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2008 SESSION

088820576
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 449
Offered February 21, 2008
Commending the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center on the occasion of its 10th anniversary.
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Patrons-- Johnson, Carrico, Armstrong, Bowling, Crockett-Stark, Griffith, Hall, Jones, S.C., Kilgore, Moran, Nutter, Phillips, Shuler and Valentine; Senators: Puckett and Wampler
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WHEREAS, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center will celebrate a decade of outstanding service to the citizens of the Commonwealth in 2008; and

WHEREAS, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center opened its doors to the public in January 1998, and to commemorate the auspicious occasion, Governor George Allen hung a banner across the portico of the Capitol declaring that “Southwest Virginia Is Open for Business”; and

WHEREAS, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center was the first collaborative higher education center in the Commonwealth and has served as an exemplary model for other higher education centers in Virginia, as well as for centers in six other states; and

WHEREAS, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center has served as a catalyst for workforce development in the areas of information technology, specialized health care careers, and business, and as the creation of numerous master’s degree and doctoral programs in education; and

WHEREAS, since 1998, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center has graduated more than 1,500 students from 10 institutions of higher education and offered students more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate courses; and

WHEREAS, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center has provided higher education opportunities for citizens in 14 counties of Southwest Virginia where less than five percent of the adult population has earned a baccalaureate degree; and

WHEREAS, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center has promoted the globalization of regional businesses and higher education institutions through trade promotion programs, workshops, and study abroad courses for faculty and students; and

WHEREAS, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center has provided an average of 150 noncredit enrichment courses annually for adults through its College for Older Adults (COA) and Weekend Adult Lifetime Learning (WALL) programs; and

WHEREAS, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, in partnership with regional businesses, universities, and school divisions, has sponsored an annual Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) conference for sixth grade girls from Russell, Smyth, and Washington Counties, and the City of Bristol; and

WHEREAS, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center administers the Virginia Tobacco Scholarship Program for Southwest and Southside Virginia students who enroll in baccalaureate colleges and universities; and

WHEREAS, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center has provided the technology infrastructure and staff that support virtual learning environments for the A. Linwood Holton Governor’s School and the Southwest Virginia Education and Training Network, both of which provide advanced courses to high school and college students across the 14-county region; and

WHEREAS, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center has hosted over l2,000 special events and conferences in its facility, including inaugural dinners for two Virginia governors and an event for the 42nd President of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center has received numerous awards of excellence including the Regional Innovator of the Year Award from the Southern Growth Policies Board and the High Tech Award from the Southwest Virginia Technology Council; and

WHEREAS, the board of trustees of the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center has provided guidance, support, and innovative leadership so that the center may achieve its mission of educating the current and future workforce of Southwest Virginia; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly commend and congratulate the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center on its decade of outstanding service to the citizens of the Commonwealth; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center as an expression of the General Assembly’s gratitude to the center for its commitment to excellence in education for all Virginians.