News

Coach Chris Moore and the men's basketball team were the center of attention at a celebration Thursday afternoon on the Hampton campus. In discussing his team’s success in the 2021-22 season, Thomas Nelson men’s basketball coach Chris Moore didn’t mention a single player.

David DiMattia did not envision college in his life plan but eventually grew to understand the value of higher education. A sergeant based in Newport News at Joint Base-Langley Eustis, DiMattia started taking college classes during his first two years in the Army, and enrolled at Thomas Nelson last year. With six years of military service to date, he is strategically plotting his future. Here, he discusses life and the student experience.

Cassandra Lewis was excited when Thomas Nelson President Dr. Towuanna Porter Brannon asked her to be on a panel discussing women in leadership. For one, it’s an important discussion, Lewis said. Secondly, the two are high school friends. “It’s a real special treat for me,” Lewis said. “It provided me the opportunity to share my story with someone who I remember when we were teenagers. And many, many years later having this opportunity to reflect on where we’ve been, and how our journey has led us to this part … it will be a really special moment for me.”

Monette Dutch delights in helping and being a resource. It’s how she approaches leadership in many ways. The director of TRiO Student Services at Thomas Nelson, Dutch values her team and takes great care to ensure that students are the top priority.  “I thoroughly enjoy working with this TRiO staff ... Though I am a firm believer that the leader is the first among equals, my role is to help staff develop to their full potential. That aspect about leadership, I find very striking,” said Dutch.

To celebrate Read Across America Day, the Peninsula Workforce Development Center at Thomas Nelson held readings at two Williamsburg-James City County elementary schools. “It was great,” said Dr. Adrienne E. Cosby, a coach and adviser in Workforce Development. Cosby arranged for several College faculty and staff members to perform virtual readings of nearly a dozen books to 14 classes at Stonehouse Elementary School and Clara Byrd Baker Elementary School.

Thomas Nelson psychology professor Shanda Jenkins, in discussing Black women in leadership positions in higher education, referenced an article by the Chronicle of Higher Education that asked who was missing. “We’re missing,” she said of Black women. A recent study of U.S. colleges by WomensPowerGap.org revealed just 5% of the 130 responding colleges have a Black woman president.

Lisa Ray is spending her retirement hiking and writing. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Ray) Former Thomas Nelson English professor Lisa Ray has one word of advice for aspiring authors: write. “People treat it like you have to wait for some inspirational moment,” she said. “That’s not actually true. What you have to do is just write, and write like it’s a job.”

Dr. Towuanna Porter Brannon  is pictured  (l-r) with ChefsGo graduates Gregory Whitfield, Rizza Laurel and Mesha Harrison. Growing up, Thomas Nelson President Dr. Towuanna Porter Brannon worked at her mother’s bakery. Lessons learned from that experience have helped her throughout her life and career, and continue to do so today. At the Feb. 22 graduation ceremony for ChefsGo, she said that is why it was easy to explain how the College’s Workforce Development culinary program carries on the College's mission to change lives and transform communities.

Renaya Salmon is an Air Force staff sergeant serving in Hampton at Joint Base Langley-Eustis with seven years in to date.  Thomas Nelson is affording Salmon the foundation necessary to ultimately become a registered nurse. Here, the Jamaica West Indies native sheds some light on the student experience.

The Communications and Marketing team is making it easier for you to submit requests. They have created a new short form on tncc.com that will address any request you may have for any project.   If you need a news story, graphic, web page update, or a post on social media, you can simply submit your information and someone from the team will assist you. You will also get updates on the status of your request as the team works on it.

Pictured are J.D. Myers II, senior vice president & regional manager of Cox Communication; Congressman Bobby Scott;  Franz Albertini, the College's interim dean for Workforce Development; and Bob McKenna, president & CEO Virginia Peninsula Chamber. The Peninsula's top corporate executives and up-and-coming managers gathered Tuesday, Feb. 15 for the Peninsula Executive Leadership Forum (PELF) Winter program co-sponsored by Thomas Nelson and the Chamber at the Virginia Peninsula Chamber Commerce's office.

Timothy Smith, an Army corporal serving at Fort Eustis, has his sights on a career in computer science. Smith has four years of active duty service and views Thomas Nelson now becoming Virginia Peninsula Community College as an ideal means to help him successfully achieve his goals.   Here, Smith gives insight about his student experience while also sharing a few details about himself.

Motivated community college students interested in exploring research careers in the biomedical and behavioral sciences can take advantage of the Dream-to-Goal (DTG) Summer Research Program. The program will provide hands-on laboratory skills, provide research experience, and prepare students for success when they transfer to a four-year school. Participants will live on the Virginia Commonwealth University campus for eight weeks and then return for another eight-week session the following summer.

A long commute hasn't deterred Hezekiah Brown from playing basketball at Thomas Nelson. Hezekiah Brown, a first-year player on Thomas Nelson’s basketball team, said one of the biggest differences between the college and high school game is the dedication required at the former. “You have to stay dedicated,” he said, and he wasn’t just talking about basketball. “Keeping up the grades is a little harder because it's more on your own, whereas in high school, you got a lot more help for classes. That's probably the hardest part.”