Scholarly and Creative Engagement for VCCS staff, faculty, and administration comprises activities specifically associated with the employee’s recognized area of expertise. Examples of criteria for faculty activities are listed on the Faculty Evaluation Plan > Scholarly and Creative Engagement. For staff Performance Evaluation, refer to Learning Goals on the Employee Work Profile: Learning Goals.
From the VCCS Professional Development Office
The Virginia Community College System Office of Professional Development (OPD) provides a cutting edge professional development program for faculty, staff and administrative leaders who lead and support student success efforts across Virginia’s 23 colleges, with 40 campus locations throughout the state of Virginia.
OPD aims to achieve the highest system-wide standards for excellence in professional development, providing a strategic, long-term vision and pedagogically advanced, culturally inspired, and academically rigorous programming that drives faculty and institutional excellence in Virginia’s Community Colleges.
OPD programs serve more than 2,000 full-time faculty, 9,000 adjunct faculty, and 3,000 classified staff, providing a robust, multi-faceted professional development program that supports outstanding teaching and learning; addresses the diverse needs and expectations of educators; explores the intersection of innovative technologies with classroom and student success; and resolves pressing workforce development, business and community demands. Categories of professional development offerings are listed on the VCCS Professional Development site and include:
- Awards and Scholarships
- Faculty Development
- Leadership Development
- New Horizons Conference
- Peer Groups
- Professional Development Calendar
- Webinars
The mission of the VCCS Professional Development Office is to work in partnership with our colleges to provide sustainable opportunities that enrich personal and professional growth and development in the categories of:
- Career: to improve essential alignments and transitions in the evolution of meaningful work, compelling service, and professional success
- Instructional: to increase student success through the intentional innovation and enhancement of effective teaching, learning, and assessment techniques and strategies
- Disciplinary: To increase currency, relevancy, and engagement through the expansion of knowledge and skills within the academic discipline or professional specialty
- Organizational: Advance the mission of Virginia’s community colleges by cultivating the talent and momentum of instructional and administrative leaders
- Workforce: Build foundations to compete and contribute to the global economy through career, instructional, discipline and organizational capacity building and development
Virginia Western Professional Development
Virginia Western supports all VCCS opportunities and encourages faculty and staff to enjoy these offerings by submitting a yearly application detailing the events. When funding is available, the application is available online May 5, with a deadline of May 15. The electronic application will be available on this site, with reminders and links on the Daily Bulletin.
(All applications are reviewed by deans and supervisors in each school. Approved applications are forwarded to the VWCC Professional Development Committee, VWCC VP for Academic and Student Affairs, deans, supervisors, staff, and faculty) for final confirmation. Late applications will be considered, but at a reduced rate and with respect to unused funds.
Categories in the application include the following:
VCCS Activities
VCCS activities are generally held yearly or are commonly held, such as New Horizons Conference and Peer Group Conferences, for which registration fees, lodging and meals are paid in part or full by the VCCS. These requests will be funded regardless of other requests. (VCCA and HIRE conferences are not included in this section.)
Please note that Peer Group and Work Group Conferences are usually fully funded by the VCCS. (For a full list of Peer Groups and contact/conference information, see VCCS PDC > Peer Groups.
Click here for more from the VCCS Professional Development Office.
Conferences/Training/Certifications
Examples of these are the VCCA Conference or the HIRE Conference.
Educational Assistance & Continuous Learning
Educational Assistance is financial support for approved educational courses or the acquisition of job-related degrees, professional certifications or licenses. It may be granted for a single course or combined with approved educational leave. Education assistance includes help towards the cost of tuition and mandatory fees. Educational Assistance will be for those courses taken at other institutions of higher education, including other community colleges.
The Continuous Learning Program provides a waiver of tuition and mandatory fees for up to six (6) credit hours per semester for courses offered at Virginia Western Community College provided the employee meets the terms of the promissory note. The courses must be offered and taught by Virginia Western Community College, and may be job related or non-job related, part of a degree program, or for professional development; and should have application to the college’s mission. Courses shall not be taken as a class audit and enrollment must be as a normal, graded student.
- Educational Assistance Policy (III-21)
- Continuous Learning Program Policy (III-22)
- Educational Assistance and Continuous Learning Request Form (PDF – Requires VWConnect Login)
- Educational Assistance and Continuous Learning Promissory Note (PDF)
Procedures associated with Educational Assistance and the Continuous Learning Program policies are located on VWConnect.
Professional Development Grants
Special projects that include internal (VCCS and Educational Foundation) and external funding are considered professional development opportunities, and are open to staff and faculty for a variety of opportunities.
The Grants & Special Projects Office at VWCC contains information and procedures for grant proposals.
The VCCS Professional Development Office contains information and procedures for grant proposals for the Paul Lee Professional Development Grant and the Paul Lee Mini-Workshop Grant.
The Commonwealth of Virginia Learning Center
The Commonwealth of Virginia Learning Center (COVLC) was established to meet the educational, training, and learning needs of our employees and our community. The COVLC is a resource for training, learning, and career development for our college. It provides a clear path to learning and professional development through Online Learning, Managing Virginia Program (MVP), Performance Management and Professional Development.
As an employee of VWCC, you will find a wide variety of training and developmental opportunities designed to promote your professional and personal growth.
New employee COVLC accounts are automatically established by the Department of Human Resources Management (DHRM) via an upload from the Commonwealth of Virginia HR system (i.e., Cardinal). Since employee data is loaded directly from Cardinal, the e-mail address associated with your COVLC account will be your email.vccs.edu email address. You may establish forwarding of your email.vccs.edu emails to your virginiawestern.edu e-mail address if that is the primary account you use.
Your COVLC account should be established within 2-3 business days from the date your information is entered into the Cardinal HR System by the VCCS Shared Services Center (SSC). Once your account has been created, you will receive a confirmation email with your login and temporary password. It is recommended that you change your password the first time you login to the COVLC.
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact Human Resources at hrapps@virginiawestern.edu.
COVLC Overview (YouTube)
Required Training
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