We’re excited to introduce Crystal Hall, Virginia Western’s new Get REAL Activity Coordinator, who started March 25. Crystal Hall This role is foundational to our 5-year, $1.8 million Title III project, as Crystal will lead the day-to-day grant activities and serve as a connector across college departments and the greater community to help Refocus Education on Adult Learners (REAL). So far, the Get REAL core team includes Project Director Milan Hayward and Cathy Ferguson, Virginia Western’s first Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) Specialist. Future hires will include a College Career Navigator and College Affordability Navigator. Crystal earned a Bachelor of Arts from Roanoke College, with a major in Music and minor in Religion, followed by a master’s in Christian Education from the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. She served in church and parachurch minisitries for more than 15 years before joining the Roanoke Housing Authority, where she has worked for almost nine years. During that time, she helped secure and manage a federal Jobs Plus grant and became a key community partner with the RSVP program through the College of Career & Corporate Training. What called her to work for Virginia Western? Crystal said she wants to help us… Continue Reading Please welcome our new Get REAL coordinator: Crystal HallRead More
Many of us already know Cathy Ferguson. Beyond advising students through the Career Center for the past five years, she currently chairs the Staff Senate and serves on the college Reopening Taskforce. Cathy Ferguson Last year, she was awarded a $5,000 Innovation Grant to advance the work of our Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) workgroup. If you’re unfamiliar with CPL (sometimes called PLA, or prior learning assessment), it means granting academic credit for demonstrated college-level equivalencies gained outside of the classroom. This could include CLEP tests, ACE recommendations, and PLACE portfolio development and assessment. Just this month, Cathy transitioned to a new role: She is Virginia Western’s first, full-time Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) Specialist. She plans to stay “housed” in the Career Center. This job is a critical piece of our 5-year, $1.8 million Title III grant, as it helps adult learners reduce the cost and time to attainment of a credential or degree. As Cathy noted in her Innovation Grant proposal: Research shows that adult learners, who earn CPL credits vs. their peers who don’t, have better academic outcomes. In this role, Cathy will coordinate and accelerate the continued development of Virginia Western’s CPL programs. This means directly… Continue Reading Wa-hoo! Please congratulate Cathy Ferguson on her latest adventureRead More
Just in time for spring break … or when you just need a day to hit the reset button: I’ve boiled down years of research about creative people, creative spaces, and creative habits into a simple way to plan your own creativity retreat, which you can do ASAP, in your own home, with stuff you already own. (The idea for this blog post bubbled up during my own “DIY creativity retreat” over Thanksgiving break.) Why is creativity so important? My very first grants blog post explained how innovative ideas power the best grant proposals. And last year, we learned *creativity* was the No. 1 soft skill sought by employers. This is a skill that is slippery and quite magical, but everyone can be creative. Celebrated biologist Edward O. Wilson believes our capacity for imagination and creativity is the distinguishing trait of our species — a trait that was born as we told stories around ancient campfires. Creativity is what makes us human. So you are already creative … and we can learn how to teach it as well. A creativity retreat can help us tap into our unconscious — this is the mysterious, murky space where creative connections are made, and where big ideas… Continue Reading DIY creativity retreat: Choose your own adventuresRead More
About Shelley
Shelley Lyons is glad to be back on campus as she is a Virginia Western alum, and has served as the Administrative Officer for Grants Administration at Virginia Western since early 2022. Prior to VWCC, her career focus was within the Human Services and Arts fields. She wrote her first grant in 1996 on a whim and has continued to plan and learn since that time. She most enjoys seeing a well-planned project come to fruition, where funder, project manager and beneficiaries can all feel success and see impact.
Recent Posts
- Why Try An LOI? May 10, 2024
- Grant Nerds Unite! March 12, 2024
- The Power of Collaboration November 17, 2023
- Time to Innovate October 4, 2023
- How to tackle grant season? August 14, 2023