Around Campus

VSU breaks ground on 458-bed residence hall

Virginia State University has broken ground on a $20 million, 458-bed residence hall expected to be completed by fall 2010.

The Quad Phase I will include two three-story buildings connected by a lobby that will empty onto a courtyard.

It is the first of two projects that eventually will consist of four, L-shaped residence halls and cover the area now occupied by Howard Hall. That residence hall will be demolished in Phase II to complete the quad concept.

The Quad Phase I, which will include oneand two-bedroom units, is the second suite-style residence hall at VSU. The 500-bed Gateway opened in fall 2008.

The projects are part of the university's goal of increasing on-campus housing to accommodate enrollment growth.

11 to graduate Pamplin faculty-training effort

Virginia Tech's Pamplin College of Business on Friday graduated its second group of participants in a program designed to alleviate a national shortage of faculty at business schools.

The college is one of four U.S. business schools that last year began postdoctoral "bridge-to-business" programs approved by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the accrediting organization for business schools.

The programs are designed to prepare people with doctorates in nonbusiness but related disciplines for faculty positions at business schools.

Most of the 11 people who participated in this summer's eight-week program at Pamplin are faculty members at various institutions.

Awards and honors

Kristina Green, director of J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College Opticianry Program, has been named one of the year's "Most Influential Women in Optical" by the optical-industries news trade publication Vision Monday. . . . Kent Perdue, who graduated from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in May, has been awarded a Windgate Fellowship. The $15,000 award by the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design is considered the top award for students in the field. . . . Katherine Bagley of Midlothian, a June graduate of Washington and Lee University, has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to teach English in Germany. . . . James Madison University seniors Rachel Bruton, Meredith Rauh and Brandon Sockwell won first place in the Americas region in the 2009 Google Online Marketing Challenge, an international search-engine marketing competition. The marketing students placed second globally, beating 2,100 teams from 57 countries.

Karin Kapsidelis reports on higher education. Contact her at (804) 649-6119 or .