Germanna names Dr. Patti Lisk Dean of Nursing and Health Technologies

Germanna Community College has named Dr. Patti Lisk RN to succeed Mary Gilkey as its Dean of Nursing and Health Technologies, effective July 25.

Dean Gilkey passed away June 25th at VCU Medical Center in Richmond as a result of heart failure after a long battle with an autoimmune disorder. She was 55.

“Germanna is grateful for the steady leadership in our Nursing and Health Technology programs that has been provided by many good folks in that area during Dean Mary Gilkey's extended illness,”  GCC President David A. Sam said. ”Faculty and students have been through emotional upheavals and challenges. Meanwhile, reaccreditation of our nursing program is due next spring."

   Dr. Patti Lisk, Germanna's new Dean of Nursing and Health
Technologies, with 2013 graduate Kim Casey.

 

“Among those stepping forward during this difficult time has been Dr. Patti Lisk,” Dr. Sam said.

“While a full and open search process is vital to the integrity of our hiring process, there are times when an emergency appointment is warranted and appropriate.” he said.

“I am pleased to announce that Dr. Lisk has agreed to accept the position as Dean and maintain organizational continuity within our nursing team.,” Dr. Sam said.  [Vice President for Academic Affairs and Student Services]  Dr. Ann Woolford and I thought and the Virginia Community College System agree that this is a decision that makes sense at this time. We thank Dr. Lisk for her long service to Germanna and our students and congratulate her on her well-deserved appointment as Dean of Nursing and Health Technologies.”

Dr. Lisk has been a nursing faculty member at Germanna since 1983. She has taught full time since 1986.

Dr. Lisk wrote the original grant for the purchase of human patient simulators that began Germanna’s Virtual Hospital. She developed scenarios that address student learning needs throughout the nursing curriculum. In her work with nursing students , she has orchestrated increasingly complex and realistic Virtual Hospital’s experiences that allow students to think critically and make clinical decisions in a safe, controlled learning environment.

Among many honors Dr. Lisk  has received are the VCCS Technology in Education Award and the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, both in 2007.

Dr. Richard E. Mezo: military veteran, poet, author, teacher, humanitarian

Germanna Community College Adjunct Professor Richard E. Mezo passed away at his Stafford County home on Sunday, July 6.

In addition to being a teacher, he was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force, an author and a poet.

Having been subjected to waterboarding as part of his military training, he wrote a 2008 op-ed column,  “Why it Was Called Water Torture,” that appeared in The Washington Post and The Free Lance-Star and provided first hand insight.

From Dr. Mezo’s bio on his Amazon.com author’s page:

Richard E. Mezo, a veteran of thirteen years of military service, entered the USAF in 1954 and the USN in 1962. He served as an enlisted man, as a supply specialist in the Air Force and an electronics technician in the Navy. His duties included overseas service in the Northeast Air Command in Newfoundland, on the U. S. S. Bon Homme Richard (the second one) in the Pacific, and as a flight crew member in a patrol squadron. As a radio/radar operator on the P-2V and later P-3A antisubmarine warfare aircraft, he was required to undergo survival training; his squadrons tracked submarines along the Pacific coast and were deployed to the Aleutian Islands.

Upon his discharge in 1967, Mezo attended San Diego State College for an A. B. and an M. A. in English; then he transferred to the University of North Dakota, where he was awarded the Ph. D. in English Language and Literature in 1978. In 1988, he returned to Western Washington University for a graduate course of study in Education, leading to his certification as a public school teacher.

Dr. Mezo taught English language and literature at universities, colleges, and high schools in the United States and overseas and on military bases. He has written and published several books and continues to publish in various magazines and journals, both professional and creative. He has been a College Board reader for the examination in AP English literature, a field bibliographer for the Modern Language Association, and a reader of grant proposals for the U. S. Department of Education. He is listed in Who's Who and in the Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers. He teaches composition, literature, and developmental English part-time at Germanna Community College's Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania.

 Dr. Mezo was the author of a number of books, including:

•   Creating Poems: Introductory Writing Exercises
•   Concepts and Choices: A Writer's Companion and Personal Advisor
•  Essential Structures: A Guide to English for Readers and Writers
• "Fire I' the Blood: A Handbook of Figurative Language
• Hawthorne's the Marble Faun: A Re-Appraisal
• Nothing's Out of Place
• Recovering Argument: A Guide to Critical Thinking and Writing
• A Study of B. Traven's Fiction: The Journey to Solipaz (Distinguished Dissertations)

Germanna mourns the passing of Dean Mary Gilkey

Germanna Community College Dean of Nursing and Health Technologies Mary Gilkey passed away Tuesday, June 25 at VCU Medical Center in Richmond of apparent heart failure. She had been battling an autoimmune disorder for some time. She was 55.

“With the passing of Dean Gilkey, Germanna has lost a leader whose boundless energy and enthusiasm helped the college double the size of its nursing program and graduate two classes a year,” said GCC President David A. Sam. “Our communities have lost a champion for quality health care for all their citizens.

  “Dean Gilkey worked diligently with area hospitals to anticipate and meet health care needs,” Dr. Sam said.

 “She loved her students and the College dearly.  The students she inspired will be her legacy. She will be missed.”
 Dr. Sam said the College’s deepest sympathy goes out to Dean Gilkey’s husband Charles and their three daughters, Claire, Caroline and Chelsea.

When Dean Gilkey, who came to Germanna in 2009, was 15, she began training as an aide in a nursing home. She said she was appalled by the inhumane "warehouse" approach in dealing with the elderly there. She decided to devote her life to improving care for patients.

 “It gave me a passion to take care of people,” she said.  “I’ve never stopped learning. And I’ve never stopped having that passion in my belly.”

Kim Casey, a 2013 Germanna nursing graduate, talked about Dean Gilkey coming to an awards ceremony in May despite being ill. "I went over and hugged her and told her daughter Chelsea how much it meant to us," Casey said, her voice filled with emotion.
In addition to working in hospitals and as a health insurance company in her native Hampton Roads area, she had a private practice as a psychotherapist.

Dean Gilkey had said her dream was to expand Germanna’s nursing and health technologies facilities at the College’s Locust Grove Campus.

 Dr. Patti Lisk is serving as Germanna’s Acting Dean of Nursing and Health Care Technologies.

Friday, June 28 7:30 p.m. Visitation 
Holloman-Brown Funeral Chapel
6568 Indian River Road
Virginia Beach, Va.

Saturday, June 29 11 a.m. Funeral Mass
Saint Matthew's Catholic Church
3314 Sandra Lane
Virginia Beach, Va. (this is just a few blocks from Holloman-Brown)

Interment following the Mass
Woodlawn Memorial Gardens
6309 E. Virginia Beach Blvd
Norfolk, Va,

Agreement with U.Va. eases path to BSN

A new agreement between  the School of Nursing at the University of Virginia and the Virginia Community College System, including Germanna Community College, will guarantee admission to the school’s RN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing program.

The part time, 21-month program is designed to make it easier for full-time working nurses  to get their BSN. There will be one class a week, with a  clinical settings program in the second year that allows students to practice what they’ve learned in class.

“Germanna has gone a little bit further,” said Dr. Patti Lisk, acting Dean of Nursing and Health Technologies at GCC. “We have made it possible for students to attend the University of Virginia classes here on campus at Germanna through interactive video for their first year of study.” She said the classes will be broadcast from U.Va.to Germanna and that students at GCC will be able to converse with University of Virginia faculty as if they were in the same classroom..

Germanna will begin offering the program in the Fall of 2014.

Dr. Lisk said Germanna students will save both in terms of commuting time and on travel expenses  because they will only travel to U.Va. for the second year. 

“Germanna Community College is pleased that our ongoing partnership with the University of Virginia has resulted in yet another opportunity for our graduates,” GCC President David A. Sam said. “This program makes it very easy for RNs to earn their BSN by offering the program at Germanna. We wish to thank all who made this possible, including Culpeper Regional Hospital and Connie Kincheloe.”

Culpeper Regional Hospital and the U.Va. Medical Center have been partners since 2009.

Connie Kincheloe is a member of the GCC Educational Foundation Board, the U.Va. Medical Center Operating Board and Culpeper Regional Health System Board.

 "Congratulations to the U.Va. School of Nursing, the Virginia Community College System, and particularly Germanna Community College for this groundbreaking agreement,” Kincheloe said.

 She called the agreement “a great opportunity for our colleges and our students,” and “ an enormous value to the Commonwealth of Virginia with the growth statewide of our BSN workforce,"

 Germanna Educational Foundation Board member Joe Daniel said: “The University of Virginia has confirmed the quality of the students and the instruction at Germanna with this articulation agreement..  U.Va. Is an outstanding school and I am confident that the Germanna students will perform at the very highest level."

Math in Action Conference simply adds up for area teachers

Students who’ve sweated out a summer school math class while their friends were at the pool might smile at the idea of their math teachers brushing up on their skills in June.

But the teachers really want to. That’s what Germanna’s Center for Workforce and Community Education learned when representatives visited every school system in the region to ask in what areas they needed assistance.

The result is Math in Action: A Conference for Math Teachers by Math Teachers to be held at Germanna's Fredericksburg Area Campus from 8:30 a.m.to 4:30 p.m. on June 24.

“It’s the first time we’ve done something like this,” said Kimberly Rodenberg, GCC Business & Career Coordinator. “We went around to the school systems and asked how we could help with professional development. Hands down, math teachers wanted help dealing with the strict changes in math requirements.  We partnered with all of the schools to bring in teachers who could share best practices with each other. We hope to make this an annual event.”

The conference is designed for teachers interested in helping students achieve at the highest possible levels in math.  Attendees will hear the latest about mathematics instruction from the Virginia Department of Education’s Dr. Deborah Wickham and Christa Southall.

 Teachers will then have the opportunity to participate in break-out sessions focused on instructional strategies for the teaching of math.  All break-out sessions will be conducted by teachers sharing best practices, helping to build a network of support throughout the region

 “The teachers will be sharing their methods and skills,” said Brenda Tanner, a former superintendent of Madison County schools who is working with Germanna’s Center for Workforce as a consultant. "That makes it somewhat unique.” She  believes the conference will have a lasting effect, creating a virtual network of “teachers supporting teachers.”

Breakfast and lunch will be included.

The conference registration fee is  $79.

To register, call 540-891-3012

Germanna may soon be a step closer to a Stafford campus

A Stafford Planning Commission meeting might produce a major step forward in the effort to establish a Germanna Campus in the county. But significant steps in the process would remain, GCC President David A Sam tells Bill Freehling of The Free Lance-Star and Frederickburg.com


The proposed Germanna campus in Stafford might look like this.

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GCC Middle College scholarships available for Fall 2013

Germanna Middle College graduate Terra Painter of Madison County

Four $500 scholarships are available through funds awarded to Germanna Community College's Middle College  by the Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region, Youth in Philanthropy organization. These funds were awarded to assist Middle College graduates in their pursuit of higher education at Germanna Community College. The application deadline is 5 p.m. Friday July, 12 2013. To learn how to apply, please contact Carolyn Bynum, at cbynum@germanna.edu or call 540-834-1053. Any Middle College graduate is eligible to apply.

The Middle College Program is designed to meet the needs of those between 18-24 years old who have not graduated from high school. The comprehensive goal of the program is to have the students complete the Middle College Program, enroll in a certificate or degree program at Germanna, and enter the workforce. Academically, the focus of the program is to help students prepare for the GED and earn college credit simultaneously. Our small class setting provides a unique environment that engages the students in critical thinking and problem solving. Every staff member serves as a mentor, advisor, and student advocate.