A former inmate at Black Mountain Correctional Center for women wrote a letter of praise for the ABE/GED program A-B tech offers at the center. "It is so hard to find special people such as Ms. Lisa (Foose, ABE/GED instructor), Ms. Becky (Frawley, a student intern from Montreat College who is supervised by Barbara Brownsmith, AB/GED PREP/AHS coordinator), Ms. Jean (Leichte, ABE/GED instructor) and Mr. Lani (Anderson, chief GED examiner) to take time out to help people such as myself," she wrote. "You should be proud to know that you have teachers like these."
The third Asheville Artisan Bread Bakers Festival will be March 24, featuring a class taught at A-B Tech. Jeffrey Hamelman, the director of baking at King Arthur Flour and author of the acclaimed cookbook called "Bread," will teach six hours of classes in the Magnolia Hospitality Education Center during the festival. Classes begin at noon, with "Whole Grain Breads," "Artisan Dough Shaping," "Wild Yeast Pastry," and others.
The afternoon workshops and lectures are all open to the public. Admission is free to all events, but space at the workshops is limited to visitors who have bought a loaf of bread in the morning. For more information contact Steve Bardwell at 683-2902 or wakerobinfarmbreads@main.nc.us.
Max Queen, vice president of Continuing Education, was thanked by the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina for the use of the Haynes Center on the Enka campus for a workshop. "It was a huge success, and we continue to get high praise from participants. I don't think things would have gone so smoothly without the help of Robin Wiggins (Facilities Coordinator, Enka campus). Robin helped every step of the way with the conference room logistics."
Tommy Griffin, past president of the North Carolina DARE Officers' Association, sent a thank you note to Skye Myrick, Occupational and Public Service Training executive director, to thank her for the service and assistance A-B Tech provided during its annual conference. "Ms. Dianne Davis (interim director of Basic Law Enforcement Training) was just great to work with, being so helpful and punctual with her service to the association."
A-B Tech's Dental Hygiene and Dental Assisting programs have been reaccredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association. Accredited since the early 1970s, the programs are reviewed every seven years.
"It is a very worthwhile process," Shaun Tate, Allied Dental Programs chair, said. "While self-study for reaccredidation is extremely time intensive, with each cycle of evaluation we continue to fine-tune the programs, improving the quality of our graduates and the breadth of information and skills taught. An additional benefit is the increased awareness of all aspects of the program for faculty and staff. Comparing the existing programs to a nationally accepted set of standards is a wonderful means of accountability."
A-B Tech was once again the number four top-performing school in the nation for Ed2Go in January. Congratulations to the Continuing Education Computer and Technology Training Department.
Carol Hutchinson, Business Administration instructor, received a thank you note from Lanny Nelms, president of Teachers of Accounting at Two Year Colleges, for the time she volunteered serving on its Board of Directors. "Our colleagues have benefited from your commitment, energies and efforts to TACTYC. Because this is a totally volunteer organization, it is noteworthy when someone unselfishly gives his or her time and talents and you have done that," he wrote.
A-B Tech Nursing Instructors Laura Brown and Jane Headland were contributors for "Maternal-Child Nursing Care," a college text by Prentice-Hall Publishing. Brown contributed to the Instructor's Resource Manual and sat on the Reviewer Panel. Headland contributed to the Test Bank.
Dr. Dennis King, vice president of Student Services, has been recommended for membership on a committee to review the current performance measures the North Carolina Community College Systems uses to rate its 58 colleges. The Accountability and Performance Funding reporting system rates colleges based on 12 measures annually.
Linda Zdanowicz, a former member of the A-B Tech Dental Assisting advisory committee, had an article published in the Contemporary Dental Assisting trade magazine.
The Cardiovascular Intensive Care and Recovery Units at Mission Hospitals received a card of thanks from a patient's family that specifically mentioned a student of Christy Andrews, Nursing instructor. "I would like to thank Jovon (Massey), student nurse, who helped us interpret my grandmother's conversation," the family wrote.
Thomas B. Ruff, a member of the A-B Tech Hospitality Education Advisory Committee, has been named chair of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association's Board of Directors.
The Asheville Area Cleanliness Task Force, which includes A-B Tech, will kick off a Cleanliness Campaign at 11 a.m. April 2 in the parking lot of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. The task force is comprised of representatives of a number of organizations in addition to the Chamber and A-B Tech, including Quality Forward, the city of Asheville and UNC Asheville. A special community clean-up will follow at noon.
The Altrusa Club of Asheville will sponsor a Trivia Night Benefit Contest at 7 p.m. April 30 at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 51 Welburn Place. All proceeds will be donated to the Altrusa Scholarship Fund at A-B Tech. Teams may consist of one to five members and the entry fee is $100 per team. The contest organizers will provide all new material for the questions and local trivia will be included. Answers will be provided in writing. For more information or an application, call Norma Messer at 253-7222.
Tech Talk is published by the Communications Office for employees and friends of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.
Editor: Mona Cornwell, Writer: Martha Ball, Designer: April Sides
Send submissions to: Mona Cornwell, Director of Communications, at mcornwell@abtech.edu