NCCCS Seeks Art Submissions For 2006 Show
The N.C. Community College System is inviting community college artists to participate in the annual Community College Art Exhibit in the Caswell Building at the system office in Raleigh. President Martin Lancaster created the exhibit in his first year on the job, and this marks the ninth edition.
Submissions are welcome from full-time and part-time faculty, students, alumni and staff of North Carolina's community colleges. This includes submissions from curriculum and continuing education areas, from the full range of fine arts and crafts, and from related fields such as advertising, graphic design, computer design, photography and film.
President Lancaster makes the selections and supervises the placement of the artwork in the Caswell Building. They will stay on display for all of 2006.
Artists should submit images of their artworks (not the actual works) by Nov. 11 to be included in A-B Tech's portfolio to: Tamala Barnett, Ext. 311 or at tbarnett@abtech.edu.
You may also send images of artwork by Nov. 18 directly to: Chancy Kapp, NC Community College System, 5001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-5001 or e-mail to kappc@nccommunitycolleges.edu
The preferred method of submission is digital images on CD. They also accept emails, website galleries, slides and photographs. Each submission must be labeled with the name of the artist; the name of the community college; the name of the artwork (if untitled, then include a visual description); the medium; and the dimensions. Make sure that digital images are labeled in such as way as to distinguish them from hundreds of others. Slides and photos should be labeled on slide holders or photo backs, if possible.
2005 is the Year of Foreign Language Study
A nationwide endeavor to highlight the importance of language learning and cultural understanding resulted in the proclamation of 2005 as the Year of Foreign Language Study by a U.S. Senate Resolution.
"What's really cool about the Senate Resolution is it highlights all the reasons why learning a foreign language is so valuable. The reasons range from it forces you to think and use your brain in a new way, to learning about other cultures," said Aidan Hoyal, Spanish instructor.
In continuing with this initiative, A-B Tech launched an innovative approach to Spanish instruction this fall. "We're offering a new Fundamentals class, a new Spanish in the Workplace class, and we're requiring that Spanish 111 students take a co-requisite Spanish Lab 181, earning them a total of four transferable credits," said Hoyal. "We added the lab for curriculum courses so students can be more successful. We have also noticed a big difference since offering the Fundamentals class. People are in more appropriate classes and will be more successful that way."
"Spanish 110 (Fundamentals) is an orientation to the language. It is important because many people that come into Spanish 111 are so blended those who haven't been to school for 15 years or those who come out of high school with three years of Spanish behind them," said Spanish Instructor Michael Harney. "It's an imbalance of experience. We work under the belief that students who come out of 110 will be strong in pronunciation and the ability to speak Spanish."
In addition to the new course offerings, Spanish instructors are also beginning to incorporate Service-Learning projects into their classes, providing students with the opportunity to see first-hand what a valuable skill it is to speak Spanish. "Through volunteer service, students get to meet people that they may not normally have the opportunity to meet, gain a better understanding of our community's needs, and learn about other cultures," said Hoyal.
According to Hoyal, A-B Tech teaches Spanish, French and German to hundreds of students every semester. "In addition, I recently surveyed our Spanish 111 classes to find out why they had enrolled in Spanish. About 56 percent said for transfer credit, 47 percent for personal interest, and fully 25 percent for work-related reasons," she said. Students were permitted to choose more than one reason.
Harney said there is a wide variety of employment that needs Spanish to communicate. "Landscapers need to be able to say, 'please dig the hole here.' Insurance students want to be able to say 'you can have full coverage or liability.' I have a teacher, office workers, a concrete worker, a heat and air specialist, construction workers, a foreman, restaurant workers and managers in my classes," he said.
North Carolina has the fastest-growing Hispanic population in the US, which is the third largest Spanish-speaking country in the world.
According to the Foreign Language Association of North Carolina, over 170 languages other than English are spoken in North Carolina public schools. In addition to Spanish, the languages include French, Chinese, Korean, African languages, Russian and Navajo.
The need to learn a second language is becoming more pressing, according to Hoyal, "not only because so many people are moving here, but also through globalization. Companies now have offices all over the world," she said. "Even my husband's soccer team speaks at least four different languages."
"Learning another language is very challenging, but also very rewarding, and I'm always looking for ways to encourage folks to study another language as well as to motivate my own students," said Hoyal.
Fast Facts About Foreign Languages
Less than nine percent of the world's population speaks English as a first language.
More than 20 million students in Japan study English while less than 51,000 high school students in the U.S. study Japanese.
Eighty-five percent of the public feels that the ability to speak another language is very or somewhat important to competing successfully in a global economy.
In North Carolina alone, there are over 800 international firms. The United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and France have the largest number of firms.
The majority of American employers, according to a national survey, consider the command of a second language a useful skill.
U.S. airlines have difficulty in finding personnel with foreign language skills.
One out of every six production jobs in the U.S. depends of foreign trade.
Information from the Foreign Language Association of North Carolina at www.flanc.org
BioNetwork Funding From State Legislature Approved
The N.C. General Assembly recently approved $7.1 million in funding for BioNetwork, which includes A-B Tech's BioBusiness Center. North Carolina's biotechnology industry ranks third in the country with about 150 companies that generate approximately $3 billion annually. The industry is growing and creates about 3,000 new jobs a year in North Carolina, which has helped the state economically by offsetting the decline of the tobacco and textile industries.
The N.C. General Assembly recently approved $7.1 million in funding for BioNetwork, which includes A-B Tech's BioBusiness Center.
"The best news about the funding is that it is in the NC budget as a recurring item so we will be able to continue what was started and have a longer and larger reach on life science start-up organizations across the state," said Paul Knott, curricula coordinator for the BioBusiness Center. "This demonstrates a long-term commitment to economic development in the life science arena."
Start-up funding for the BioNetwork was provided by the Golden LEAF Foundation, and continued funding from the state legislature was needed.
"This appropriation is a recurring budget item and for now there is currently no sunset provision for BioNetwork funding. In the grant program's first year, we performed research and established a regional approach to rolling out our resources. Now we can turn more fully to implementation and delivery of what has been developed in the first year," he said.
During the BioBusiness Center's first year of operation, a formula was developed for what it takes for biotechnology startups to be successful. Six critical factors were identified according to Knott. The first three are availability of intellectual property, capital resources and facilities in which companies can develop. "For Asheville and WNC, we have the BASF gift at the Enka campus that will allow us to provide wet lab space for start-up biotech companies," Knott said.
Also needed are technology commercialization programs and services to assist the fledgling businesses. "That would be folks from attorneys to help with patents to mentors to finance experts to counselors to help with personnel and other needs," he said.
Another key factor is management talent, which can join with an inventor to create a viable start-up company. "We are looking for serial entrepreneurs. People who have successfully created businesses before and can help others do the same. Investors want to see a good management team before investing," Knott said.
The last factor is the availability of a quality workforce, which should come naturally to A-B Tech. "What community colleges inherently bring to this is the ability to train workers. Building on this long-standing community college strength, the curriculum development efforts of the other BioNetwork Centers will greatly enhance our statewide offerings for developing these types of workers" he said.
The BioBusiness Center is now sharing these findings with the rest of the state and building partnerships with other regions. A new series of programs providing an introduction to technology-based economic development will be offered in cooperation with the Asheville Area Chamber Commerce and the A-B Tech Small Business Center to help develop an entrepreneur-friendly and life science supportive culture.
"Next year we will develop new courses and other resources and distribute them further across the state. We know we're not the only players in the economic development game. So in order to be successful we've got to be the consummate collaborators and team-players," Knott said.
North Carolina's biotechnology industry ranks third in the country with about 150 companies that generate approximately $3 billion annually. The industry is growing and creates about 3,000 new jobs a year in North Carolina, which has helped the state economically by offsetting the decline of the tobacco and textile industries.