President K. Ray Bailey was recognized as a retiring president during a Farewell Luncheon at the American Association of Community Colleges convention in Tampa, FL.
A-B Tech’s Basic Skills Department completed a successful monitoring visit in April. North Carolina Community College Basic Skills staff in the Raleigh office are required to monitor 20 percent of programs funded under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Title II, of the Workforce Investment Act. The visit included classroom observations, conversations with students and instructors and an exit meeting with administrative staff and Max Queen, vice president of Continuing Education.
Margaret Bradshaw, English as a Second Language instructor, was one of two people chosen as MANNA Food Bank Volunteer of the Year April 20. Bradshaw is a long-time volunteer with MANNA.
The Compensatory Education Vocational Education students have been assisting with stuffing complimentary gift bags to be distributed at the Irene Wortham Center golf tournament. This valuable assistance will allow Irene Wortham staff to focus more on fund development.
Kay Manley, Adult Basic Skills/HRD executive director, received a letter from Dianne Barber, director of the Adult Basic Skills Professional Development Project at Appalachian State University. "I wish to thank you for everything you and your staff did to make the GED Train the Trainer workshops such a success. Your assistance was very much appreciated. I could not have pulled it off without you," Barber wrote.
Mike McCarthy, Corporate and Economic Development executive director, will present a session on Hiring and Orientation Practices May 4 at the WCU 2007 Best Practices Forum.
Two students were honored for their achievements at the Phi Theta Kappa International Convention April 12-14 in Nashville, Tenn. Lloyd Hill was honored as Distinguished Chapter Member and Katrina Bragg as a Distinguished Chapter Officer. Thirty students worldwide are recognized for each of these awards.
Randee Goodstadt, Social/Behavioral Sciences chair, attended two global education seminars in Chapel Hill. The seminars, "Teaching and Learning About South Asia" and "Latin America and North Carolina," were sponsored by World View, a UNC-Chapel Hill public service program formed to help educators better prepare their students for the interconnected world in which they live.
Adult Basic Education/GED Prep instructor Brenda Robinson was chosen from the College to participate in the Holocaust Educators training in February in Washington, D.C. The training was provided through a special grant from the Holocaust Museum, allocated by the N.C. Community College System Office. Robinson is available as a resource for the College and community about the topic of the Holocaust.
The A-B Tech English and Humanities departments are sponsoring a nine-day trip to France during summer 2008. Highlights of the May adventure include a sightseeing tour of Paris and excursion to Versailles; entrance to the Louvre; bateaux-mouches, Eiffel Tower, and Paris-by-night; D-Day bunkers; Bayeux Tapestry; Mont St. Michel; Loire Valley chateaux and vineyards; and Chartres cathedral. All members of the college and community are invited. Please contact Ellen Perry, English/Communications chair, Ext. 829, or Gigi Derballa, Humanities chair, Ext. 329, for further information.
Erik Tschekunow, English instructor and Transfer Advising Center Coordinator, has published his first book of poetry with Carnegie Mellon Press of Pittsburgh. Build Your Own Worship Workbook is the compilation of two chapbooks, one of which is written by Tschekunow. Tschekunow's poetry has also been published in Tar River Poetry, Beacon Street Review, Dead Mule, and Gangsters in Concrete.
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