Vol State

The Robert and Lucy White Hudgins Memorial Scholarship was established by Bill Hudgins to provide tuition for a female Health Sciences or Nursing major at Volunteer State Community College.  This year’s recipient is LaTisha Hill of Gallatin. LaTisha is enrolled in the inaugural class of nursing students at Vol State in Gallatin. Pictured left to right: Karen Mitchell, vice president for Resource Development; LaTisha Hill; and Bill Hudgins, scholarship donor. The Volunteer State College Foundation awards thousands of dollars in scholarships each year.

The Volunteer State Community College Fall Graduate Awards have been announced. Congratulations to the winners.

College student food insecurity has been identified as a major problem in the United States. A 2019 Temple University report said that 48 percent of community college students nationwide are food insecure. That means they lack reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable food. For #GivingTuesday, December 3, the Volunteer State College Foundation is raising funds to support the Vol State Feed student food bank.

Volunteer State Community College students will celebrate the season with two nights of Christmas favorites. “Christmas Past and Present” will feature several groups from the Performing Arts Department: the Commercial Music Ensemble, the Jazz Music Ensemble, and the Vol State Showstoppers. The concerts also mark the release of a CD of Vol State student work. This year’s CD will be on sale at the shows.

The holidays can get busy and so people considering taking college classes this spring are encouraged to apply now. Spring classes at Volunteer State Community College start on January 21. There are hundreds of courses to choose from in six major divisions: Business and Technology; Health Sciences; Math and Science; Humanities, Nursing; and Social Science and Education. Classes are held in the day and evening in traditional classroom formats. The college also offers hundreds of online classes each semester.

The North Central P-16 Council recently announced the 2019 BEST (Businesses Empowering Students and Teachers) Award winners. The BEST Award celebrates the accomplishments of community leaders, business owners, and entrepreneurs. It recognizes those who share knowledge and expertise, advocate, and foster student success in pre-K through postsecondary education. The P-16 Council is made up of area secondary school educators, higher education leaders and business people. It is led by Volunteer State Community College.

Middle Tennessee State University signed an agreement Tuesday (Oct. 22) to extend the “MTSU Promise” to Volunteer State Community College, the sixth such pathway established for students with associate degrees to move seamlessly to the four-year university.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and Vol State President Jerry Faulkner signed the documents at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel, where MTSU was holding a True Blue Tour event to recruit prospective students and also court high school counselors and community college staff.

The Warf Math and Science Building at Volunteer State Community College has undergone a $6 million renovation and today students, faculty, staff, and donors gathered to celebrate the completion. Members of the public, construction managers, architects, and designers joined the crowd. The renovation provides more than 9000 square feet of additional space. It includes a new Mechatronics lab, two new science labs, student study areas, and more than 30 faculty offices. Pictured: the ribbon cutting.

The Virginia cybersecurity company Risk Based Security reports that there were 3,800 publicly reported security breaches in the first half of 2019, a 54 percent increase over last year. Cybersecurity is a top priority for businesses and a fast-growing profession for students to consider. On October 29, the Computer Information Technology (CIT) program at Volunteer State Community College will host a Cybersecurity Seminar.