Courtesy of Radford University

Radford University officials broke ground Thursday on the school's $44 million, 110,000-square-foot facility for the College of Business and Economics.

Courtesy of Radford University

This is an artist's rendering of the College of Business and Economics building.

| Chris Winston

chris.winston@roanoke.com, 381-1678

A gift from a 1986 alumnus will help Radford University's quest to build a top-notch home for its business school.

The university broke ground Thursday on its new $44 million, 110,000-square-foot facility for the College of Business and Economics.

The project will be paid for with $34 million from the state and $10 million raised by the university.

During Thursday's ceremony, President Penny Kyle announced that Jeff and Harriet Price, co-owners of Radford-based Price-Williams Realty, had donated an undisclosed amount for the project.

While the total donation amount was not announced, it will help the university meet the matching provision of a $150,000 challenge grant from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation.

Jeff Price, a 1986 graduate, serves on COBE Advisory Board and the President's Advisory Council. Price has also served on Radford University's Business Industry Council and the Athletic Advisory Board.

"I am excited to be part of the construction of this flagship building and to help a project of this magnitude," he said in a news release.

"RU has been good to us, and this gift is our way of giving back what RU has given us. I stepped up now to energize other people to invest in the building and join me in watching RU, its faculty and students succeed."

In recognition of the Prices' gift, the building's third-floor grand hall and atrium will be named "The Jeffrey M. Price, Harriet B. Price and Family Grand Hall and Atrium."

Kyle said the building will make a "very bold, very confident statement" about what the world can expect from the business school and university.

Located at the corner of Jefferson Street and Tyler Avenue, the new building will also redefine the gateway to campus.

The new COBE home will include auditorium-style classrooms, conference rooms and gathering spaces designed for collaboration and teamwork.

The complex is also being constructed with the goal of achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold designation; however, a minimum designation of Silver is assured.

Construction will begin immediately on the south edge of campus. The planned completion date is fall 2012 when COBE faculty, staff and students will move out of their current home in Whitt Hall.

Glave & Holmes and Ayers/Saint/Gross make up the architectural team working on the building's design, and Whiting-Turner is the construction contractor.

CHRISTIANSBURG

Literacy group opens used bookstore

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for Main Street Books, a used bookstore that will be operated by Literacy Volunteers of the New River Valley, will take place at 10 a.m. today.

The bookstore, at 195 W. Main St. in Christiansburg, is a social venture project that will raise money for the nonprofit agency. The public is invited to attend.

"We couldn't have done the project without the invaluable assistance of the Blacksburg and Christiansburg-Blacksburg Rotary clubs," said Donna Webster, LV-NRV executive director, in a news release.

The Blacksburg Rotary provided $3,500 for the project, which included new bookcases, furniture and painting, and the Christiansburg-Blacksburg Rotary donated $1,000 to complete the project.

"Additionally, the sweat equity provided by these two organizations has made the bookstore become a reality," Webster said.

The bookstore space is shared by LV-NRV staff members working to increase literacy levels for adults in need of literacy services. The nonprofit trains and supports volunteer tutors who work with adult learners.

Main Street Books will operate from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Volunteers will staff the store.

Books for the bookstore are donated by community members and are individually priced.

For more information about the new bookstore and the Literacy Volunteers of the New River Valley, visit www.lvnrv.org.

OPENING

Enrichment Center cuts the ribbon

A ribbon-cutting was held Wednesday for The Enrichment Center at 200 Midway Plaza Drive N.W. in Christiansburg.

The event took place at the center, inside the Adventure World Skate Center, and was presented by the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce.

CHAMBER of COMMERCE

Area employers gather for social networking talk, breakfast

A recent breakfast meeting sponsored by the Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce focused employers on the art of social media in business.

"A New Era Of Social Networking: What Employers Need To Know" was the topic of a breakfast gathering recently at MK's Gourmet Pizzeria & Shoppe in Dublin.

The event was presented by Christie Hayes of the Baker Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz Law Firm. A number of area business and governmental entities were represented.

More than half of all employers use social media to help drive business, and 53 percent have used sites to screen applicants, according to a CareerBuilder.com survey.

Also in the survey, employers reported that they have used social networking sites to learn about candidates through revealing photographs or information, info-sharing about alcohol or drug abuse, and bad-mouthing a co-worker or previous employer.

Hayes urged area employers to proceed with caution, and said information discovered while viewing personal social media sites could be equated to questions asked in an interview. Therefore, employers should stay away from protected categories.

She said the best practices are to screen applicants in a uniform manner; have a neutral party screen information; never create false personas to gain access to information; and don't "friend" applicants in order to gain access to their nonpublic profiles.

AWARD

Building safety campaign takes national honor

A building safety campaign put together by two groups took a national honor recently.

The "Better Building. Safer Homes" campaign received the International Code Council's 2010 Raising the Profile Award for outstanding commitment to building safety.

Launched in January, the campaign is a joint venture by the Virginia Building & Code Officials Association Region II chapter and the New River Valley Home Builders Association to raise public awareness of the importance of building codes and building safety.

This is the first time that a partnership between two organizations has been awarded this honor.

Cathy Cook, VBCOA Region II chairwoman and Blacksburg building official, said in a news release that the campaign's mission was to "promote better construction practices and safer homes for all those who live in the New River Valley."

Part of the campaign is the betterbuilding-saferhomes.blogspot.com blog.

The blog provides Virginians with information on laws and regulations.

"By partnering together, our two organizations can fill in the gaps for anyone who is building, remodeling or in the beginning stages of planning," Chris Pfohl, NRVHBA president said.