Grace Love Schneider Correction

The May issue of Tech Talk carried as its lead story an announcement of a $730,000 bequest from the late Grace Love Schneider as a result of an A-B Tech-sponsored lecture series Ms. Schneider attended in 1986. Information obtained after the publication of the story indicates Ms. Schneider did not attend the Continuing Education lecture series, but instead took several curriculum courses during the early 1990s. Following is a May 28 memo from President Bailey to A-B Tech's Board of Trustees and Foundation Board of Directors that contains further clarification. We regret the confusion.

On Monday (May 26), a story appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times that detailed the Grace Love Schneider donation to the A-B Tech Foundation in the amount of more than $730,000. On Wednesday (May 28), the Citizen-Times ran a correction to the story, and rightly so, when a friend of our donor notified us that she was not the person who attended the One Hundred Decisive Events in History class.

Upon receipt of the donation, we researched our student files and found a Grace L. Schneider in the One Hundred Decisive Events class. We made contact with the instructor and told our story, when, in fact, our donor was registered not as Grace L. Schneider, but Joan L. Schneider and took three computer classes.

The obvious lesson learned is, before telling our story in the future, we will exhaust all avenues to ensure we have the proper individual identified. I wanted each of you to know the details of this particular situation, and even though we're a little red-faced with the correction, the bottom line is Grace (Joan) L. Schneider has donated $730,000 to our Foundation.

Serving Those Who Serve Others

Students in A-B Tech's Food Service Technology diploma program at Craggy Correctional Center serve local volunteers at a Volunteer Banquet held at the center May 15. The students are (l to r) Rodney Jones, Paul Howell, George Stack, and Scott Wood. The menu consisted of citrus coleslaw, maple sugar muffins, roasted garlic chicken, toasted pecan rice pilaf, and balsamic glazed green beans finished with a country time apple crisp. The students received a standing ovation at the end of the meal.

A-B Tech Offering Four New Associate Degree Programs

A-B Tech will offer new associates degrees beginning this fall in Baking and Pastry Arts, Construction Management Technology, Human Resources and Associate of Fine Arts (AFA).

"As part of our mission, our college constantly evaluates our offerings to determine whether we're meeting the community's needs for workforce development programs," said President Bailey. "We also examine trends in the job market to identify any new programs A-B Tech needs to add."

The Baking and Pastry Arts degree, which will complement the college's nationally recognized Culinary program, is designed to meet the demand in this region in the hospitality industry for a growing number of bakers, pastry chefs, cake designers and bakery owners/managers.

The Construction Management Technology degree is designed to prepare individuals for careers such as project manager, superintendent, estimator or foreman in the field of construction.

Human Resources graduates will study to become supervisors, human resource generalists and specialists and team leaders in industrial and service firms.

In response to a fast growing economic market in this region, the AFA degree will fill a strong need for training art-based entrepreneurs as well as budding artists. The course of study will focus primarily on the technical aspects of art with two tracks: fine arts, which will focus on drawing and painting, and the graphic arts track, which will focus on computer graphic design.

Remembering Our Fallen Soldiers

Director of Counseling Debby Harmon reads a poem by Helen Steiner Rice during the Memorial Day Remembrance Service on Beech Tree Deck. The event was organized by Counselor and Veterans Advisor John Draughon. Vice President of Student Services Dr. Dennis King introduced both Harmon and Lt. Col. Dennis Watts, a 23-year veteran of the Marine Corps. Lt. Col. Watts, who is also the senior marine instructor at Asheville High School, gave a speech commemorating America's fallen soldiers from the recent war with Iraq and previous wars.

Scouting Computers

J. Steven Taylor, Scout Executive and CEO of the Daniel Boone Council, wrote to President Bailey thanking Chairperson of Business Computer Technologies Pam Silvers and her CIS 215 class for fixing nine computers that were donated to the Council. "Ms. Silvers and her class completed this project in an efficient and timely manner," Taylor wrote. "We appreciate all that was done for the Council. You can be proud to have such caring and helpful instructors and students in your college."

Examining the Future

Harry Buckner, a member of the North Carolina Section of American Society of Civil Engineers, wrote Director of Occupational and Public Safety Training Skye Myrick thanking her and A-B Tech for making available the Engineering in Training Exam Review Course. This 40-hour course is offered once a year to professional engineers to help them prepare for their professional licensure exam. Ten students were enrolled in this year's class and are now prepared to take the exam.

Smile, Smile, Smile

A-B Tech's Dental Hygiene students scored a 100 percent passing rate on the national board exams, which is well above the national average, according to Chairperson Shaun Tate. Fifteen students took the six-hour written test. The students also must pass the N.C. State Dental Hygiene exam, which focuses more on clinical skills with only a small written component.

Return to top