NRCC News

Connection Specialists support ongoing student success initiatives at NRCC

Jul 29 2015

This is an archived article!

This article was published on Jul 29 2015 and was archived on Jul 30 2016. The information below may be outdated or inaccurate.

A new team of "connection specialists" at New River Community College hit the ground running last week, gearing up for the start of the fall 2015 semester.

Barry Cox, Kim Matthews, Bridget Meneghini and Andrea Sharpe-Robinson are the newest additions to NRCC's ongoing efforts to change the culture surrounding student success and help more students reach their academic goals. The connection specialists reach out to students who are struggling with anything from academic issues to financial aid difficulties. They'll also be looking for ways to draw together groups of students with common backgrounds, goals or challenges to help create social opportunities and ways for students to support each other.

Director of the Accountability in Student Learning Program Jill Williams, who is leading NRCC's student success efforts, describes current models of supporting students as "invitational." That means that students are told where and when assistance with things like academic counseling or financial aid will be available and invited to use the services. Many students do take advantage of these opportunities, but often, they're not the students who most need them. "The connection specialists are an important part of actively, intentionally engaging our students," she says.

Each connection specialist will have a caseload comprised primarily of students from a specific part of NRCC's service region.

Cox will work primarily with students from Floyd County and will also serve as NRCC's veterans officer. The Pulaski County native is well suited to the task, being a Navy veteran himself. He served wartime tours in Bahrain and Iraq during his naval career and is well known by area veterans from his work helping them access benefits and his role as the Radford VFW's veterans services officer and as the service officer for the Dublin post of the American Legion. Cox is also a former Pulaski County deputy sheriff and has worked as a DARE officer and "cougar assistant" in the Pulaski County School System.

Despite her new role, Matthews is a familiar face around NRCC where she has served as a career advisor since October 2012. She is a New River Valley native who currently lives in Radford. Prior to her time at NRCC, she worked as a homeless and housing programs administrator for New River Community Action. She has also worked at LewisGale Montgomery hospital, where she supervised a team of patient advocates, and at Montgomery County Social Services where she was an eligibility worker. Matthews will work primarily with students from Pulaski County.

Meneghini, of Newport, has also served as an NRCC career advisor since October 2012. She is familiar to many NRCC students, including those in the college's PluggedInVA programs, with whom she works frequently on employability skills. Before coming to NRCC, Meneghini was an adult and family services supervisor and clinician for New River Valley Community Services and also worked for Goodwill Industries. She began her career as a business education teacher in the Charlotte, N.C., area. In her new connection specialist role, she'll work primarily with students from Giles County.

Sharpe-Robinson, of Blacksburg, comes to NRCC from Virginia Tech, where she is pursuing a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction. She has focused her research in special education and was named the 2014 Outstanding Scholar in Special Ed. She has held multiple roles at Virginia Tech that focus on assisting students with disabilities including coordinating the "STEAMABILITY" program, an on-campus program with faculty and staff that allowed students with disabilities and their parents to see, experience and prepare for the successful transition to college. She has also served as a marketing teacher at Christiansburg High School. As a connection specialist, Sharpe-Robinson will work primarily with students from Montgomery County.

Don Stowers, associate director of the accountability in student learning program