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TCC
TO FUND INNOVATION IN TECHNOLOGY
$1M gift from Frank Batten Sr. to create program
HAMPTON ROADS, Va. –
(Feb. 1, 2006) – Tidewater Community College marks a new
era in technology innovation and leadership, made possible through
a gift from Frank Batten Sr., founder of Landmark Communications. The gift of $1 million, revealed at the college's Feb. 1 public announcement of The Campaign for TCC, will launch the Batten
Program for Technological Innovation and Leadership.
Comprised of two components – faculty professional development
centers and a faculty fellowship for technological innovation
and leadership – the program will provide a state-of-the-art
facility on each campus where faculty will train with new instructional
technology, and an endowment to perpetually fund faculty grants
for technological innovation.
“Technology fuels how we work, and certainly how we learn
in today’s world,” says TCC President Deborah DiCroce.
“Frank Batten Sr. understands the critical role of technology
in our mission to provide quality higher education for the citizens
of Hampton Roads. His vision and generosity will advance TCC’s
evolution to a national model of a strategic community college.”
“Indeed, Mr. Batten’s appreciation of technology encourages
TCC’s strategic path, seeking technology that will infuse
the educational process with dynamics that match and anticipate
workplace standards of today and the future,” adds DiCroce.
The gift will serve to launch the following:
Batten Faculty
Professional Development Centers
TCC will create four dedicated professional development facilities
at the Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach campuses
for faculty access to state-of-the-art instructional technology,
software and resource materials.
Batten Fellowship
for Technological Innovation and Leadership
• An endowment
will establish and support the Batten Fellowship
for Technological Innovation and Leadership
at TCC. Annual endowment proceeds will fund development and
implementation of innovative projects that enhance the college's
position as a leader in technology.
• Batten
Fellows will be selected through a competitive
process for full-time faculty. Their proposals to fund innovative
ideas in areas such as technology hardware, computer software
programs, process development projects, projects with customized
programming of existing operating systems, curriculum development
and professional development.
“The purpose of
this gift – to help TCC develop a top-notch technology infrastructure
and culture – will advance TCC’s ability to meet the
needs of Hampton Roads’ employers and students,” believes
Frank Batten Sr. “The college’s reputation for growth,
partnership and innovation are part of what makes it such a significant
contributor to our economic development. We need a workforce prepared
to think on its feet, innovate and lead in business and industry
that are key to our region’s success.”
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Laurie White |
Media Relations |
757-822-1085 |
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Tidewater Community College
is the second largest of the 23 community colleges in the Commonwealth
of Virginia, enrolling more than 36,000 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-four
percent of the region’s residents attending a college or university
in Virginia last fall were enrolled at TCC. For more information,
visit www.tcc.edu
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