Photo courtesy of Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech's Southgate Food Processing Center began composting Jan. 20. "What we're focusing on is changing the way that our employees think, and the habit of just tossing things in the trash," Stephen Garnett, the unit manager for the center, said in a news release.

Photo courtesy of Lora Gordon/Radford University

Clark Nexsen Principal Robert Gunn (right) presents Visual and Performing Arts Dean Joseph Scartelli (left) and Interior Design and Fashion Chairwoman Lennie Scott-Webber with a $8,500 grant to provide computer software for the university's interior design program.

The Radford University Foundation received an $8,500 gift from the Foundation of Clark Nexsen, an architecture, interior design, engineering and planning firm in Charlotte, N.C., to provide computer software for the university's interior design program.

The state-of-the-art software will allow students to use a design platform that is becoming the standard in the industry, according to a news release from the university.

"I do not consider this just a gift as much as I do an 'investment.' Given the difficult economic conditions in which we find ourselves, we must remain forward-looking and prepare our students for a future that will certainly continue to evolve," College of Visual and Performing Arts Dean Joe Scartelli said in the release.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE

NRCC nursing grads score well on exam

Recent graduates of New River Community College scored well on the 2008 national registered nurse licensure exam, putting the college's pass rate in the top 15 percent of all professional nursing programs in Virginia.

Teri Moore, associate vice president for student learning and the nursing program director, said three factors contributed to the scores: hard work by students, experienced faculty and the support of local clinical facilities, according to a news release from the community college.

Four local hospitals provide support for the nursing program: Carilion New River Valley Medical Center, Carilion Giles Memorial Hospital, Montgomery Regional Hospital and Pulaski Community Hospital .

New River's nursing program admits 60 students annually in the fall and 15 or more advanced placement students in a residential nursing program each summer.

VIRGINIA TECH

University begins composting program

Virginia Tech's Southgate Food Processing Center has cut the amount of food waste thrown out each week by about 2.5 tons through a new partnership between Virginia Tech Dining Services and Poplar Manor Enterprises.

The center began composting Jan. 20, according to a news release from the university.

"What we're focusing on is changing the way that our employees think, and the habit of just tossing things in the trash," Stephen Garnett, the unit manager for the center, said in the release. "We're trying to teach our staff that we want them to reduce, reuse, and recycle -- in that order of priority."

Center employees save items such as chopped vegetables, peelings and cores in containers provided by PME. At the end of each week, staff from Poplar Manor empty and clean the containers.

The university is looking to expand the program to compost consumer waste as well, with Owens Food Court planned as the next location for a pilot program.

STUDENT MEDIA

Collegiate Times finalist for award

The Collegiate Times is a finalist for the Associated Collegiate Press Online Pacemaker award, the highest honor in collegiate Web journalism.

The winners are expected to be announced in October at the National College Media Convention in Austin, Texas.

The Collegiate Times, Virginia Tech's student-run newspaper, is one of 10 four-year daily college newspapers in the running for the award. The newspaper won the online award in 2008. Collegiatetimes.com averages 3,725 visits a day, according to a news release from the university.

RESEARCH

Tech, Wake Forest study cancer research

Cancer and its therapies may lead to damaged taste and odor perception, according to various studies compiled by a Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Their review appears in the March/April 2009 Journal of Supportive Oncology, according to a news release from Virginia Tech.

One reason for the study is to enable physicians and researchers to develop treatments for the resulting taste and odor dysfunctions, Andrea Dietrich, a Tech professor of civil and environmental engineering, said in the release.

Some two-thirds of cancer patients who receive chemotherapy report altered sensory perception, such as decreased or lost ability to taste or having metallic taste in the mouth.

Altered sensory perception causes anxiety and malnutrition, according to the report.

VIRGINIA TECH

Speaker named for graduate ceremony

Nicholas Taubman -- who has been a Roanoke City Council member and a U.S. ambassador to Romania and is the namesake of the Taubman Museum of Art in downtown Roanoke -- will be the keynote speaker at Virginia Tech's Graduate School commencement ceremony.

Some 1,000 graduate and professional students will receive degrees at the event that begins at 3 p.m. May 15 at Cassell Coliseum.

Retired Air Force Gen. Lance Smith, a graduate of the Pamplin College of Business who served as the commander for the U.S. Joint Forces Command and the NATO supreme allied commander for transformation from 2005 to 2007, will deliver the university commencement address later that day.

Taubman is a native of Roanoke and is the retired chairman and chief executive officer of Advance Auto Parts, founded by his father in 1932. He also serves as president of Mozart Investments in Roanoke.

-- The Roanoke Times