Employers are invited to participate in a March 4 job fair for Roane State Community College students who are pursuing careers in health care and plan to graduate this year.
The fair is planned for Wednesday, March 4, from noon-3 p.m. at Roane State’s Oak Ridge campus, 701 Briarcliff Avenue. The event will be held in the Goff Health Sciences and Technology Building. Setup begins at 11 a.m. [Read more…]
The fifth annual U.S. Department of Energy’s East Tennessee Middle School Science Bowl will be hosted on Saturday, February 7, at the Roane State Community College campus in Oak Ridge. It starts at 9 a.m.
Students from 12 local middle schools will participate in a fast-paced academic competition offering students the opportunity to match their wits in math and science, a press release said.
This year 16 teams are registered for the competition. Each team includes four student competitors, an alternate, and a coach. The competition covers numerous disciplines including astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth science, general science, mathematics, and physics, the press release said. [Read more…]
To the Editor:
I would like to thank the Oak Ridge Police Department for the outstanding training they recently provided to Roane State Community College faculty and staff. The topic was encountering an armed intruder. Working with the college’s police department, the Oak Ridge Police Department organized a full day of intense, hands-on, practical training for approximately 100 faculty and staff members.
The department was a wonderful partner, committed to making sure the training ran smoothly. The officers who led the activities were excellent teachers—professional, enthusiastic, and caring. Our faculty and staff learned a great deal.
Safety is Roane State’s top concern. Thanks to the Oak Ridge Police Department, we are safer. On behalf of Roane State faculty and staff, thank you Oak Ridge Police Department for sharing your expertise with us.
Melinda Hillman
Vice President, Development and Community Relations
Roane State Community College
John A. Skinner
A University of Tennessee professor will discuss honeybees and pollinators during a Thursday talk at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge.
John Skinner is a University of Tennessee entomology professor, Extension apiculturist, and Extension coordinator. His talk is scheduled from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 5.
According to the UT Institute of Agriculture website: “A nationwide network to monitor and maintain honey bee health is the aim of the Bee Informed Partnership, a five-year, $5 million program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Penn State University is the lead institution, with the University of Tennessee providing IT support for the Partnership.” [Read more…]
Chris Whaley
Roane State Community College will use a nearly $1 million state grant to expand its mechatronics program and to pilot offering the program’s first year as dual credit courses for high school students. The college will partner with schools in Oak Ridge and Anderson County.
The mechatronics program trains students to become technicians who operate, maintain, and repair high-tech automated manufacturing systems. Roane State offers a one-year certificate in mechatronics. Through a $970,000 Labor Education Alignment Program, or LEAP, grant, Roane State will create a two-year associate degree in mechatronics. The program will be launched in fall 2015.
“We are honored to receive a LEAP grant, and we appreciate the hard work of our partners and our legislative delegation on the grant,” Roane State President Chris Whaley said. “The grant is built on great partnerships between Roane State, industries, local school systems and the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology. Working together, we will help students learn the skills they need for high-tech manufacturing careers.” [Read more…]
Roane State’s Kirk Harris (second from left, facing camera) reviews the main points from the college’s two-day combat casualty care/tactical emergency casualty care course. (Photo courtesy Roane State)
Roane State Community College’s Kirk Harris believes details save lives.
Harris, director of continuing healthcare and safety education, recently started offering a course on tactical combat casualty care/tactical emergency casualty care. The course applies lessons learned from the experiences of U.S. soldiers and the latest research on combat care in Iraq and Afghanistan to situations first responders could face.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing law enforcement incidents that are more like military combat, such as mass shootings at schools and industries,” Harris said. “We can learn a lot from the experiences of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. This course brings that knowledge together.” [Read more…]
Bill Haslam
Submitted
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam in December announced the recipients of the Labor Education Alignment Program, or LEAP, competition, a state effort focused on increasing opportunities for Tennesseans to obtain a certificate or degree beyond high school that is aligned with the needs of the workforce in their communities.
“These types of intentional partnerships between local agencies and their colleges or TCATS are what we want to see across the state as a significant piece of the Drive to 55 initiative,” Haslam said. “Tying the training and skills that our colleges are teaching directly to current workforce needs will help more Tennesseans qualify for good paying, high quality jobs.”
The communities and colleges selected as LEAP recipients exemplify the collaboration and alignment between workforce needs and higher education that are at the core of the Drive to 55,” Haslam said. [Read more…]
Robert D. Hatcher Jr.
Could we have a major earthquake in East Tennessee? Do we live in an active seismic zone?
These and many other questions will be answered by Robert Hatcher, University of Tennessee distinguished scientist, at a lecture sponsored by the UT Arboretum Society on Thursday, January 22, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the City Room at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge.
Due to popular demand, Hatcher is again returning to address these and other questions about earthquake activity in our area, a press release said.
Hatcher will discuss whether earthquakes are frequent in our area, and he will also discuss the chances of experiencing a strong quake. [Read more…]
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, U.S. senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, and U.S. representatives Chuck Fleischmann and John J. Duncan Jr., all Republicans, released statements or commented on the East Tennessee visit by President Barack Obama, a Democrat, on Friday and his proposal to make the first two years of community college free to responsible students. Pellissippi State Community College President Anthony Wise and Roane State Community College President Chris Whaley also released statements or commented on the visit and education proposal.
The president’s proposal, America’s College Promise, will be proposed in his State of the Union on January 20, and it is modeled after the Tennessee Promise.
Here’s what the officials from Tennessee said:
Governor Bill Haslam was among the Tennessee leaders who received praise from the president during Obama’s 5.5-hour visit to East Tennessee on Friday. (Photo by Rob Welton)
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam
The president recognizes that good things are happening in Tennessee. We are proud of the Tennessee Promise. It is changing the culture of expectations in Tennessee by encouraging more students to pursue a certificate or degree beyond high school. The Tennessee Promise is focused not just on access but success in terms of making certain that students actually attain their degree. We think having a mentor available for the students is an important part of achieving that success.
Regarding the specifics of the president’s plan, we look forward to seeing more details in the coming days about the cost of the program and how it will be covered. [Read more…]
President Barack Obama announces a proposal to offer two years of free community college to responsible students during a half-hour speech at Pellissippi State Community College in Hardin Valley on Friday. (Photo by Rob Welton)
Note: This story was last updated at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 15.
HARDIN VALLEY—It was a once-in-a lifetime opportunity for some, a chance to shake hands with the president of the United States of America or wave at his heavily guarded motorcade as it passed by on a local roadway.
For others, it was a chance to hear about a presidential proposal modeled after a Tennessee program that would make the first two years of community college free to students who maintain at least a 2.5 grade point average. That proposal, officially announced at Pellissippi State Community College in Hardin Valley on Friday, expands on the 20th century idea that all children in the United States are entitled to a public education. In the 21st century economy, the White House said, 12 years of school is no longer enough.
For a much-smaller group, Friday’s visit by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and his wife Jill Biden offered an opportunity to hear an in-person announcement of a new advanced manufacturing hub, the country’s fifth, that will be led by the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and have Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a founding partner. That announcement at Techmer PM in Clinton was highlighted by a 3-D printed carbon fiber replica of a Shelby Cobra that the president joked about receiving for his birthday. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning will present three movie classics to the public on the three remaining Tuesdays of this month. The showings are free.
The movies will be shown at 1 p.m. in the City Room, or A-111, in the Coffey-McNally Building of the Oak Ridge campus of Roane State Community College at 701 Briarcliff Road.
The movies are “Maltese Falcon” on January 13, “Amadeus” on January 20, and “Doctor Zhivago” on January 27. [Read more…]
Roane State webmaster Jeremy Pulcifer mentors second-graders during Hour of Code at Glenwood Elementary School. (Photo by Roane State)
Learning to code teaches students more than they realize, and they have fun at the same time.
That is why the week-long Hour of Code campaign last month was a valuable experience for elementary school students in Oak Ridge.
“Kids learn best with games,” said Aleshia Wensell, K-4 technology teacher at Glenwood Elementary School. “When they can have fun with learning, they learn faster and have a deeper understanding. That’s what code does. Students are doing a process of elimination. They are doing higher thinking skills. All of this is important for their math or reading comprehension. Code helps in all aspects of their education.”
Glenwood, Linden Elementary School, Willow Brook Elementary School and Woodland Elementary School hosted activities for Hour of Code, a nationwide initiative to excite children about computer science. Code.org, a nonprofit organization that promotes computer science education, provided Hour of Code resources for educators. [Read more…]
