201320 Jessie Hayes, class of 2014, traveled with Coach Cricket Morris to Harrisburg, Pa. to compete in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National Championships May 2-4. Jessie competed in the Novice Equitation on the Flat championship class. In a ride against 16 of the national qualifiers, Jessie placed third in the competition. Congratulations, Jessie! For the complete story, please click here. 201318 A special congratulations to everyone who was recognized for their years of service during the Faculty, Staff & Retiree Appreciation luncheon on April 25. Those recognized include: Dr. Don Ethington - 40 years Dr. David Hoffman & Susan Newcomb - 35 years Kendall Carter, Wanda Fallen, Dr. Anne Lewis & Katherine Pappas - 25 years Paul Collins, Dr. Richard Ferguson & Dr. Alice Obenchain-Leeson - 20 years Donna Gourley, Kevin Harden, Laura Hartman, Alonzo Jones, Robin Martin, Susan Osborne & Sherman Woodson - 15 years Dr. John Guarino, Chris Hanks, Priscilla Culley, Daniel Jones, Vickie Knowles, Brenda Stone, Dr. Philip Sturm, Jim Verdini, Amy Williamson & Donna Zimmerman - 10 years Donna P. Benz, Donna Brande, Wayne Dabney, Dr. Deborah M. DeMarey, Hank Dempsey, Brenda Farmer, Linda Fisher, Aretha Fitzgerald, Traci Fitzgerald, Debbie Flinn, Dr. Tiffany Franks, Ed Goodhines, Reggie Hairston, Dan Hayes, Sarah Hudson, Marty Jackson, Dr. Michelle Liu, David McMoore, Carly Michelle Pearce, Gene Pounds, Robin Robinson, Felecia Saunders, Donna Schweiger, Tim Shipman, James Thurnes, Dr. Patrick D. Wasley, Gabe Waterman, Clarence Wilson, Drew Wilson, Dr. Jane Wiseman & Amanda Yager - 5 years 201318 Congratulations to Ginger Henderson and Gloria Robertson who are the 2012-13 Outstanding Faculty and Outstanding Staff award winners! Thanks for all of your hard work and dedication, ladies. 201318 Dr. Mary Condon, department chair of nurse education, has completed her examination and continuing education courses - successfully maintaining her National Certification Corporation credential as a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner - Board Certified. Congratulations, Mary! 201316 On Saturday, April 6, Hailey Brown and Jessie Hayes traveled with Cricket Morris, coach of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) team, to the Zone 5 championship show in Brooklet, Ga. Both riders qualified for the Zone championship by finishing first or second in the Regional Championship held the previous weekend at Virginia Tech. Hailey competed in the Intermediate Over Fences class and received a strong sixth place finish. Jessie competed in the Novice on the Flat class and finished second, qualifying her for the National Championship show. Jessie and Cricket will travel to the Farm Show Arena in Harrisburg, Pa. for the National Championships the first week of May. The IHSA competition is unique in that the riders do not take their own horses to each show, but instead compete on unfamiliar horses that are owned by the host. Jessie and Hailey have both qualified for Zone finals before, always finishing in the top six riders in their division. Zone 5 consists of 59 colleges from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Alabama. More than 500 riders compete in shows in this zone throughout the year trying to qualify for one of two spots at the National Championship competition. 201310 For the second year in a row, the men's basketball team has been awarded the USA South Conference Sportsmanship Award for men's basketball. Way to go gentlemen! Full Story 201310 Congratulations to the ladies on our IDA team who are headed to Nationals this year! If you see them around campus, make sure to congratulate them. To read about their last competition and to see who placed, check out the story on the Averett news page by clicking here. 201309 The Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) team competed in two competitions at Virginia Intermont College in Bristol on Feb. 16 and 17 - winning a total of 26 ribbons. On Saturday, Feb. 16, amidst tough competition, Averett finished fifth overall. Then on Sunday, determined to prove the strength of their smaller team, they placed fourth overall. Special congratulations go to Hailey Brown, the high point rider for Sunday's show. For a complete list of finishers, please visit the Averett news page. 201249 For their community service project, an MBA class in Charlottesville sponsored a turkey shoot to raise money for Habitat for Humanity and raise gun safety awareness. They donated $200 to Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that selects potential homeowners based on need, ability to repay a no-profit loan, and their willingness to give 250 hours of "sweat equity." This self-help building program allows those making $8-12 an hour a chance at homeownership. Pictured left to right: Bradley Riddle, April Dove, Stuart Foster, Mary Leaf and Lanette Wood 201246 The women's soccer team went undefeated during the regular season in conference play and won the USA South conference tournament, defeating CNU 3-2 in overtime. These championships were the first in program history. Taylor Ortman, Pernilla Milton, Sandra Johansson, Malin Borjesson and Mathilda Hansson were named to the All-Tournament team. Pernilla Milton was also named Tournament Most Valuable Player, and Head Coach Carly Pearce was named Coach of the Year. Nine ladies were named to the USA South All-Conference team: Pernilla Milton, Sandra Johansson, Mathilda Hansson, Malin Borjesson, Camilla Sjoren, Catherine Onarheim, Suvi Pipponen, Charlotte Thibault and Emma Olsson. Pernilla Milton and Sandra Johansson were also named to the Academic All-District team. 201244 Averett hosted the first Intercollegiate Dressage Association show of the 2012-13 competition season on Sunday, Oct. 28. Five universities from North Carolina and Virginia attended, with two teams per school competing. Averett's Team A won the day, with a total of 15 points, and Averett junior Lindsey Baker won the Reserve High Point Rider Award. 201243 Dr. Ralph Hawkins, associate professor of religious studies, had an article on Saul, ancient Israel's first king, published in the latest issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research. The article is entitled "The First Glimpse of Saul and His Subsequent Transformation" (BBR 22.3 [2012]: 353-362). The paper examines select elements related to Saul's character and transformation within 1 Samuel 9:1-10:16. It seeks to make the case that, even after having reshaped his sources, the author of the biblical historical books (DtrH) did not eliminate the affirmative dimensions of Saul's character, but retained them in 1 Samuel in its current form. 201229 The University is pleased to announce that its recruitment efforts over the last four years have been recognized by Noel-Levitz with a 2012 Marketing-Recruitment Excellence Award (MREA). The MREA award recognizes state-of-the-art programs, services and strategies that have made an impact on campus student enrollment. For the full story click here. 201225 Dr. Joanne Pereira has been named principal of Rosemont Elementary in Virginia Beach. She was previously the assistant principal at Holland Elementary. Joanne has been a valuable member of Averett’s GPS faculty in the MEd program since 2010. Of her recent promotion, she says, "I am very excited and cannot wait to embark on the next phase of my career!" 201224 Jeffrey Hubbard, assistant director of operations with Aramark, was presented the Boy Scouts’ 2012 Waldon France Scoutreach Scouter of the Year award by American Legion Post No. 29. Jeffrey is a scoutreach coordinator for the city of Danville and trains volunteers to be scout leaders. He has worked with Aramark for 14 months. Congratulations, Jeffrey! 201223 Since O'Kelly's opened on Piney Forest Road in Danville it has grown by leaps and bounds – soon it will open a third location. Alumni Gerald Kelly, '08 and his brother Joseph Kelly '11 help oversee and run the family business. The Danville Register & Bee ran a feature story on Sunday, to read the article visit the Register & Bee. 201217 Cornelius "Chip" Coleman, assistant head football coach/defensive line coach/recruiting coordinator, was selected by the NCAA and the NFL to attend the 2012 NCAA and NFL Coaches Academy May 22-24 in Dallas, Texas. Coleman has been a member of Averett's coaching staff since 2007. The Coaches Academy was developed to provide college coaches with less than eight years of coaching experience with the necessary tools, and networking opportunities, to enhance their chances at success in the football coaching industry. Congratulations! 201216 Sophomores Marina da Silva and Hailey Brown represented Averett during the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) Zone 5 Finals March 30-31 at Virginia Intermont College. Both riders qualified in February for Zones during the regional competition at Virginia Tech by placing first and second. Zones are considered to be the semi-finals before qualifying to go to the national competition. To read more about the competition click here. 201216 Ashley Brooks Jones '06, Mrs. Sherman Oaks, was crowned Mrs. California United States 2012 on March 25. She will compete for the title of Mrs. United States in July in Los Vegas. 201215 Averett named six of its student teachers as 2012 Virginia Teachers of Promise. The students who received this distinction are: seniors Wendy Bradner, Sara Campbell, Thornton Rowland and Re'Shawn Woodson; and 2011 graduates Cary Lee Cumbo and Olivia Frost. The students attended the Virginia Teachers of Promise Institute in Richmond last month along with 130 other top rated teachers from across the Commonwealth. 201213 Averett's Intercollegiate Dressage Association (IDA) Team competed at their last regional show of the season on March 18 in Laurinburg, N.C. at St. Andrews Presbyterian College. Averett's teams placed second and third overall and one rider was named Reserve High Rider for the day. Click here for details about the competition. 201211 Congratulations to Coach Matt Parke and the Averett Men's Basketball team, who won the USA South Athletic Conference's Sportsmanship Award for Men's Basketball for the 2011-12 winter sports season. This is the fourth time the men's basketball team has received the award. The team previously was the award recipient in 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09. The USA South Athletic Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee instituted a Conference-wide Sportsmanship Award in 2004-2005 in recognition of the importance of sportsmanship to college athletics. For each of the 11 Conference-sponsored team sports, all team members vote for the teams he or she deemed to have demonstrated the best overall sportsmanship throughout the season. The team garnering the most votes receives that sports' Sportsmanship Award. 201210 Senior Charles Terrell recently found out he was one of 60 students from around the country who were accepted for participation in the 2012 Institute on Economics and International Affairs. He will spend the summer in Washington D.C., interning during the day and taking classes at night. Full Story 201208 Averett's Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) Team participated in their final competition Feb. 11 followed by the IHSA Regional Competition Feb. 12. Both events were held at Virginia Tech. Four students represented the University during the Regional Competition - one rider was named champion intermediate over-fences and another rider was reserve champion novice over-fences and on the flat. For the full results from both competitions click here. 201204 Nadeshda "Nayda" Balabanova Enachescu '03 will have a paper published in the winter issue of the "International Journal of Mobile Marketing." The paper, which she co-authored with six MBA students at Loyola Marymount University, is titled "Mobile Payments - The Reality on the Ground in Selected Asian Countries and the US." Nayda lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Ramon, and is a business intelligence specialist with Loyola Marymount University. She is formerly of Sofia, Bulgaria.