TCC news release

TCC PARTNERS WIN 3 “CREATING EXCELLENCE” AWARDS FROM STATE
Va. Dept. of Education sponsors career and technical education awards

SOUTH HAMPTON ROADS, Va. – (Aug. 4, 2004) – Tidewater Community College’s nomination of three industry, city and community partners for the 2004 Creating Excellence Awards Program, sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education, paid off - all three won awards, presented this summer in Richmond.

The winners, cited below, received the awards from Belle Whelan, secretary of education, Commonwealth of Virginia, and Jo Lynne S. DeMary, superintendent of public instruction, Virginia Department of Education.

The South Tidewater Association of Ship Repairers (STASR) won in the category of Business/Industry Partnership Community College Awards. STASR and TCC partnered to design and implement a Career Studies program in supervision in ship repair and to offer specialty courses for the industry. The program focuses on preparing shipyard workers as supervisors and managers - a crucial need facing the industry, with a workforce average age of 47.

(left to right) TCC’s Barbara Murray, Workforce Development, who submitted the nomination, and Malcolm Branch of STASR, accepted awards for a successful, progressive partnership in ship repair-employee education.

The Advanced Technology Center (ATC) also won in the category of Business/Industry Partnership Community College Awards. The ATC - a result of a unique partnership among TCC, Virginia Beach City Public Schools and the city of Virginia Beach - exists to address the needs of Hampton Roads employers for a well-trained and educated workforce, especially in advanced electronic technology. The ATC educates high school and college students alike, and is the only such center in the country housing three distinct educational and governmental entities.

(Left to right) Patrick M. Konopnicki and David Sullivan, Virginia Beach City Public Schools, accepted the award with Diann Holt, TCC associate vice president for occupational/technical education, and Roberta Cool, dean of business and information technology, Virginia Beach Campus, who submitted the nomination for this award.

TCC’s Radiography and Diagnostic Medical Sonography Advisory Committee won under the category of Advisory Council/Committee Community College Awards. This TCC committee is composed of members in key management positions in the radiology community, alumni, and technologists in the workforce. The group gives active input toward the structure and function of the radiography and DMS programs and helps bring about student scholarships and sponsorships.

(left to right) TCC’s Felicia Jones and Kim Utley, who nominated the medical technology advisory committee, accepted the awards on behalf of the partnership.

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Tidewater Community College is the second largest of the 23 community colleges in the Commonwealth of Virginia, enrolling more than 34,000 students annually. The 37th largest in the nation’s 1,600 community-college network, TCC ranks among the 50 fastest-growing large community colleges. Founded in 1968 as a part of the Virginia Community College System, the college serves the South Hampton Roads region with campuses in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach as well as the TCC Jeanne and George Roper Performing Arts Center in the theater district in downtown Norfolk, the Visual Arts Center in Olde Towne Portsmouth and a regional Advanced Technology Center in Virginia Beach. Forty-three percent of the region’s residents attending a college or university in Virginia last fall were enrolled at TCC.