Campus
Communicator
FEBRUARY • 2016
Black History Month Celebrated at WVNCC
Samuel W. Black presents “From Slavery to Freedom” on the Wheeling campus.
Nearly 100 persons attended Northern’s Black History Month programs
that featured Samuel W. Black, director of African American Programs
at the Senator John Heinz History
Center in Pittsburgh.
The free and open to the public
presentations titled “From Slavery to
Freedom” were held Feb. 23-25 on
all three WVNCC campuses. They
were special Lunch & Learn events
coordinated by the Student Activities
department. The speaker detailed the
anti-slavery movement, the Underground Railroad and the impact of
19th century activism on the contemporary quest for civil and human
rights while specifically focusing on
historic events in the tri-state area.
These programs were the result of a
grant earned by WVNCC through the
Diversity for Equity program of the
Higher Education Policy Commission
and the Community and Technical
College System in West Virginia.
Black holds a degree in African
American Studies from the University
of Cincinnati and a graduate degree in
Africana Studies from the State University of New York at Albany, where
he was the recipient of the Perry
Drake-Weston Award. He is president
of the Association of African American Museums and recently served on
the executive council and the advisory council of the Association for
the Study of African American Life &
History as well as the program committee of the American Alliance of
Museums. Black is a member of the
Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society of Pittsburgh and the
former vice president of the ASALH
Dr. Edna B. McKenzie Branch.
At the Heinz History Center, located
in Pittsburgh’s famed Strip District,
he has curated “Soul Soldiers: African
Americans and the Vietnam Era” that
traveled to seven cities and was the
recipient of four awards, including the
American Association for State and
Local History Award of Merit and the
Pennsylvania Federation of Museums
and Cultural Organizations, S.K. Stevens Memorial Award. Other exhibits
include, “America’s Best Weekly: A
Century of the Pittsburgh Courier”
and “From Slavery to Freedom” that
received a U.S. Department of Education Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program grant,
as well as the AASLH Award of Merit
(2013), the African Diaspora World
Tourism Cultural Exhibit Flame
Keeper Award for dedicated service
in cultural tourism (2013) and the PA
Museums President’s Award and S.K.
Stevens Award (2014).
The Weirton campus presentation was
well attended.
Wheeling Ca mpus
Lantz Receives Award
Veteran’s Program
Offered
“From Bullets to Balance: Identifying Readjustment Issues for Combat
Veterans” is the topic of a special
program to be held from 6-8 p.m.
Monday, March 14, on the Wheeling campus in Room 316 of the B&O
Building as part of National Social
Work Month.
From left, Northern President Vicki
L. Riley and Jennifer Lantz display the
certificate.
Jennifer Lantz, developmental education instructor at WVNCC, recently
received certification as a “Developmental Education Specialist” from
the Kellogg Institute for the Training
and Certification of Developmental
Educators. Jennifer was one of 20
educators selected from throughout
the United States to participate in the
Kellogg Institute and its certification
process during the 2013-14 academic
year.
The Kellogg Institute, now in its 36th
year, offers a unique month-long
living/learning experience for the
training and certification of educational professionals who work with
academically underprepared students
on college campuses. Each year Kellogg Participants take part in a summer training program, followed by a
semester’s practicum in which participants implement new techniques on
their home campuses.
Jennifer was awarded certification
as a result of her participation in the
training program and completion of
an implementation project at West
Virginia Northern. The certification
as “Developmental Education Specialist” is awarded through the Kellogg
Institute in conjunction with the Appalachian State University in Boone,
North Carolina.
Presented by the West Virginia University School of Social Work, Northern and the area Vet Center, this
special program will be conducted
by John Looney, Eric Ullery, Jennifer
Pierce, and Sara DeLong. WVNCC
Veterans Counselor Natalie McFeley
will make a presentation. Attendees
can qualify for two free social work
CE hours. No RSVP is needed. Refreshments will be served at 5:30 p.m.
Program organizers said that many
people “assume that when a warrior
returns from war all will be well and
rejoining with family, friends, and
community will be a smooth transition with combat theatre experiences
becoming a distant memory.
However, the harsh reality for
most veterans and their families
is that the transition home can
be a difficult process. Participants
will gain a better understanding of
the readjustment challenges faced
by combat-theatre veterans and
their loved ones, how loved ones
and the community can respond
in a manner that facilitates a positive readjustment, and how to access
available resources for veterans and
their families.”
Sector Strategizing
The Sector Strategies Meeting associated with the state of West Virginia’s
Bridging the Gap grant-funded initiative was hosted by Karri Mulhern,
Northern’s director of economic
and workforce development, in the
Wheeling campus B&O Building auditorium on Feb. 11. President Vicki
L. Riley and Dr. David Shahan, vice
president of economic and workforce
development, spoke with the community members in attendance.
Purpose of the meeting was to introduce Sector Strategies, collaborate
with regional resources to identify
the major sectors/industries within
the service area, discuss new curriculum and initiatives WVNCC has
developed under the Bridging the Gap
grant, and to set future agenda items
and deliverables.
Dr. David Shahan presents to the group.
Christmas parade, the 14th annual
Moundsville Holiday Bikers Wrap
(presents for children of needy families) and, of course, at the Fall Induction ceremony during which many
of the new 17 PTK members were
honored.
PTK members and advisors pose with
Howdy.
WVNCC Has Spirit
The Omega Epsilon chapter of Phi
Theta Kappa at West Virginia Northern won the Regional Honors Symposium Spirit award at the last OhioWV Region conference in October,
and was entrusted with the region’s
“spirit mascot,” Howdy Bear, to have
and to hold until the next conference
in March.
Omega Epsilon Officers Renee Hindman, president; Cayliana Miller, vice
president, and Courtney O’Connor,
secretary, attended the two-day event
at Terra State Community College in
Fremont, Ohio. This spirit honor typically goes to the school whose members showed the most enthusiasm
(of the 22 attending chapters) during
the conference and so, according to
PTK Faculty Advisor Mark Goldstein,
“We are very proud to host Howdy
and have shown him off at our various events since then.” Howdy was
with PTK members at the Wheeling
Goldstein and the PTK officers are
planning to attend the PTK International Convention in Washington,
D.C., in April.
Residential Building
Inspector Class
A 10-week class to prepare students
to become a certified Residential
Building Inspector will be held on the
Wheeling campus starting in April.
Dr. David Shahan, vice president of
economic and workforce development
at the college, said the class will meet
from 6:30-9:30 p.m. on Mondays and
Wednesdays, April 18 to June 29, in
Room 405, B&O Building.
He said the class is designed to prepare students to successfully pass the
International Code Council examination to become a certified Residential
Building Inspector (one-two family
dwellings.)
Shahan said the class will include
lectures, laboratory training and field
trips and is a non-credit class offered
by the Continuing Education department at WVNCC.
To register for the class, visit the
student services center in Wheeling,
Weirton or New Martinsville. Cost
is $400 and payment must be made
when registering. For further information, call Shahan at 304-214-8967.
WVNCC HIT Has the
“Write” Stuff
Korene Silvestri, associate professor
and program director, Health Information Technology, has reported that
she, Lolita Loy, Kim Stanton, and Lori
Richards all participated in the American Health Information Management
Association January Item Writing
session in Phoenix, Arizona, on Jan.
14-15 of this year.
She explained Loy, Stanton and
Richards are past graduates of the
WVNCC Health Information Technology program. During these sessions, item writers gather to write
new exam questions for the various
AHIMA credentialing exams. To write
for an exam, the writers must hold
the credential for the exam they will
be writing for or they can be asked to
write for an exam in which they hold
a higher credential. For example, if
they are an Registered Health Information Administrator, they can be
asked to write for the RHIT.
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Helping attendees fill out their FAFSAs during College Goal Sunday on the New Martinsville campus are, from left, Jason Woods,
Ina Robinson, Bob Gibb, Roberta Robinson, Charleen Stokes, Lori Beth Joy, and Janet Fike.
Some 90 persons attended and received help from area financial aid experts on Feb. 21 at the New Martinsville and
Wheeling campuses for this year’s version of College Goal Sunday.
College Goal Sunday is an opportunity for students and families to get free help completing the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid commonly called the FAFSA. The Wheeling and New Martinsville campuses of WVNCC joined 23
other locations throughout the state of West Virginia for the one-day event.
Financial aid professionals from WVNCC, Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College offered one-on-one, confidential support to anyone planning to attend college —regardless of age or income.
Completing the FAFSA is one of the most important steps in preparing for college. Any student planning to enroll or
re-enroll in college next year should complete this important form. That includes adult learners and returning college
students.
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Said Leghlid
Mythology Comes to
GSC 100
Adjunct instructor Said Leghlid was
a guest speaker for Pam Sharma’s
GSC 100 Science in the Contemporary World class. Said shared how
astronomy is tied to stories from
Greek Mythology. He explained how
early astronomers began by using the
constellations, and their location in
the evening skies, to determine time
and agricultural cycles. They used the
names of their Greek gods and other
characters from their stories to identify the shapes they saw in the stars.
He connected this beginning concept
to how other astronomers could use
mathematics to measure the diameter
of the sun. Said explained that though
some of these early “discoveries” (“the
Earth was flat”) were challenged by
others, some still remain true (“the
Earth rotates around the Sun.”)
One of the websites he shared with the
class provided a perspective of how
small each of us is when compared to
the planets and the solar system. The
Scale of the Universe - http://htwin.
net/scal2/. He indicated that scientists
and astronomers are still learning
about our solar system and what may
lie beyond.
Much Thanks
The New Martinsville campus dean
and the staff agreed that to help
reduce the budget, the evening maintenance position will be put on hold;
Jack Midcap has moved to the day
position. To maintain coverage and
provide for maintenance issues from
5-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday,
there would to be some adjustments.
The New Martinsville staffers were
able to help with many of the evenings; however, there were vacancies.
Dean Tackett then reached out to the
President’s Cabinet for assistance.
Both Bob DeFrancis and Peggy Carmichael scheduled dates they would
come to New Martinsville to provide
evening coverage and close the campus. We thank them for helping us
with this coverage. We still have dates
that need evening coverage; please
contact Debbie if you can help.
Patient Care Tech Students Practice
Blood Draws & Glucose Sticks
The students in the Patient Care class have reached the
point in their class where they need to practice their
phlebotomy skills. During a recent class session, they
invited family, students, and staff to volunteer their arms
and fingers so students could practice a glucose stick and
a blood draw. The room was full of volunteers willing to
help these students gain their experience. Pizza and sodas
were available while they waited and after they had participated. Instructor Stephanie Pell was carefully watching
as the students performed the draws and glucose sticks.