Free Asheville Art Museum passes are available for employees and students. They can be reserved for up to a week in advance for a one-week checkout, based on availability. There is a limit of six passes per person. A set of 25 passes is also available for instructors to take a class. Contact Sue Donato at Ext. 7572 or sdonato@abtech.edu for more information.
Christina Lang, Health Occupations Coordinator, was on the planning committee and conference faculty for the ninth annual Nurse Assistant Conference at MAHEC. The annual conference provided an opportunity for nursing assistants to share personal and professional experiences in addition to developing new skills. The focus was on the NA being the essential piece in providing person centered care. Lang presented on "Animal Assisted Activities: How Animals Enrich the Lives of Those for Whom We Care For." The presentation was able to show how animals benefit those in health care facilities, in a variety of ways.
Jeff Ferezan, Vice President of Initiatives, and Shelley White, Executive Director of Occupational and Public Service Training, are members of the 27th Leadership Asheville class. Participants will explore a variety of topics, ranging from the environment to education, and from local government to economic development though lectures, discussions, work groups and service projects.
Lewis Lightner, Networking Technologies Chair, had his feedback in response to the Cisco Network Academy Curricula published on the Cisco website. He was quoted as saying, "The new courses are valuable because they teach lots of soft skills such as communication and how to work with people, along with practical skills such as troubleshooting."
A-B Tech and Central Piedmont Community College worked to develop an articulation model that was a featured model of practice for Cisco. The North Carolina model offers honors credit, articulation and seamless pathways for students.
Motorbike parking spaces are now available in front of the K. Ray Bailey Student Services Building in response to more students and staff opting for gas-saving transportation.
A-B Tech's Alpha Upsilon Eta Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa is sponsoring the third Annual Helpmate Talent Show at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 13 in Ferguson Auditorium on the College's Asheville campus. The show will benefit Helpmate shelter for battered women and children. Doors open at 6 p.m. and admission is free; however, monetary donations are encouraged. Pizza, soda, and brownies will be on sale, as well as raffle tickets to win prizes donated by community vendors.
Small Business Center client Avi Sommerville of Worlds Best Carrot Cake was selected as one of five businesswomen to win the Micro to Millions awards package from the non-profit business program, Make Mine A Million $ Business.
More than 200 female entrepreneurs from North and South Carolina competed for business development packages that include up to $5,000 in financing, coaching, and membership in a nation-wide community of women business owners providing assistance to help their businesses grow to million-dollar enterprises.
Beginning in August 2007, A-B Tech became a tobacco free campus by action of the Board of Trustees. We have been pleased with the level of employee and student compliance with this policy since its implementation. Certainly, this was a change in the culture of the college, and the ease with which it was adopted is commendable.
There still remain a small number of students who ignore the policy, and this is of concern to the college family, because Board of Trustee policy must be followed to be effective. On another level, compliance with the policy is right, because it is what the vast majority of members of the college community wants.
Effective immediately, officers of campus police and security will begin issuing citations to students found smoking. These will be forwarded to my office. If a student is issued two citations, I will meet with him or her personally to discuss and ensure compliance.
We want to ensure the campus community that we are dedicated to our tobacco free policy and that we will enforce it. Again, thanks to those users of tobacco who are willingly complying with the policy.
A-B Tech's Veterinary Medical Technician Program played a crucial role in saving a puppy's life, according to the Asheville Humane Society. A puppy arrived at the shelter with a fractured leg. X-rays from A-B Tech revealed the dog's fracture was worse than thought so the dog was given surgery that saved its life and made it adoptable.
Russ Yelton, Executive Director of Entrepreneurial Ventures and Business Incubation, has been elected president of the North Carolina Business Incubation Association for 2009.The non-profit organization was formed to support business incubators and economic developers by providing the information, education, advocacy and networking resources to bring excellence to the process of assisting early-stage companies.
Tech Talk is published by the Communications Office for employees and friends of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.
Editor: Mona Cornwell, Writer: Martha Ball, Designers: Justin Page, April Sides
Send submissions to: Mona Cornwell, Director of Communications, at mcornwell@abtech.edu
Publication of the next issue
is scheduled for December 1.
Deadline for submissions is November 14.