Dear Ferrum Friends,

Welcome to the beginning of the fall, 2006 semester at Ferrum College! We hope that as you “click” through this issue you will feel the same tremendous sense of excitement and enthusiasm that all of us on campus are experiencing.

Ferrum College Anticipating Continued Surge in Enrollment
Building off the success of last year’s incoming class of 400, which was the highest in 15 years, Ferrum is poised to top that class this year by 50-75 students. That would make the incoming class of 2006 the largest at Ferrum since the 1980’s. Total enrollment at Ferrum will likely grow to over 1,000 students for the first time in 10 years.

Gilda Woods, Director of Admissions said, “The large increase in this incoming class was fueled by a surge in applications that total over 1900, which is 400 more than last year. The word about Ferrum is getting out and we are very pleased with our progress.”

While some athletes are already hard at work on campus, new students will not arrive until September 1st. After orientation they will be officially part of the Ferrum fold with the traditional Ceremony of Initiation and Affirmation at 2:00 p.m. on September 4th. Read more here...

Summer Brings Special Excursions and Events For Ferrum Faculty
This summer held some exciting excursions and opportunities for Ferrum's faculty. Here is just a sample:

Dan Caston has spent the summer planning for exciting changes and updates to the Ferrum Outdoors program. Check out the new website and watch for more exciting developments.

Pete Crow returned from a week of debris removal at Ocean Springs, Mississippi, with a group of 42 people representing the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia (14 adults, 28 youth). In Crow's own words: "We worked on a wooded peninsula that was covered with the remains of nearby homes, most of which had been completely washed off their foundations. By the end of the week, we had an area the size of a quarter of a football field stacked with debris 8 feet high, and the peninsula was almost clear. ...Beth and I can definitely relate now to the stories Ferrum students told at the Civility Summit of their relief work along the Gulf coast."

Cy Dillon received a grant from the Appalachian College Association (ACA) to help pay for a retreat with the Dean and Associate Deans to discuss the role of information and technology literacy in Ferrum's curriculum. On the same topic, Dillon was chosen to present a program on the Ferrum Information Mastery Program at the ACA Summit this fall. He was also recently named library representative to the ACA Technology Council. Eclectica published two of Dillon's poems in the July/August edition. Dillon has been appointed both Chair of the Nominations Committee and a member of the Executive Director Search Committee for the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. Virginia Libraries, now listed in the international Directory of Open Access Journals, is accessed more that 250,000 times per year through the Virginia Tech Digital Library and Archives.

Tina Hanlon was a speaker at the Appalachian College Association workshop on The Folk School Concept in Appalachia at The Highlander Center, New Market, TN. Hanlon's presentation was on "May Justus and James Still: Appalachian Authors Serving Children and the Community." On June 8, 2006, Hanlon chaired the session she organized, "Transforming Children's Awareness of Regional Culture and Literature" at the annual conference of the Children's Literature Association International, at Manhattan Beach, CA. Hanlon consulted this summer (reviewing manuscripts) for University of Tennessee Press, University Press of Kentucky, and Children and Libraries. Hanlon had the following publications come out this summer: Biography of Richard Chase: "Chase, Richard Thomas" in the Dictionary of Virginia Biography, vol. 3 from the Library of Virginia; and an article, "China Students Learn about Jack Tales" in The Franklin News-Post (Reprinted in AppLit with headline " Chinese Students Learn Jack Tales").

Daryl Nash, with two Ferrum College Agriculture majors, Ashley Pitsenbarger and Tim Shipe, and a Ferrum alumnus, Rev. Derek Ritenour '06, attended the 2006 Joint Annual Meeting of the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) and the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) in Minneapolis, MN. During the Scientific Program portion of the 2006 ADSA/ASAS meetings, Nash chaired a session titled “Dairy Breeding” in which 11 talks were presented relating to current dairy cattle genetics research. In addition, Derek Ritenour, a 2006 Ferrum College graduate, presented the results of his senior seminar research in a talk titled “Comparing vocational agriculture and non-vocational agriculture student success on high stakes testing”. Derek’s talk was part of a session titled “Teaching/ Undergraduate and Graduate Education” (linked here as a PDF) and chaired by Dr. Linda Martin, Assistant Dean for Academic Programs of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University. After Derek’s talk, Dr. Martin impressed upon the audience that Derek was a recently matriculated college student presenting the results of his undergraduate research. Very few presentations are given at this scientific meeting by undergraduates.

Christine Stinson was h onored with full scholarship from the Appalachian College Association (ACA) to attend 4-week leadership training at the HERS Bryn Mawr Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration. Stinson was selected (along with Dave Johnson) to attend the National Endowment for the Humanities 3-week seminar on environmental history "Going Global: Environmental History and the Exchange of Animals, Plants, and Ideas." Stinson attended the ANGEL User Conference 2006 in Louisville, KY to help prepare for Ferrum's switch from WebCT to ANGEL.With her co-authors, Stinson presented co-authored papers at two conferences: The 31st National Institute on Social Work and Human Services in Rural Areas in Bowling Green, Kentucky and The First North American Conference on Spirituality and Social Work in Waterloo, Canada. Stinson was asked to join the Accreditation Standards, Objectives, and Institutional Reporting advisory panel for ANGEL Learning Management Systems.

Dan Woods spent much of his summer as part of the core faculty (with Pete Crow and Susan Mead) for our NEH Summer Institute. Woods also delivered paper at the Regent University School of Divinity. Woods spent several days researching in North Carolina archives and logged many hiking miles in various parts of the Appalachian Mountains.He is currently writing a book review and finishing an article on spirituality, nutrition, and exercise.

This was only a sampling of the exciting work our Faculty does every summer and even during the year! Watch for next issues link to an all-new edition of Profess, trumpeting an entire year's worth of faculty acheivements!

FerrumPLUS!
The new Earl G. “Bud” Skeens Alumni Conference Center and a renovated Franklin Hall Student Center await returning students, who left just as the recently dedicated Arthur Hall was opened. A whirlwind 24 months of construction is completing with the renovation of the beloved Roberts Hall residence hall and offices, capping the most dramatic set of campus improvements in fifty years. Students will be eager to enjoy the new living accommodations, classrooms, meeting spaces, Internet cafés, offices and exterior enhancements from the “FerrumPLUS!” (Project Leading to Undergraduate Success) initiatives. A renovated Beckham Hall was re-opened with a redesigned, state-of-the-art classroom-focused interior in the fall of 2005. See new photos here...

Environmental Symposium 2006 Announced
With a theme of, "Environmental Partnerships for a Sustainable Future," Ferrum College has announced the dates of a special Environmental Symposium to be held on campus November 8-10. Speakers include: Ward Burton Wildlife Preservationist & NASCAR Driver; Ted Strong Chair, Tribal and Cultural Heritage Relations Committee, Heritage University; Dr. Edward Browell, NASA Atmospheric Researcher (LIDAR); The Honorable Paul Rosenblatt, U.S. District Court Judge and more! Activities include: Watershed research, poster sessions, exhibitors, workshops, field trips and more. A tenative schedule will be released prior to the event. For a preliminary schedule and to sign up for email updates, click here...

Athletic News
Make sure you check out the Ferrum Athletics website for all the latest news and pre-season information! Recent stories include new hires and staffing information for Athletic Training, Football, Baseball, Soccer; Ferrum receiving votes in D3Football.com's top 25 preseason poll; Wagner's 300th save, and more. Check out all the latest here...

Bookstore Offers Ways to Design Your Own Ferrum College Garb!
Ferrum College Bookstore has a new link called My Garb for clothing. You can design your own clothing and have it shipped directly to your home. Just click: http://www.mygarb.com/FerrumCollege/

Alumni Calendar

Visit the all-new Blue Ridge Institute & Museum Website!

Snapshots from Ken McCreedy:

These three pictures were taken at the Virginia State Police Academy in August of two Ferrum alumni and Academy trainees: Amber Triplett '05, and Lavon Epps '06. They are pictured here with Virginia State Police Sergeant John Tedor.

Christina Wilhelm '06 and Dan Baker '00 walk during a break at the Academy between physical training and defensive tactics training. They had just finished a mile run in the 90 degree heat.

Read about and listen to our podcast here!

For more events on the Ferrum Campus, check out our online, interactive calendar!