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(October 4, 2011)
UNC@Work, October 2011 issue
UNC@Work:
The University of North Carolina:
A 17 member system of engaged campuses
October 2011
Issue 4
@work on the economy:
WSSU Celebrates the Official Opening of the Enterprise Center
At WSSU, start-up businesses are settling in to a new home, nearby residents are congregating for educational programs and neighborhood association meetings, and health science students are honing their skills in a state-of-the-art simulation lab. All of this activity is possible thanks to the newly opened Enterprise Center, an initiative of WSSU’s S.G. Atkins Community Development Corporation. The 11,000 square foot center is a multi-purpose community hub: it features a business incubator, community education facilities, and 3,400 square feet of lab space and hospital-simulation facilities for WSSU School of Health Sciences students.
The new center provides start-up firms and emerging businesses with affordable office space plus a comprehensive array of support services from business professionals and organizations, including faculty from WSSU, Wake Forest University, Forsyth Technical Community College and other area schools. MBA students from Winston-Salem State are working with the center to help tenants create or update business plans, which also provides students with real-world experience to compliment their classroom studies. The center also provides free seminars for businesses and individuals in the community.
The center focuses on green businesses, practices being green with its own operations, and offers seminars to promote sustainability. One of the initial tenants, Volt Energy, installed solar panels on the roof of the center. North Carolina A&T State University Center for Energy Research and Technology performed an energy audit, measuring the anticipated energy savings from installation of efficient HVAC and efficient lighting.
The center will also serve as an anchor for the development of the MLK Drive corridor. The development plan created collaboratively by the Atkins CDC and local community leaders positions this multi-story, centrally-located space as a community and economic hub that will help foster further economic development in the area.
The center’s opening--officially celebrated September 30th--comes as an exciting milestone in a long journey. Formerly the home of the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club, the building was once a vibrant center of activity. After the Boys and Girls Club moved to a new location, the facility stood vacant for years, and might have ultimately been condemned without the vision of WSSU and its community partners.
“There is nothing like this in Winston-Salem,” said Carol Davis, executive director of the S.G. Atkins Community Development Corporation. “The need has been widely recognized, and response has been amazing from other educational institutions and groups focused on economic development and entrepreneurial support.”
The Atkins CDC staff has relocated to the center from its downtown offices and has been joined by staff members from The Center for Entrepreneurship in the WSSU School of Business and Economics. Other partners include Forsyth Tech Small Business Center, Wake Forest Community Law and Business Clinic, North Carolina Central University, Microenterprise Loan Program, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, Winston-Salem Black Chamber of Commerce and the City of Winston-Salem.
Leading-edge learning center
Beyond the business incubator, the first floor of The Enterprise Center will serve as a multi-purpose community learning center. The WSSU School of Health Sciences will fill its new 3,400 square-foot space with a state-of-the-art simulation lab and virtual hospital. The former gym is being transformed into a high-tech conference center that is already being viewed as an ideal venue for community and university functions.
“This is a carefully planned and well-appointed facility that will serve the community in many ways, both immediately and long term,” said Davis.
“Here, new and emerging businesses are being nurtured. Jobs are being created. Free educational seminars are being provided for neighborhood residents and businesses across the community. Neighborhood association meetings are held here. In its first year, a community garden produced almost 2,000 pounds of fresh produce – most of which was donated to local food banks – while providing opportunities to demonstrate effective growing practices and emphasize the importance of healthy eating.”
The CDC plans to continue and expand all of these activities as well as acquiring vacant houses in the neighborhood to help provide more affordable housing opportunities in this area.
Learning About a Library of Exercise Resources at UNCA
UNC Asheville and Appalachian State University have developed a new kind of library to get the lessons of physical education – with some health, anatomy, team building, leadership and physics too – out to the people of western North Carolina. Through the Physical Activity Resource Lending Library, local schools, camps, churches, and county recreation departments have access to the equipment and materials that they need to create powerful and engaging physical activity programs-- at no cost.
The Physical Activity Resource Lending Library, a program offered by the Be Active-Appalachian State Partnership and UNC Asheville’s NC Center for Health and Wellness, loans physical activity resources and equipment to organizations in Western North Carolina. This summer, UNC Asheville hosted a training session on the Library’s many resources. The session drew more than 50 physical education teachers, camp directors, heads of county recreation departments, and other participants looking for ways to stretch their own offerings despite rigid budgets.
During the training, the group got a hands-on (or sometimes feet-on) introduction to the library’s physical activity items, all of which are available for use at no cost for interested schools and other facilities. The Library’s catalogue of equipment and gear includes more than 25 items, from yoga cards to archery kits. There’s even a skate pack, complete with helmets, pads and skateboards for elementary and middle school students. Many of the offerings focus not only on physical activity, but also on team building skills.
Sara Monson, a teacher at Asheville Middle School said, “The equipment has been a hit for the most part--the kids even called class fun! Most of the students really enjoyed working together and actually learned something through different teaching tools.”
Similar trainings will be offered throughout the year. UNCA’s trainings on the Lending Library provide more than just an introduction to the library’s collection; they also offer instruction for classroom teachers on how to integrate physical activity during the school day. Attendees learn about equipment use in classrooms and Physical Education classes, and get ideas on tying physical education activities into content area lesson plans. Trainings conclude with a demonstration of Fitnessgram, a health and fitness assessment free to all schools through the North Carolina Alliance for Athletics, Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.
The North Carolina Center for Health & Wellness (NCCHW) offers this training as part of its efforts to combat childhood obesity throughout North Carolina. According to the 2009 Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance Survey, 15.9% of children age 2-4 in the state were overweight in 2009 (having a BMI in the 85-95th percentile), and 15.2% of children were obese (having a BMI in the 95th percentile). As with adults, the number of children ages 2-4 who are overweight or obese has been growing steadily over the last 20 years.
Laurie Stradley, the director of state and community collaboration for NCCHW said of the training, "Equipment for physical activity and physical education is expensive, especially if it's only needed for a month or two each year. The Be Active-Appalachian Partnership is filling a great need by creating this library. Thousands of kids in Western North Carolina will have more opportunities to be active thanks to Susan Tumbleston, her staff and her funders."
The Be Active-Appalachian Partnership and NCCHW at UNC Asheville are both Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation grant recipients. The NCCHW, a new center on UNC Asheville’s campus, aims to become a state hub for the promotion of healthy living initiatives. The center recently received the second installment of a grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation to continue its work on childhood obesity, worksite wellness, and healthy aging.
For more information about the North Carolina Center for Health & Wellness, go to ncchw.unca.edu.
Story adapted from the North Carolina Center for Health and Wellness’ website: http://ncchw.unca.edu/
Needy Senegalese children are getting 800,000 brand-new, high-quality textbooks thanks to a program jointly run by Elizabeth City State University (ECSU), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Senegalese Ministry of Education. The ECSU-Senegal Textbooks and Learning Materials (TLM) Program, now in its 6th year, aims to help the Senegalese Ministry of Education identify and develop new learning materials for the country’s public schools, with the leadership of ECSU faculty and staff.
ECSU was selected by USAID in 2005 as one of six minority-serving institutions in the US to participate in the Textbook and Learning Materials (TLM) program, and since then, the program has become the premier initiative of ECSU’s African Studies Program. ECSU faculty and staff work with Senegalese partners to create materials, build in-country partnerships, publish the textbooks, and train teachers in Senegal. Rather than leaving the Ministry of Education to rely on imported materials and curricula that can be out of sync with Senegalese culture and the Ministry’s educational goals, the TLM program emphasizes a collaborative process that involves Senegalese educators at every stage.
African scholars, educators, teachers, and students led the development of each book, from the selecting the book’s subject, title, and grade level to shaping the content of many chapters and units. This development process followed a comprehensive in-country assessment of Senegal’s educational needs. The books are consistent with Senegal’s National Curriculum; they promote gender equity, and address issues of local concern like HIV-AIDS and malaria. The books were printed in Senegal, in French.
Almost half of the 800,000 books are aimed at middle-school students, with a curriculum (“The Project of Life”) that helps students identify and sharpen career goals. Other textbooks, on history and geography (for 10th graders) and earth and life science (for 8th graders), provide updated and high-quality material in more traditional fields.
Dr. Abdou Sene, Program Director for the ECSU-Senegal TLM Program, reflects, “This collaboration has been strengthened by mutual respect and a spirit of teamwork on both side, a commitment of excellence in the production of books, a commitment to provide increased access to books by more students and a commitment to improve the quality of education for the school students in Senegal, as well as provide additional training for teachers.”
The TLM program includes training along with textbook development, for everyone from teachers to printing technicians. The process, Dr. Sene notes, helps build critical thinking, writing skills, and important cross-agency connections, and fueled economic development by creating jobs and improved technical skills.
“These joint venture efforts have resulted in a lot of capacity-building within Senegal,” he said.
Most rewarding of all, the ECSU-Senegal TLM program has brought about increased access to textbooks for millions of school students who did not have prior access. Prior to the TLM program, the ratio of available students to available textbooks was as high as 25 or even 50 to one. The ECSU-Senegal TLM program has reduced the ratio for mathematics and science books to one book per student.
Since the start of the ECSU-Senegal TLM Program, more than five million books have been printed and distributed in Senegal, and several hundred Senegalese teachers, principals, superintendents, and other educators have gotten valuable training and professional development through the program.
Thanks to Dr. Abdou Sene for contributions to this story.
Even in tough economic times, people with a college degree are much less likely to be unemployed than people without one. In North Carolina, the unemployment rate for people with a bachelor’s degree or higher is 4.2%; the unemployment rate for people with a high school diploma only is 12.0%.