is Better?; Living With
Bi-polar Disorder; Wiskott Aldrich
Syndrome; Is Human Cloning Ethical?;
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, and
many others.
to prepare reports and papers, and
providing tutoring assistance so they
don’t fall behind in their coursework.
Information and event calendars
also were on display from Student
Activities to tell students how to
become more involved in the events
on the campus.
Tutoring Center
Gives Recognition
During the month of December,
the Tutoring Center recognized the
students who have devoted their
time and expertise by tutoring others
who need extra help in one or more
classes. A poster was placed on a table
outside the office so that staff, faculty
and students could write a note of
appreciation to the tutors. A WVNCC
mug was given to each tutor as a
token of thanks for the time they give
to help their fellow students succeed.
Rebecca Cain investigated the
correlation between Tuberculosis and
eight other diseases that may mimic
TB as well as the possible reasons why
the confirmation of tuberculosis versus
other diseases is so difficult. She wrote,
“Tuberculosis is a widespread, oldas-time itself disease. The incubation
period of the Mycobacterium
tuberculosis is around 16 hours
long. Coupled together with human
mentality, availability of funding,
travel, and corruption, there are other
reasons as to why the time table from
testing to confirmed diagnosis and
treatment are hurdles to eradicating
the disease from the Earth. The ruling
out of other diseases may sometimes
go unnoticed altogether.”
Jay Helmick investigated defleshing
methods for the purpose of osteology,
the study of bones. He determined
From left are Dennis Bills, Becky
Cain, and John Hasselbach.
Organizational Leadership
& Administration Program
to Begin at WLU
West Liberty University will hold the
first cohort of their BA Organizational
Leadership and Administration
program at the New Martinsville
campus beginning Jan. 29. This
18-month program will provide an
opportunity for WVNCC graduates to
complete a Bachelor of Arts degree by
meeting one night a week.
that boiling chicken in beer was
more effective and took less time
than boiling it in water. Chad
Street’s research focused on White
Pine Root Decline, a disease that
impacts Christmas tree growers and
landscapers in West Virginia.
The 5th Semiannual Biology
Symposium will be held the week of
May 29.
Becky Cain and her report, “TB? Or
Not TB?
the Thundering Chicken got several shout outs! Thanks to
those who walked or rode on the float, Ida and T.L. and
Lisa Slie, Beth Brown and her daughters, Will Gallaher, Bob
Gibb, Larry Tackett and Debbie Bennett.
Thanks also were extended by the New Martinsville campus
to Student Activities for arranging for the float to be brought
to New Martinsville. This was the first year the campus has
entered a float in the parade, and campus staffers were
excited to learn that it won 2nd place in the Commercial
Division. The $125 prize was donated to the campus’
team for Relay for Life of Wetzel County.
Christmas in New Martinsville
Gathering at the College’s float before the New Martinsville
Christmas Parade are, from left, T.L. Williams, Ida Williams,
Lisa Slie, the Thundering Chicken (Steve Carroll), Beth Brown
and her daughters, Will Gallaher, Larry Tackett, Bob Gibb, and
Debbie Bennett.
Students and staff of the New Martinsville campus,
along with Ida Williams and her husband, T.L., and the
Thundering Chicken (Steve Carroll,) participated in the
Wetzel County Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade
on Saturday, Dec. 1.
The evening was perfect with lots of people on the parade
route and great weather. Those along the parade route loved
the float and the marchers’ matching snowflake shirts. And,
Cash Cube
Student Activities sponsored the Mega Buck Cash Cube
for the Christmas party on the campus last month. The
student lounge was filled with students who wanted
their chance to get in the cash cube but only a few won
the coveted spots. First in was Beth Brown who walked
away with lots of extra Christmas cash. Then Donna
Maynes found out that it wasn’t easy to grab that flying
money, but she managed to grab her share. Finally,
Brittany Southerly stepped into the cube and came out
with some extra spending money. The students who
didn’t get a chance in the cash cube won a range of other
prizes, so everyone had a great time and enjoyed lunch
prepared by Dianna’s Catering. This was a great break
for the students as they were stressing about finals and
submitting those last assignments before leaving for the
semester.
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Weirton Ca mpus
Business After Hours
The Weirton campus hosted the Business After Hours
program for the Weirton Area Chamber of Commerce on
Dec. 11. BAH programs are held periodically by the Weirton
chamber and are hosted at various business locations in an
effort to connect chamber members in a meaningful way. The
social events often bring people to business locations they’ve
never visited previously.
Lisa Soly, at right, greets visitors to the Business After Hours
event hosted in December at the Weirton campus.
Weirton Campus Dean Mike Koon said about 40 people
attended the event held in the applied technology wing. In
addition to the opportunity to celebrate the Christmas season
in Room 117, which was festively decorated for the occasion,
Koon said many people took advantage of the event to view
the new labs opened earlier in the year.
Commercial to Highlight
Mechatronics Program
Technology Services Group Inc., the
firm which redesigned Northern’s
website and which has filmed
television commercials for the
College, is busy this month readying
for and filming the newest 30-second
commercial on the Weirton campus.
The commercial will highlight one
of WVNCC’s newest programs,
Mechatronics, which already is
offered in Weirton and will be taught
in the Applied Technology Center
building currently under construction
on the Wheeling campus.
From left, student Pat Marshall, instructor Joe Copenhaver, and student Evan
Lamone look over Mechatronics lab
equipment. At far right is Wes Ebeling of
TSG Inc.
Joe Copenhaver, instructor in Mechatronics, explains the inner workings of equipment
in the lab.
Because the equipment installed in
Weirton’s Mechatronics lab is similar
to equipment that will be installed in
Wheeling, the decision was made to
create the new TV spot at the Weirton
campus. Featured in the ad will be
several students and instructors who
also will be interviewed on camera
for a longer video to be placed on the
College website.
Mechatronics prepares students to
become electrical and industrial
maintenance technicians. Joe
Copenhaver of the Center for
Workforce Education at Northern
has been instrumental in helping
educate the filmmakers about the
Mechatronics program and lab.
Student Jessica Roberts works on
Mechatronics lab equipment.