Vol. 13 Issue 11November 2007
 

Headlines

Foundation Recognizes Scholarship Recipients

Amanda Crompton speaking at the Foundation Scholarship Luncheon

Amanda Crompton, second-year Veterinary Medical Technology student and recipient of the Grace Joan Love Schneider Endowed Scholarship, speaks about her appreciation of education during the A-B Tech Foundation Scholarship lunch.

The A-B Tech Foundation honored 46 of its scholarship recipients during a luncheon Oct. 18 at the College, and announced the creation of 12 endowed scholarships over the past year.

"It is the vision of the College and the Foundation that every person who wishes to attend A-B Tech - regardless of financial ability - may do so," said Foundation Board Chair Joe Brumit.

The Foundation awarded six scholarships in 2000-01 and more than 100 for the 2007-08 academic year.

Second-year Veterinary Medical Technology student Amanda Crompton knows the benefits of her scholarship. "After working at various businesses, I knew I had to find a way to attend college," she said.

One of eight children, she was the first in her family to finish high school and to enroll in college. "While I was only able to take one and sometimes two classes a semester at first, I quickly realized I not only enjoyed going to college, but how important it is. I hope I can give back to the community what has been given to me," Crompton said.

One of the new endowed scholarships was the Johnathan Giardina Memorial in honor of an Emergency Medical Science student who passed away in 2003, shortly before his graduation.

Johnathan Giardina was just one semester away from completing his studies at A-B Tech when he died, but his family received an honorary degree on his behalf. His parents Nick and Deborah Giardina established a scholarship in his name in 2004 for EMS students. This year, they created an endowed scholarship.

"We wanted it to be a perpetual scholarship - looking past our own lifetimes here," said Deborah. "A-B Tech really helped him a lot. The instructors encouraged him. The whole program really turned his life around, and we were happy he had found that program. We wanted to pay it forward and help somebody else."

Other scholarship endowments created were the Shapiro-Green, Francis N. Johnson, Eaton Corporation, Eva McGrady Wall, Owen Tilson, AvL Technologies, Rotary Club of Asheville, Deltec Homes Scholarship, First District Dental Society, Grove Park Inn Culinary Technology Scholarship, and Grove Park Inn School of Resort and Spa Management.

The following recipients were recognized at the fall scholarship luncheon. The remaining recipients will be honored during a spring program.

K. Ray Bailey/A-B Tech Foundation Golf Classic Scholarship

Altrusa International of Asheville Scholarship

AvL Technologies Endowed Scholarship

Bowers, Ellis & Watson Architects Endowed Scholarship

Christiana Tugman Scholarship

Futch Family Endowed Scholarship Honoring Mary and William Futch

GEM Fund, American Association of University Women, Asheville Branch Scholarship

Grace Joan Love Schneider Endowed Scholarship

H.D. and Kay Crews Endowed Scholarship

Jessie Copp Kramer/Hominy Valley Endowed Scholarship

Joe and Janice Brumit Endowed Scholarship

Johnathan Giardina Memorial Endowed Scholarship

Joseph Dave Memorial Endowed Scholarship

Marie Love Cochrane Endowed Scholarship

North Carolina Retired School Personnel Scholarship

Patrick A. Brannen Construction Management Scholarship

Robert F. Burgin Endowed Scholarship

Ruth Denham Memorial Scholarship

Sgro-Huston Memorial Scholarship

Shapiro-Green Endowed Scholarship

State Employees' Credit Union Foundation Scholarship

Thompson Properties Scholarship

William P. Warren Endowed Scholarship

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BioBusiness Center Receives $92,000 Grant For Natural Products Lab

The BioNetwork BioBusiness Center at A-B Tech received $92,000 from the State Board of Community Colleges for its natural products curriculum and lab. The board awarded $2 million statewide to 28 community colleges.

A total of 42 proposals were submitted requesting more than $4.1 million. Only 16 of those proposals were fully funded, including A-B Tech's.

"There's a huge initiative to grow the Western North Carolina natural product industry," said Jon Lawrie, BioNetwork BioBusiness Center manager. "The North Carolina Biotechnology Center, the Arboretum and BioNetwork are all pushing this ahead."

The natural products lab was established in 2006. The 2007 funding allows the lab to continue operations. Continuing Education classes on natural products had 300 participants over a 20-week period. The courses focused on consuming, buying, and marketing natural products.

"The Continuing Education curriculum supports the local natural products industry, including the consumers and practitioners in the areas of dietary supplements," Lawrie said. "There's a huge cottage industry in North Carolina of dietary supplements that are sold at the farmers' markets and natural food stores. The A-B Tech classes and lab will help to produce even higher quality products and give these businesses the advantage to compete against companies in other states."

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Dr. Young Meets County Commissioners

Dr. Betty Young with Buncombe County Commissioners

Dr. Betty Young, president, speaks with County Commissioner David Gantt, Commissioner and Trustee Carol Peterson and Commissioner Chair Nathan Ramsey, during a meet and greet session Oct.15 in the Magnolia Private Dining Room.

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College Signs Memo of Understanding With Indo Asian Academy

signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with a business incubator in India

The A-B Tech Small Business Center/Incubator signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a business incubator in India Oct. 17 in the Simpson Lecture Room on the College's Asheville campus. Representing A-B Tech are, from left, Max Queen, vice president of Continuing Education; Dr. Betty Young, president; and Russ Yelton, Small Business Center/Incubator director. From the Indo Asian Academy group of institutions are Dr. S.T.R. Raja, director of Academics, Indo Asian Academy Group of Institutions; and T. Ekambaram Naidu, chairman, managing trustee, Indo Asian Academy Group of Institutions.

The A-B Tech Small Business Center/Incubator signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a business incubator in India Oct. 17 in the Simpson Lecture Room.

The College partnered with the Indo Asian Academy group of institutions to further develop its international partnerships. A-B Tech currently has MOUs with Yangpu Science and Technology Center in Shanghai, China; Incubadora de Empresas Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Guadalajara, Mexico and Sedichem Chemical Incubator, Vaal University of Technology in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa.

"This MOU will serve as a mechanism for local companies who want to sell their products in India to receive free marketing research," said Russ Yelton, Small Business Center/Incubator director. "Students from India will work with our clients interested in exporting their products to India."

A delegation from India was in Asheville Oct. 16-20, following a visit Yelton made to their country in August as a joint project with Appalachian State University. A-B Tech and ASU received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to explore the outsourcing of information technology to India.

"We are working with Phil Leftwich (Business and Hospitality Education dean), Pam Silvers (Business Computers Technologies instructor) and ASU to create courses on how to deal with outsourcing, and looking at doing courses at A-B Tech," Yelton said.

The second part of Yelton's trip was to create the partnership with the Indo Asian Academy group of institutions. "We hope to establish additional ties to international universities," he said. "That will provide opportunities to both educate our students and provide research for our local companies who wish to do international business, and to further expand our international network."

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A Different, Different World »

 

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