All posts by nova-al@nvcc.edu

Schlesinger Center

Spooktacular Sounds concert

The Alexandria NOVA Band to play Halloween concert

Halloween  

What:

Spend a night listening to frighteningly good music at the “Spooktacular Sounds in the Haunted Hall: A Halloween Concert.” The Alexandria NOVA Band will play a selection of music from various composers, including Hector Berlioz, Henry Fillmore, Michael Markowski, Giacomo Puccini, Camille Saint-Saens and Robert W. Smith.

 

The band includes both NOVA students and community members. Lisa C. Eckstein, a music instructor at NOVA-Alexandria, will direct the band. A movement piece will also be presented by NOVA students and directed by Kate Al-Shamma, assistant professor in the Communication Studies and Theatre Department at NOVA-Alexandria.

 

Attendees are encouraged to come in costume to receive special prizes. Everyone who attends will leave with trick-or-treat goodie bags.

 

When:

7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24

 

Where:

Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria Campus, Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center, 3001 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311

 

Cost:

The concert is free and open to the public. Garage parking is free.

 

Concert Contact:

Lisa C. Eckstein, music instructor and band director at NOVA-Alexandria, 703.845.6252 or leckstein@nvcc.edu

Media Contact: Jennifer Gonzalez | 703.425.5839 | jgonzalez@nvcc.edu 

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Northern Virginia Community College is the largest institution of higher education in the Commonwealth of Virginia and one of America’s largest community colleges. NOVA enrolls more than 75,000 students at its six campuses in Alexandria, Annandale, Loudoun, Manassas, Springfield and Woodbridge, and through the Extended Learning Institute. For more information about NOVA and its programs or services, call 703-323-3000 or visit the College’s website, www.nvcc.edu.

AL Campus Weekly Announcements, Student Services

Touchdown to Student Success!

Touchdown to Student Success!
Tuesday, October 29th, AA158 Faculty and Staff!  Please join us for a full day of activities to celebrate NOVA’s AtD student success policy initiatives and our passion for student achievement.

ALL DAY: KICKOFF
Faculty Success Stories in the Classroom.

AtD

Share your own success stories with your students. How did you to where you wanted to be?

11:00am-2:00pm
Hall of Fame
Stop by AA158 and do a short  “Who Inspired Me to be Successful?” video
Bag of goodies will be distributed to participants.

12:30pm-2:00pm
Student Success Stories AA158
Student Panel Discussion and Lunch

Faculty and staff are encouraged to wear their favorite football jersey shirts!

Sponsored by AL AtD campus committee.

CONTACT:

For more information please contact Dr. Frances Villagran-Glover | fvillagrangl@nvcc.edu

AL Campus Weekly Announcements, Student Services

The 2014 Power Up your Pedagogy Conference

Hello colleagues – – It is time to register!

Power Up Your Pedagogy
(PUP)

The Ninth Annual Power UP your Pedagogy (PUP) Conference is OPEN FOR REGISTRATION!  All Faculty and Professional Staff are cordially invited.

It is an online registration—Just click on this link.
http://www.nvcc.edu/faculty-and-staff/teaching-support/cetl/conference.html
And then on the Registration Tab.

PUP is an exciting, award-winning, professional development conference that brings all NOVA faculty together.  PUP is YOUR conference presented by YOUR colleagues. You will leave with amazing new insights about the best teaching practices, the best teaching tips and tricks and the very best ideas about teaching and especially about teaching at NOVA! Cluster Meetings are also part of the conference.

The 2014 PUP 21st Century Teaching & Learning

January 8th and 9th on the Annandale Campus 

Don’t miss it! 

You will get all of these features!

  • Interactive peer presentations are at the heart of the conference.  You may choose to attend a variety of sessions such as:
    • Many interactive 45-minute breakout sessions
    • Dynamic two-hour workshops
    • Topical Interest Groups
    • Three important conference addresses highlight the conference. Learn from our leaders:
      • Dr. Robert Templin will give a welcoming address to open the conference
      • Robert Bausch, the 2013 NOVA SCHEV Award winner will give us his insights on teaching.
      • And,  continuing last year’s amazing success with a second day plenary Speaker Dr. Bryan Alexander, an educational futurist.
  • Also featured  this year:
    •  an Active Backchannel to make it your own conference:  A backchannel conversation is one that occurs concurrently with the main conference and gives voice to attendees.  Each can add content to the conference, comment on it as it progresses, and share inspirations from it.  Here are the PUP backchannels:
  • PUP twitter feed #PUP14.
  • A PUP blog page on which to enter comments as replies.
  • Whiteboards for your written and drawn comments
  • Face to face conversations in the PUP lounge area.
  • A Project Poster Presentation hosted by adjunct and fulltime faculty in the Gym
  • An exhibition of Learning Spaces of the Future
  • A Vendor Fair that lets you visit with representatives of companies dedicated to supporting education in the CE Forum
  • PUP has an important commitment to sustainability.   When you register you’ll be able to choose how you want to receive your program – in a printed format, or electronically.  You’ll also be able to print your individual conference schedule through the Conference Event Planner, just as soon as the program is finalized.  We’ll let you know.  (Printed programs will only be available to those who indicated they want one during the registration process.  They won’t be available at the conference.)

Every attempt is being made to be sure that everyone, even those who only attend Cluster Meetings, receives a lunch.   The lunches are the single largest expense for PUP.  In these tight economic times, it is imperative that we have an accurate count of those who wish lunch.   The only way to count YOU is by your registration.  You must register even if you only plan to attend the Cluster meetings.

NOVA

 

Schlesinger Center

NOVA Employees Got Talent

NOVA Employees Got Talent

Notice to all NOVA employees:  Showcase your unique talent at YOUR campus!

The auditions will take place at the following locations. These auditions will be held during the time as the campus auditions for NOVA Idol. However, you will not have to wait in a long line. Just tell the coordinators that you are there to audition for the Employee contest.

Day

Campuses

Dates

Times

Location
Monday

AL

4-Nov

4-8 p.m.

 Tyler 121
Tuesday

AN

5-Nov

4-8 p.m.

 CA 302
Wednesday

MA

6-Nov

4-8 p.m.

 cafeteria
Thursday

MEC

7-Nov

4-8 p.m.

 340 J
Monday

LO

11-Nov

4-8 p.m.

 LR 115
Tuesday

WO

12-Nov

4-8 p.m.

 Theater, Room 120

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bring on all your talents of acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, drumming, martial arts, playing an instrument, unicycling, storytelling, teaching, modeling, rapping, or whatever. Bring on your unique talent!  The prizes are great!

Three finalists will be selected to perform their winning act at NOVA Idol finals in the Schlesinger Center at Alexandria Campus on Friday, 21 March 2014.

Auditionee’s will have 2-minutes to impress the judges and the audience. All acts will be recorded.

So, we invite all employees with any and all talents to bring it on!

CONTACT:

For more information and to register please contact Dr. Brenda Lewis-Holmes | blewisholme@nvcc.edu

AL Campus Weekly Announcements, Student Services

CYBERWATCH’s Second Life Island series

CYBERWATCH’s Second Life Island series

Join Professor Garnet (Prof. Margaret Leary) virtually in CyberWatch’s Second Life Island for a series of free security awareness/security topics presented by CyberWatch students. Students will present virtual information sessions on a var…iety of security topics. The series is in recognition of October, which is cyber security awareness month.

Day

Date

Time

Presenter

Series

• Tuesday

Oct. 22

1 p.m.

 Minh Ho, NOVA “Security Issues in Healthcare”

• Tuesday

Oct. 22

4 p.m.

 Robin Burkett, NOVA “Digital Photography Forensics”

• Wednesday

Oct. 23

1 p.m.

 Halie Peacher, Mississippi State University “United States’ Preparations for Cyber Security”

• Thursday

Oct. 24

2 p.m.

 Ana Martinez, Monterey Peninsula College “Social Media Safety”

• Monday

Oct. 28th

10:30 p.m.

 Norma Fleming, NOVA “Mobile Phone Security”

• Monday

Oct. 28th

2 p.m.

 Matthew  Matchen, University of Maryland University College “SSL Interception/Decryption” and “Associated Privacy Concerns.”

New users to Second Life need to visit secondlife.com to create an avatar and download the client to participate “in world” at the scheduled day and time. Presentations will be in the CyberWatch Second Life Island at CyberWatch Public Region, CyberWatch (42/31/24). From within Second Life, the Public Auditorium can be accessed at the following slurl:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/CyberWatch/42/31/24

CONTACT:

For more information please contact Professor Margaret Leary | mleary@nvcc.edu

AL Campus Weekly Announcements

Faculty Spotlight: Alex M. Purugganan

ALEX M. PURUGGANAN

ENGLISH PROFESSOR

HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL STUDIES

ALEXANDRIA CAMPUS

Website PhotoIf I think deeply enough, I can still recall my b-boy crew’s congratulatory hands slapping my back, brushing the top of my head, and pulling my arms high into the air.  I can also still feel the heavy bass of the music seeping into my bones and hear the whooping and chanting from the crowd.  Above all else, I can distinctly remember the euphoric emotion and the sense of accomplishment after completing my best and most important windmill while battling against another more accomplished break-dance crew in Los Angeles, California.

I was nine years old when I first started pop-locking and popping.  I danced at local parks, swap meets, and neighborhood parties, generating laughter from amused adults who smoked cigarettes and played cards.  One of the more respected, older neighborhood b-boys, “Flyman,” had asked me to join his crew after an impromptu afternoon battle at a park.  I was the youngest member of Flyman’s dance crew, so he took me under his b-boy wing, teaching me breakdancing moves to replace my pop-locking routines and presenting me with a new nickname, “Kid Krazy Legs,” because of the way my legs convulsed and kicked as I spun doing windmills, a dance move where movement is generated from legs twirling in the shape of a V.  In one particular battle against a rival dance crew, Flyman and I completed simultaneous windmills as a climactic touch – the oldest and youngest members of our crew leaving a lasting, and ultimately victorious, impression for the judging crowd.

Mr. P with his son
Mr. P with his son
AL Campus Weekly Announcements, Student Services

Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence/Stalking Awareness Training

As a friendly reminder, NOVA Police will be hosting Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, and Stalking Awareness training sessions on the dates and times listed below. Spaces are still available and all are encouraged to attend. On the Annandale and Alexandria campuses, we will have a guest speaker from SAVE Fairfax.  The speaker, founder of SAVE Fairfax and herself a domestic violence survivor, has helped us teach Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence in the past and has gotten great reviews.  Please e-mail me at the address below if you wish to attend this class.

Topics Include:

  • How to avoid sexual assaults, domestic violence, and stalking
  • What to do if you are a victim
  • What to do if someone you know is a victim
  • Police guidance on relevant topics (i.e., emergency protective orders, police reporting options, and more)
  • Resources in your community

Dates/Locations: (Training will be from noon – 1:30 PM)

  • Annandale – October 23, CA 317
  • Alexandria – October 24, AT 112
  • Woodbridge – October 25, WC-236
  • Loudoun – October 28, LC-315
  • Medical Education – October 29, RM 255
  • Manassas – October 30, (TBD)

Ribbon

Regards,

OFC. Tony Ong

Community Resource/Crime Prevention Officer

Police Department

Northern Virginia Community College

3001 N. Beauregard Street

Alexandria, Virginia 22311

Office: (703) 933-1850

Cell: (703) 229-2527

Tong@nvcc.edu

AL Campus Weekly Announcements, Student Services

The JUMP-START your Future Event

Attention NOVA Students!

Are you looking for ways to prepare for your future career? Attend this event to learn more about effective communication in the work place, time management, and job search to job offer strategies to help you jump-start your future!

Free lunch and (2) current/continuing NOVA students will win a $600 Scholarship!!! Register Today!

 JUMP START YOUR FUTURE CAREER EVENT FLYER FINAL FOR EMAIL

Register by Clicking HERE: 

https://docs.google.com/a/email.vccs.edu/forms/d/1An0BxlsNntzDCglLzl73z26hj39_kfkmxGrEtAaW5Z4/viewform

Questions? Contact Crystal Young: cyoung@nvcc.edu

AL Campus Weekly Announcements, Student Services

Food for Thought

A Good Read

Theory of Mind is the human capacity to comprehend that other people hold beliefs and desires and that these may differ from one’s own beliefs and desires. The currently predominant view is that literary fiction —often described as narratives that focus on in-depth portrayals of subjects’ inner feelings and thoughts—can be linked to theory of mind processes, especially those that are involved in the understanding or simulation of the affective characteristics of the subjects. Kidd and Castano (p. 377, published online 3 October) provide experimental evidence that reading passages of literary fiction, in comparison to nonfiction or popular fiction, does indeed enhance the reader’s performance on theory of mind tasks.

Taking Out the Trash

The purpose of sleep remains mysterious. Using state-of-the-art in vivo two-photon imaging to directly compare two arousal states in the same mouse, Xie et al. (p. 373; see the Perspective by Herculano-Houzel) found that metabolic waste products of neural activity were cleared out of the sleeping brain at a faster rate than during the awake state. This finding suggests a mechanistic explanation for how sleep serves a restorative function, in addition to its well-described effects on memory consolidation.