Fifty years ago Virginia Western Community College debuted as the first two-year school in the Commonwealth, when some 1000 students first walked through the doors of the campus on Colonial Avenue.
Fast forward to 2016 and twelve thousand-plus people – right out of high school or older adults – now attend VWCC. That’s meant physical growth on the campus and more is on the way beginning this fall.
But first, Virginia Western honored the past recently by unveiling photo portraits of the four men who have been president of the school to date. Current president Dr. Robert “Bobby” Sandel welcomed his immediate predecessor Dr. Charles Downs back to campus for the unveiling, and Sandel also talked about future plans.
Downs led VWCC for 20 years; Sandel has now been on the job for 15. “It’s been an exciting time [and] has flown by,” said Sandel, who came from Mountain Empire Community College in the far southwest coalfields to take the position in Roanoke.
“We’ve seen significant growth and have had significant impact on this region,” said Sandel. About a third of Virginia Western graduates he said, transfer to a four year college. For many it is a seamless transfer said Sandel, with articulation agreements in place that guarantee a spot for students provided they meet certain academic criteria.
The bulk of students taking classes at Western, however, are there to sharpen their workforce skills or taking classes for specific training needs. “That’s our main mission – I’m the guy who gets hit every day by business and industry about filling the skills gap [for] those jobs that need to be filled. That’s what our main mission is, to fill the workforce needs of our region. We work very hard to do that.”
Sandel lauded the full time and adjunct instructors that teach the students: “They make it happen.” Workforce training and having the right curriculum in place to meet the local workforce needs has become a mantra of sorts for Sandel, who also pointed out that the school’s Mechatronics program, a marriage of the mechanical and the computerized world, impressed Eldor Corporation and Deschutes Brewery during tours and was one reason both companies have decided to build plants in the Roanoke Valley. “We are an economic driver,” Sandel declared.
More change is on the way: beginning this fall a $60 million dollar construction project gets underway, centered around a new $30 million dollar-plus “STEM” building (science, technology, engineering and math) that will rise in the vast student parking lot on Colonial Avenue.
“All of this money is in place,” Sandel noted. To compensate for the loss of 300-plus parking spaces a garage with 500-plus spaces ($18 million) will be built. Sandel also said he envisions most of that student parking lot being covered by new buildings at some point in the future; to that end the parking deck is being designed so it can be expanded as necessary down the road.
In addition, the space that houses the Culinary Arts program in downtown Roanoke on Henry Street will also be doubled in size, a $6 million dollar project on its own. “That’s a program that has exceeded our expectations,” said Sandel, who added that twenty full scholarships are donated annually for students needing help. New workshop and seminar rooms will be designed so they can offer public classes.
To top it all off, Colonial Avenue will also be streetscaped – courtesy of Roanoke City to provide a “first class entrance” from Overland Road. “We have the people and a great institution,” said Sandel.
By Gene Marrano