Tag Archive for: #vancegranvillecommunitycollege

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VGCC Foundation Hosts Holiday Tree Online Silent Auction

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-information courtesy of VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel

The Vance Granville Community College Foundation is helping the community get into the holiday spirit with a Festival of Trees Online Silent Auction. Bids will be accepted Nov. 12-19 for the pre-decorated holiday trees, according to information from VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel.

All fundraiser proceeds will benefit the VGCC Foundation and to help provide scholarships, financial assistance and more to VGCC students.

The trees will be on display in the VGCC Main Campus Civic Center in Henderson from Nov. 13-17 between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Access photos of each tree on the VGCC Facebook Event page.

Winning bidders should pick their trees up by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 21.

Access the auction here: www.vgcc.edu/festival-of-trees.

In addition to student support, the Foundation supports a broad range of special projects involving education, training and economic development in the community. Tax-deductible donations to VGCCF have often been used to honor a person, group, business or industry with a lasting gift to education. For more information about the Festival of Trees auction or the VGCC Foundation, contact VGCCF at foundation@vgcc.edu or 252.431.5913.

 

 

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VGCC To Offer Students Access To Virtual Textbooks, Course Materials Beginning Spring 2024

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-information courtesy of VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel

Vance-Granville Community College is making course materials more affordable and accessible for students. November 3 the college announced the launch of the new VGCC Textbook+ initiative, which lowers the cost of learning materials through a partnership with textbook publisher Cengage. Beginning in the spring 2024 semester, students will be able to access digital Cengage course materials through the Moodle platform starting on the first day of class.

“With textbook prices rising every year, VGCC wants to help students with the cost as much as possible,” said Dr. Kim Sepich, vice president of Learning, Student Engagement & Success at Vance-Granville. “We want our students to have what they need as quickly and as economically as possible, and VGCC Textbook+ makes this happen.”

VGCC’s Textbook+ initiative provides Cengage Unlimited Institutional subscriptions to students, which allows first-day access to a virtual library of thousands of e-books, online learning platforms and study materials covering hundreds of college-level subject areas in one place at a single price. Vance-Granville is helping its students save hundreds of dollars per semester on textbooks and course materials with the addition of the Cengage Unlimited Institutional program.

“Cengage has made a significant commitment to lowering course materials costs for students,” said Edwin Robles, senior vice president and general manager of U.S. Higher Education and Canada at Cengage. “Vance-Granville Community College shares this commitment. Working together, we will support VGCC students by making education more affordable and accessible for all.”

Since its August 2018 launch, Cengage Unlimited has helped more than 5.2 million students save nearly $630 million on the cost of course materials, with $230 million of that savings coming directly from institutional partnerships. For more information on institutional partnerships for Cengage Unlimited, visit www.cengage.com/institutions.

 

 

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Online 911 Telecommunicator Program A New Option For VGCC Students

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Information courtesy of VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel

 

Vance-Granville Community College (VGCC) has teamed up with Richmond Community College to offer a new 911 telecommunications program to residents of Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren counties.

The two community colleges recently signed an agreement which allows VGCC students to enroll in RichmondCC’s online associate degree program in 911 Communications & Operations. VGCC students will complete a majority of the core courses and the work-based learning portion of the program through RichmondCC while completing other general education requirements at VGCC.

“VGCC is pleased to partner with Richmond Community College to offer the 911 operator degree. Collaborations like these allow us to offer needed training and credentials to our community while being fiscally responsible,” said VGCC President Dr. Rachel Desmarais.

The online degree program provides a pathway for individuals who are interested in starting a career in this field, as well as providing skills enhancement for those already working as 911 telecommunicators.

The college curriculum program was developed when the NC 911 Board reached out to RichmondCC about a need for standardization in training 911 telecommunicators, plus a need to help elevate this career field. The college worked closely with the NC 911 Board and the NC Department of Information Technology to construct the online program.

“We appreciate Vance-Granville coming on board in this collaborative career training partnership to give 911 telecommunicators, who are true public servants, better educational opportunities and career growth,” said Dr. Dale McInnis, president of RichmondCC. “We look forward to working with our neighbors in the Piedmont.”

Unique in the state of North Carolina, RichmondCC’s 911 Communications & Operations program welcomed its first class of students during the fall 2023 semester.

 

RichmondCC has been reaching out to other community colleges in the state to make the 911 telecommunications program and its resources available to more students. VGCC is the fourth NC community college to create such a partnership with RichmondCC; Bladen Community College, Gaston College, and Stanly Community College will also be extending the program to their students.

Richmond County is located near the South Carolina border; RichmondCC’s main campus is located in Hamlet, located roughly between Fayetteville and Charlotte.

For more information about the online 911 Communications & Operations associate degree, call RichmondCC at 910.410.1700. For more information about VGCC, visit https://www.vgcc.edu/.

The Local Skinny! VGCC Craft Show Fundraiser Is This Saturday

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Information courtesy of VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel

 

The Vance-Granville Community College Foundation is sponsoring a fall craft show fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 14 to help fill the shelves of the school’s food pantry. The community is invited to come out from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The admission “price” per person is a donation of three food items that can be used in the food pantry – think canned goods, non-perishable items or paper products, organizers say.

VGCC Foundation Associate Director Sheri Jones said more than 45 vendors – many from the four-county area that VGCC serves – will be set up and ready for business Saturday.

“This is a way to stock our food pantry, as we have seen an increase in usage over the last few months,” Jones said.

All proceeds from the event will go toward stocking the shelves of the food pantry, which serves currently enrolled students, as well as faculty and staff.

Call 252.738.3323 or email douglasa@vgcc.edu to learn more.

VGCC students and employees in need of food pantry services may learn more at www.vgcc.edu/food-pantry.

CLICK PLAY!

 

Triangle North Businesss Park Future Home Of VGCC Training Facility

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It’s been a few years in the making, but a contingent of local officials joined Vance-Granville Community College President Dr. Rachel Desmarais and others Wednesday afternoon to celebrate a facility – yet to be built – that will support future training needs for existing and prospective industry.

VGCC is getting $11.5 million in the newly passed state budget, and N.C. Rep Frank Sossamon (R-Dist. 32) provided key support in getting the funding for his district, which in cludes Vance and most of Granville counties. Sossamon was  among those present Wednesday at the Triangle North Industrial Park, located in Granville County off U.S. 158 near I-85.

According to information from VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel, 15 acres on the campus of the business park have been set aside for construction of the facility, the result of a collaboration among Granville County Economic Development, Kerr-Tar Council of Governments and the Triangle North board.

In her remarks at the event, Desmarais said the Triangle North Business Park represents a true collaboration among a cross-section of agencies, and it’s something that attracted her to the area. “I saw collaboration that I hadn’t seen before,” she said. “Today’s announcement is very important, for the people of Granville County and Vance County and the entire service area” the college supports.

No dates have been released for when work will begin, but this could well be the first to locate in the park. That fits in with Desmarais’s vision for VGCC to be a catalyst to build strong communities.

“Workforce development plus economic development equals regional prosperity,” Desmarais said.

The facility will support industry training needs in the areas of industrial maintenance, mechatronics, electronics, welding, and fabrication; serve as an advanced manufacturing company recruitment benefit; and support collaborative high school and college career and technical education partnerships. An investment of this magnitude will send a powerful message to current and future manufacturing stakeholders that our region values the manufacturing sector, supports growth and innovation, and increases employee value.

Abdul Rasheed, vice-chair of the VGCC Board of Trustees, talked about the impact the facility will have on the community.

“Doing this kind of investment begins to shape the kind of jobs, the kind of salaries, the kind of quality of life that we want for ourselves,” Rasheed said. “And that is very, very exciting to me.”

Granville County Board of Commissioners Chairman Russ May echoed sentiments from other speakers. This state funding makes possible the “beginning of some really great things for this community,” May said. “This is a start for much bigger and greater things for Granville and for Vance counties,” he said.

Additional construction funding will come from Granville County and from VGCC’s Board of Trustees.

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VGCC “Empower Her” Event Saturday, Oct. 7 In Main Campus Courtyard

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Information courtesy of Courtney Cissel, VGCC Public Information Officer

Vance-Granville Community College Foundation is hosting an event titled “Empower Her,” and invites the community to come out to the Main Campus Courtyard on Saturday, Oct. 7 to learn what it’s all about.

The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will feature a variety of information from local community partners, according to information from VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel.

In addition to free activities for children, food and giveaways, participants can learn about financial counseling and career advice, as well as meal planning on a dime, makeup tips and more. The Dress for Success Mobile Boutique also will be present.

In addition to providing scholarships to deserving students, the VGCC Foundation supports a broad range of special projects involving education, training and economic development in our community. Tax-deductible donations to VGCCF have often been used to honor a person, group, business or industry with a lasting gift to education.

For more information about Empower Her or the VGCC Foundation, contact 252.738.3264 or foundation@vgcc.edu.

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VGCC To Host Community Engagement Nights

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Vance Granville Community College has scheduled a series of “Community Engagement Nights” through its four-county service area to allow individuals to partner with school leaders and plan for the future. The first one is Thursday, Sept. 7 in Warrenton; please RSVP to let college officials know you’re planning to attend.

The discussions will be from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., according to information from VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel.

VGCC strives to be a catalyst in developing strong communities where everyone can experience a fulfilling quality of life, which comes “through educating, inspiring and supporting a diverse community of learners to achieve professional and personal success.”

 

VGCC President Dr. Rachel Desmarais and attendees of the events will engage in strategic planning activities, which will help leaders make recommendations about various areas of the institution. Light refreshments will be served.

Attendance at each event is limited; sign up at www.vgcc.edu/events.

Below is a list of the Community Engagement Night sessions:

 

  • Thursday, Sept. 7 – Warren County Armory Civic Center, Warrenton
  • Tuesday, Sept. 12 – Perry Memorial Library, Farm Bureau Room
  • Wednesday, Sept. 13 – VGCC Main Campus Civic Center
  • Thursday, Sept. 14 – Wake Electric Operations Facility, Youngsville
  • Thursday, Sept. 19 – Karl T. Pernell Public Safety Complex, Louisburg
  • Wednesday, Sept. 20 – Mary Potter Center for Education, Oxford
  • Wednesday, Sept. 27 – VGCC South Campus, Room G1131, Creedmoor
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The Local Skinny! Gain Computer Skills At VGCC Franklin Campus Training Hub

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Vance-Granville Community College, in partnership with a Wake Forest company, has opened up a computer hub at its Franklin Campus to improve the community’s access to technology.

Not only will DigitalBridge provide classes to help individuals learn how to use technology, but the hub is a place where people can come in a get a document printed, for example.

Stephanie Tolbert, VGCC dean of Business, Applied Technologies and Public Services, said the training hub addresses three challenges underserved communities face when it comes to using technology: connectivitiy, affordability and workforce skills training.

The hub is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at the Franklin Campus, located at 8100 Hwy 56 just outside of Louisburg. Additional times and days are available by appointment, Tolbert noted during Monday’s TownTalk.

They had a ribbon-cutting recently and have placed signs outside and in to direct people to the hub.

“We are ready, willing and able to help,” Tolbert said. “Just come to Franklin Campus and walk right into the lab.”

Let’s say you received a document via email, but you need help printing it, Tolbert said. Stop by the hub and get help making a copy. Or say you want to add a certain technology certification to boost your resume – there are more than 130 courses available in a self-paced format, Erica Hixon said.

And it’s all provided at no cost to the participant, Hixon, DigitalBridge’s project lead, said.

The information is all tailored to the individual, depending on goals and skill levels, Hixon said.

“Training is offered in-person or remote,” she added, with career coaches available to guide their efforts.

Whether it’s learning how to print a document, complete an online application all the way up to learning to write computer code, there’s something for everyone. A simple assessment will help target skill levels, so students won’t have to sit through learning information they already know.

It’s all about helping people get jobs, or get better jobs, while they’re gaining confidence with using technology.

“DigitalBridge is an initiative that serves to meet people where they are,” said VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel.

The idea for the training hub began when VGCC President Dr. Rachel Desmarais was at a national community college conference on entrepreneurship, Tolbert said. Once Desmarais learned about the Wake Forest group, the links were established and the training hub is the result.

“We had to go all the way to a conference to be introduced to someone in our own backyard,” Tolbert said. Desmarais recognized the need for the community, she said, adding that it’s not just a good partnership for the institution, but also for the community.

Learn about all the services the hub can provide by visiting https://mydigitalbridge.org/ or by calling 919.246.5700.

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TownTalk: VGCC Community Engagement Sessions Begin Sept. 7

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A slight turn of phrase can provide a whole different perspective on things, and Vance-Granville Community College President Dr. Rachel Desmarais is looking forward to hearing from the wider community as plans for the future develop.

Take the phrase “community college” for example. Change that to “community’s college,” and you gain some insight into plans for an upcoming series of community engagement nights the college is planning.

“We really want to listen to our community,” Desmarais said on Wednesday’s TownTalk. As a way of implementing its new theme, “Your Community, Your College,” Demarais said the meetings are a way to be intentional about creating a plan that will be the best fit for the communities that VGCC serves.

There’s always room for improvement, she said, and getting feedback from these meetings is a good start.

“We don’t want to stop doing something that is helpful,” she said, adding that “feedback is part of the learning process.”

As students in a classroom need feedback on their activities and work, so does an institution like VGCC, she said.

“If you don’t know what you’re doing right or wrong, you’re not learning anything,” she said.

Individuals interested in participating in the meetings are encouraged to RSVP. A link to the sessions is expected to be available on the www.vgcc.edu website Thursday.

Each session will begin at 6 p.m. and will last until about 7:30 p.m. Small groups – each with a VGCC rep and a person taking notes – will discuss various issues related to their community’s needs.

With the understanding that different people and different communities need different things, Desmarais said she wants VGCC to “be a convener and a catalyst” that brings different organizations together to work for common good.

“Little nudges that we each do can have a wonderful ripple effect in the end,” she said.

And that’s the point of the meetings – to point the community’s college in the direction that the community needs and wants in order to grow.

Below is a list of sites and dates for the community meetings: 

  • Thursday, Sept. 7 – Warren County Armory Civic Center, Warrenton
  • Tuesday, Sept. 12 – Perry Memorial Library, Farm Bureau Room, Henderson
  • Wednesday, Sept. 13 – VGCC Main Campus Civic Center, Henderson
  • Thursday, Sept. 14 – Wake Electric Operations Facility, Youngsville
  • Thursday, Sept. 19 – Karl T. Pernell Public Safety Complex, Louisburg
  • Wednesday, Sept. 20 – Mary Potter Center for Education, Oxford
  • Wednesday, Sept. 27 – VGCC South Campus, Room G1131, Creedmoor
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Franklin County’s Novozymes Endows VGCC Scholarship

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  • information courtesy of VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel

A global biotech company with a facility in Franklin County has endowed a new scholarship at Vance-Granville Community College.

Novozymes and VGCC recently announced the $15,000 gift, which currently could be up to $500 based on the level of investment income generated. Current VGCC students or newly enrolled students are eligible to receive the scholarship award based on their academic achievement.

“This scholarship presents another wonderful opportunity to expand resources that will allow us to educate, inspire, and support a diverse community of learners to achieve professional and personal success,” stated Tanya Weary, VGCC Foundation executive director.

Darren Alfano, head of People & Organization for Novozymes North America, made the presentation to VGCC President Dr. Rachel Desmarais, Weary and other school officials during a recent visit to the VGCC Franklin Campus

“The biotechnology industry is growing at a record pace as biosolutions continue to be developed for more applications every day,” Alfano commented. “From the food you eat to the clothes you wear, biosolutions are part of all of our daily lives. We are excited to partner with Vance-Granville Community College in providing high quality education to the future biotech workforce in our local communities.”

Considered a world leader in their field, Novozymes’ biosolutions enable everything from more drought-tolerant crops to cold water laundry washing to advancements in renewable energy. The company has expanded to serve 30-plus industries across 130 markets with enzymatic, microbial, advanced protein and digital solutions.

While the roots of international parent organization Novo Group reach back a century to the 1920s, Novozymes has had a presence in Franklin County since 1979, when the company arrived in North Carolina to establish its North America headquarters along with a manufacturing plant in Franklinton. Novozymes quickly formed a relationship with Vance-Granville Community College when the college’s Franklin Campus opened at its current location, and the company was instrumental in the construction of the campus’s biotech lab in 2001.

The VGCC Foundation offers over 300 endowments for scholarships VGCC students—more endowed scholarships than any other program of its kind in North Carolina. Scholarships have been endowed by numerous individuals, industries, businesses, civic groups, and churches, as well as the college’s faculty and staff. Tax-deductible donations to the VGCC Foundation have often been used to honor a person, group, business, or industry with a lasting gift to education. For more information, call 252.738.3409.