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Thanks to Tennessee Reconnect grant, school bus driver pursuing her dream to become a teacher

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Gioconda "Gio" Duran

Gioconda “Gio” Duran

 

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

This school bus driver is hitting the books in between routes in her quest to become a teacher.

Gioconda “Gio” Duran, 44, is a Tennessee Reconnect student at Roane State Community College. Thanks to the Tennessee Reconnect grant, eligible adults can now attend Roane State tuition-free.

Duran said Tennessee Reconnect “is a big reason why I wanted to go back to school.”

Her 19-year-old son, John Duran Jr., is also enrolled with scholarships at the college’s Roane County campus. [Read more…]

Unique partnership helps Y-12 employee Chris Borum pursue a new path

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Chris Borum

Chris Borum

 

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

Chris Borum, for more than 16 years a security guard at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, said it was time for a change.

As the years passed, he worried he might not be able to meet rigorous annual physical qualifications for his job at the nuclear weapons facility.

Borum, a Kingston resident, said he wanted to stay at Y-12 and eventually retire from there, “but I wanted to leave on my own terms.”

So when a job posting for a material handler was posted on the Y-12’s Intranet, he went for it. [Read more…]

Pipe rack from TCAT-Harriman students will help Roane State chemical engineering technology students

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TCAT-Harriman students built a pipe rack that will be used in Roane State’s new chemical engineering technology program. The pipe rack, located in the flex lab at the college’s Oak Ridge campus, will allow students to study how to regulate flow and pressure. From left are instructor Adam Dalton, Roane State President Chris Whaley, TCAT-Harriman President Danice Turpin, Roane State new chemical engineering technology program director Laura Hofman, Roane State dean Markus Pomper, and TCAT students Orion Mount and Lucas Grizzard. (Photo by RSCC)

TCAT-Harriman students built a pipe rack that will be used in Roane State’s new chemical engineering technology program. The pipe rack, located in the flex lab at the college’s Oak Ridge campus, will allow students to study how to regulate flow and pressure. From left are instructor Adam Dalton, Roane State President Chris Whaley, TCAT-Harriman President Danice Turpin, Roane State new chemical engineering technology program director Laura Hofman, Roane State dean Markus Pomper, and TCAT students Orion Mount and Lucas Grizzard. (Photo by RSCC)

 

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

Students in the Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Harriman built equipment to help train students taking Roane State’s chemical engineering technology courses.

They’ve made a pipe rack to be used as part of the program. With the pipe rack, “students will be able to set up elements of chemical processing equipment such as pumps, valves, pressure gauges and regulators, and observe how the equipment can be used to regulate flow and pressure,” said Markus Pomper, dean of Roane State’s Division of Mathematics and Science.

Established with the assistance of UCOR, CNS, Tate and Lyle, and additional partners, Roane State’s chemical engineering technology program trains students to work as chemical operators. A chemical operator monitors, controls, and troubleshoots automated chemical processes. [Read more…]

Learn about Roane State’s new Chemical Engineering Technology program

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Roane State Community College students taking chemical engineering technology course practice in the lab at the college’s Oak Ridge campus. An information session about the new program will be held on Thursday, March 28, 2019, from 5:30-7:00 p.m. at the Oak Ridge campus at 701 Briarcliff Ave. (Submitted photo)

Roane State Community College students taking chemical engineering technology course practice in the lab at the college’s Oak Ridge campus. An information session about the new program will be held on Thursday, March 28, 2019, from 5:30-7:00 p.m. at the Oak Ridge campus at 701 Briarcliff Ave. (Submitted photo)

 

An information session about Roane State Community College’s new two-year Associate of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering Technology will be held on Thursday, March 28, from 5:30-7 p.m. at the college’s Oak Ridge campus, which is at 701 Briarcliff Avenue.

Check-in will be held in the lobby of the Goff Health Sciences and Technology Building. The event is free and open to the public, a press release said.

Established with the assistance of UCOR, CNS, Tate and Lyle, and additional partners, Roane State’s chemical engineering technology program trains students to work as chemical operators. A chemical operator monitors, controls, and troubleshoots automated chemical processes. [Read more…]

Hofman leads Roane State’s new chemical engineering technology program

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Laura A. Hofman

Laura A. Hofman

 

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

Laura A. Hofman had been on the job for just over one month, and the phone in her office was ringing off the hook.

She oversees Roane State Community College’s new two-year Associate of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering Technology. Prospective students are inquiring about the new program, which the Tennessee Board of Regents approved in December.

An information session about the new program will be held on Thursday, March 28, from 5:30-7 p.m. at the college’s Oak Ridge campus, 701 Briarcliff Avenue. Check-in will be held in the lobby of the Goff Health Sciences and Technology Building. [Read more…]

Roane State’s Ralph Monday to host poetry reading March 13, Oak Ridge campus

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Ralph Monday

Ralph Monday

 

Roane State Community College English Professor Ralph Monday, who has had hundreds of his poems published in more than 100 journals, will hold a poetry reading on March 13 on the college’s Oak Ridge campus at 701 Briarcliff Avenue.

The event will be held at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13, in the City Room of the Coffey-McNally Building. The public is invited, a press release said.

Monday is originally from Clairfield, Tennessee, a small Appalachian town on the Kentucky border.

He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Tennessee, and obtained his doctorate from Northcentral University, the press release said.

Among his published works: a chapbook, “All American Girls and Other Poems,” was published in July 2014, and Aldrich Press published his book, “Empty Houses and American Renditions,” in May 2015. [Read more…]

Book sale at Roane State in Oak Ridge on Feb. 25-26

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Roane-State-Coffey-Library

The Coffey Library at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photo by RSCC)

 

The Coffey Library at Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus will host its annual “Love Your Library” book sale on Monday, February 25, and Tuesday, February 26, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

The sale will include fiction, non-fiction, hardback books, paperbacks, textbooks, cookbooks, foreign language, children’s books, craft books, and much more, a press release said. Only cash and checks will be accepted. Checks need to be payable to the Roane State Foundation. Prices range from $1-3. [Read more…]

ORICL provides scholarships for five Roane State students

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ORICL board president Priscilla McKenney, right, congratulates scholarship recipients Sara Nesbitt, left, and Jessica Osborn. Not pictured are additional ORICL scholarship recipients Candice Day, Gage Dotson, and Ivorie Hicks. (Photo courtesy Roane State)

ORICL board president Priscilla McKenney, right, congratulates scholarship recipients Sara Nesbitt, left, and Jessica Osborn. Not pictured are additional ORICL scholarship recipients Candice Day, Gage Dotson, and Ivorie Hicks. (Photo courtesy Roane State)

 

Five Roane State Community College students received scholarships through the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning, or ORICL.

Roane State and ORICL have a partnership that spans two decades. Established in 1997, ORICL offers dozens of enrichment courses for its members in classrooms provided at Roane State’s Oak Ridge campus.

In addition, ORICL has established multiple scholarships supported by its members.

  • The John Million Scholarship, supported by a $5,000 annual donation by ORICL members.
  • The ORICL Scholarship Endowment, established in 2002 in celebration of ORICL’s fifth anniversary.
  • The Bob Jones Memorial Scholarship, established through memorial donations received by the Roane State Foundation in honor of the longtime ORICL member Bob Jones, who passed away in 2012.

[Read more…]

Oak Ridge firefighter named Roane State Paramedic Student of the Year

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Roane State paramedic program director David Blevins, left, and Dr. Todd Heffern with TEAMHealth, right, congratulate Brandon Payne of Oak Ridge, Roane State’s Paramedic Student of the Year. (Submitted photo)

Roane State paramedic program director David Blevins, left, and Dr. Todd Heffern with TEAMHealth, right, congratulate Brandon Payne of Oak Ridge, Roane State’s Paramedic Student of the Year. (Submitted photo)

 

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

An Oak Ridge Fire Department captain has been elected by his peers as Roane State Community College’s Paramedic Student of the Year.

Brandon Payne, 40, an Oak Ridge firefighter since 2007, received the tribute during a luncheon last year that continues a longstanding tradition of honoring graduating paramedic students.

TEAMHealth, a hospital staffing firm based in Knoxville, sponsored the luncheon for paramedic students who were in the spring semester cohort.

“It was challenging,” Payne said of the three-semester program to obtain certification as a paramedic. “There was a lot of information in a short amount of time.” [Read more…]

Roane State to offer extended business hours

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Roane State Community College will offer extended business hours to help students get ready for the spring semester.

  • Friday, January 4: Business hours offered at all campuses, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. local time
  • Monday January 7- Thursday January 10: Business hours offered at all campuses, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. local time
  • Friday, January 11: Campuses on normal Friday schedule.
  • Monday January 14- Thursday January 17: Business hours offered at all campuses, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. local time
  • Friday, January 18: Campuses on normal Friday schedule.

Spring classes begin January 14.

Roane State campuses will be closed Dec. 18-Jan.1 for holidays

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Roane State Community College campuses will be closed Tuesday, December 18 through Tuesday, January 1 for the holidays.

The college will reopen Wednesday, January 2, and spring classes will begin on Monday, January 14.

Registration and other self-service options are available through the Roane State website at www.roanestate.edu.

For more information, visit www.roanestate.edu or call 1-866-GO2-RSCC (1-866-462-7722).

Cybersecurity expert to lecture at Roane State in Oak Ridge on Oct. 19

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Adam Keown, cybersecurity expert for the Tennessee Valley Authority, will speak on Friday, October 19, at 10 a.m. at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge.

Keown’s talk, “Enterprise Cybersecurity: Organization, Job Roles, and Information Security,” will be held in Room 104 of the Goff building. Anyone is welcome to attend, a press release said.

Keown has been a program manager in the TVA Cybersecurity Risk Management team since 2016. In his role, he is responsible for understanding cybersecurity risk at TVA and communicating risk issues to leadership and TVA business units, the press release said. [Read more…]

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