Today’s topic is a strategic plan update (and warning: it’s a bit lengthy). As you know, over the spring semester, a cross-section of faculty and staff have been working with our consultants at HCM Strategists on drafting goals for each of our strategic focus areas: Access, Retention, Completion, Transfer and Employment. These areas align with … Continued
Today’s topic is NOVA’s Giving Day. For the second year, the NOVA Educational Foundation is sponsoring Giving Day, and this year, proceeds from this event on April 20 will support the new Student Success Fund. This fund is designated to meet the “life happens” emergency needs that too often derail our students’ paths to their … Continued
Today’s topic is haiku! April is both National Poetry and National Community College Month, so as regular readers know, this convergence can only mean one thing: a call for haiku! As a reminder, haiku is a traditional Japanese poetic form with three lines. In English, the haiku convention for these lines is typically 5 syllables, … Continued
Today’s topic is Chancellor Doré’s visit to NOVA. I hope you had the chance on Monday to hear Chancellor Doré’s first day welcome in which he shared his collaborative and student-centered vision for how we can work together across the VCCS to continue to move Virginia forward. As he noted in his remarks and in … Continued
Today’s topic is NOVA’s values. Early this year, colleagues from across NOVA volunteered to provide definitions for our recently selected values: care, excellence, inclusion, integrity and respect. Their aim was to identify how these values would and could be recognized in practice at our college. These NOVA value statements capture the importance of each value … Continued
Today’s topic is a reminder about the opportunity to share your thoughts with new Virginia Community College System Chancellor Dr. David Doré. As you may know, the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is comprised of 23 individual colleges, including NOVA, that span the Commonwealth. It is led by a chancellor, and the Virginia State Board … Continued
Today’s topic is gratitude. My Chief of Staff Tykesha Myrick kindly and quite unexpectedly put a note in Thursday’s Daily Flyer sharing that it was a milestone birthday for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who sent such kind, gracious and wonderful greetings in response to her invitation. Like everyone, my life’s … Continued
Today’s topic is the OneNOVA Student Success Fund. In March 2020, in the first weeks of the pandemic, the NOVA Educational Foundation launched a student emergency grant fund to support our Nighthawks in need. Hundreds of students applied for these one-time grants, which were a lifeline for those whose entire lives—including employment–had just been upended. … Continued
Today’s topic is an update on the VCCS legislative agenda: Hire Virginia. At this point, Virginia has three working budget proposals, reflecting the priorities of Governor Youngkin, the House of Delegates and the Senate. While VCCS has received funding for its Hire Virginia agenda in all three, the amounts vary as do the requirements and … Continued
This week’s topic is nominations for NOVA’s annual S.E.A.L. Awards. Each year, NOVA recognizes our Nighthawks’ achievement in service, engagement, academics and leadership with the S.E.A.L. Awards. These honors are celebrated at a wonderful annual dinner that brings together our students, their families and our faculty and staff. The evening is powered by the joy … Continued
