Posted By HR Partnership on February 6, 2010

The National Institutes of Health has awarded Hampton University an $8 million stimulus grant to construct a Biomedical Research Center (BRC).

The interdisciplinary biomedical research facility will be home to research activities such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, adolescent health, HIV/AIDS, biomolecular cancer imagining, medicinal chemistry, Alzheimer’s and other projects from the Hampton University Schools of Nursing, Pharmacy, and Science. Compelling scientific questions will be assailed from multiple fronts in the BRC. This will create a dynamic environment where researchers will look beyond their focused areas to incorporate strategic information from other disciplines as well.

“The Hampton University Biomedical Center illustrates the extraordinary progress Hampton has made in expanding our research agenda,” said HU President Dr. William R. Harvey. “We have made great strides in conducting scientific research and developing technologies that address major health issues which affect our society today.”

The BRC will be an economic resource for the community as well. Professional and technical jobs will be created. The BRC will develop minority scientists and create skilled professionals and a diverse workforce. Also about 400 construction jobs will be created to build this world-class research facility.

One of the projects housed in the BRC will be the existing HU Center for Advanced Medical Instrumentation. Devices developed by this center have been successfully used for breast cancer localization and treatment in clinical trials. Additionally, the cancer imaging technology clustered within the proposed center will be established to utilize this unique research environment. This will serve as a magnet to attract talented researchers, particularly minority researchers, to Hampton University.

from Hampton University Department of University Relations

Category: Education & Workforce, Research & Technology | No Comments »
Tags: Education, Hampton University, Health, Research

Posted By HR Partnership on February 5, 2010

Brown spent 50 years on the Hampton Roads waterfront with the ILA, and during that career spent time solving problems and negotiating on behalf of the union from Maine to Texas. Many who knew Brown and sat on the opposite side of the table from him are quick to remember one of his favorite sayings as a negotiator: “We are in the middle of the couch.”

“I think his dedication to the ILA, and in particular the men and women he represented here, will never be matched again,” said Roger Giesinger, president of the Hampton Roads Shipping Association. “Ed led this Union to greatness with his forward-thinking and his ability to make decisions when they were not popular to all his members. Typically, these decisions were not only the right decisions, but decisions that created more jobs and more money for ILA benefits….

Category: Business Community, Transportation | No Comments »
Tags: Hampton Roads, HRP, Labor, Port

Posted By HR Partnership on February 5, 2010

From Harry T. Lester, President of Eastern Virginia Medical School, in the Winter 2010 EVMS Magazine:

EVMS is proud to be located in a military town. Home to the world’s largest Navy base, our city and our region have benefited from the military’s strong local presence. According to economists, direct and indirect defense spending accounts for nearly half of the local economic activity.

While that investment does immeasurable good for this area, economists say being so reliant on one sector leaves Hampton Roads vulnerable should defense priorities shift. The relocation of just one aircraft carrier — as has been proposed — could take with it thousands of jobs and leave a nearly $1 billion hole in this region’s economy.

Building a more diverse business infrastructure is the key to plugging the hole, and EVMS is primed to be a part of that effort (see excerpts below). Just look at our involvement in the burgeoning field of modeling and simulation (see page 18 of EVMS Magazine Winter10), one of the other business sectors identified as a regional strength. EVMS is developing new tools that help up-and-coming health care providers learn their craft and keep current practitioners sharp.

Our founders understood 36 years ago that a thriving academic medical center is a crucial element of a strong economy, and the same holds true today. The school employs more than 1,100 people, attracts millions in grant funding and cares for tens of thousands of patients each year.

It gives me great pride to know that Eastern Virginia Medical School contributes to the region’s health in ways that extend far beyond the doctor’s office and to know that we are working to make an even greater impact on the regional economy.

Excerpts from the EVMS article,
Filling the Gap: Could EVMS keep Hampton Roads economy afloat?

Defense spending reigns as the economic super power in Hampton Roads. The sector accounts for a wide swath of the region’s economic activity, fueling tens of thousands of local jobs. But that spending leaves it vulnerable….

Category: Economy, Education & Workforce, Military Bastion | No Comments »
Tags: Education, EVMS, Hampton Roads, Health, Military Bastion, Modeling, ODU, Robotics, Simulation

Posted By HR Partnership on February 4, 2010

Shared by Smart Beginnings South Hampton Roads

Cutting effective early childhood programs hurts states now. When public resources are stretched thin, essential programs for young children often lose out in the budget process. Budget cuts that deprive children of a strong developmental start mean society and taxpayers lose, too.

Investments in early child development benefit states now. This year, policy makers in every state are forced to make hard choices. Priority must go to programs whose demonstrated economic and societal benefits, based on solid research, save money now and generate future revenue.

Programs that start children on the path to successful adulthood
—such as early education and parent support/home visiting—
spur workforce development in multiple ways.

Applying five principles can help secure states’ economic future. Enacting smart policies requires decision-making that prioritizes proven programs for all state spending:

• Human Capital: Expand programs that improve your state’s workforce and community well-being. These investments will help attract and grow new businesses;
• Early Childhood: Invest in the first five years of life. These represent the most powerful time to spur development of creative and productive members of society;
• Evaluation: Prioritize programs that have been proven effective; early childhood programs are backed by extensive research demonstrating their economic and societal value;
• Transparency: Ensure that budget decisions and priorities are clear and understandable; and
• Sustainability: Budget with an eye toward the future. Rebuilding the economy could take many years, but there are policies that can save money now and position your state well for long-term growth.

Download the complete brief from The Pew Center on the States’ Partnership for America’s Economic Success.

The Partnership for America’s Economic Success is a national coalition of business executives, economists, funders and civic leaders mobilizing business to improve tomorrow’s economy through smart policy investments in young children today. It is managed by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Category: Education & Workforce | No Comments »
Tags: Education, Hampton Roads, Smart Beginnings

Posted By HR Partnership on February 2, 2010

by Tracy Agnew | Suffolk News-Herald

For the second time in 10 years, Sentara Healthcare has been ranked as the top integrated health care system in the nation, according to SDI Health and “Modern Healthcare” magazine.

The annual ranking measures eight performance indicators, such as clinical integration, technology integration, services offered, financial stability and more. Sentara is the only health system that has been listed in the top 10 each of the 13 years the list has been compiled.

“It’s a nice recognition, I think, of a lot of hard work by a lot of people in our health system over the years,” said David L. Bernd, chief executive officer of Sentara Healthcare. “It’s just a recognition of Sentara’s work to provide more seamless services.”

In a reflection of the economy’s effect on health care systems, one of the factors that carried the greatest weight for 2010 was financial stability. Bernd said financial stability is an important factor in Sentara’s services.

“Our management team and all our physicians and employees have worked hard in recent years to maintain high-quality patient care while managing those expenses we can control,” added Bernd. “We feel very good about the work that we’ve done to manage through the recession, as it reflects a real team effort.”

In addition to fiscal responsibility, the use of technology to improve patient care and safety was a major factor in the decision. Sentara’s implementation of Sentara eCare, its electronic medical record system, allows patients to keep the same medical records — from their doctor’s office to the emergency room to the specialist’s laboratory.

“When we engineered this up front, we made sure it was seamless,” Bernd said….

Category: Business Community | No Comments »
Tags: Hampton Roads, Healthcare, Riverside, Sentara

Posted By HR Partnership on February 2, 2010

“… these spaces have been shown to make significant contributions to the energy and robustness of the local entrepreneurial environment, and have become an increasingly common way for cities to promote themselves as supportive of the new breed of entrepreneurial venture.” – Marty Kaszubowski, President of General Ideas, a Norfolk-based technology venture consultancy

Like many regions throughout the U.S. and the globe, Hampton Roads continues to seek a more definable sense of place that will help engage and crystallize our “creative class” and promote new models of innovation, entrepreneurship, and business formation.

Meanwhile, even in a place as conservative as Hampton Roads, the nature of work continues to change, as more effective tools and ubiquitous communication infrastructures expand to support mobile and freelance professionals who can’t, or choose not to, spend their work time in traditional office settings or at home, alone, in their spare room.

The result is that our region’s coffee shops, libraries, and food courts are increasingly full of consultants, writers, marketers, programmers, budding entrepreneurs, and other creative professionals banging away at laptops and smart phones, meeting around cramped restaurant tables, scribbling on napkins, and dealing with the inherent distractions and limitations of trying to accomplish meaningful work in public spaces. While there are obvious advantages to this sort of mobility, there is also a strong and growing need for an alternative that extends beyond the hour or two one can spend at Starbucks, but without the rigid and expensive commitment of renting a traditional office space.

One small, but important, contribution need is the need for a grass-roots group, with some support from our business community, cities, universities, and others, to begin experimenting with the growing national trend toward “coworking”, which melds the freedom and mobility of café culture with the collaborative and results-oriented drive of the new generation of free-lancers and entrepreneurs.

In short, a coworking space is a cafe-like office/community/collaboration space designed for those who don’t want to work in isolation, but realize the need to get out of the house, and beyond the coffee shop, to get some real work done.

The idea is not new; model coworking spaces have been successful in New York City, Austin, Portland, Chicago, Charlottesville and other cities where people have recognized a need to promote collaboration and “organic” interaction among freelancers and other mobile professionals. Many are stand-alone, for profit ventures, while others are run as not-for-profits with volunteer staff and sponsorships from local cities and businesses. Many are affiliated with universities or like-minded for-profit or not-for-profit organizations (sometimes even health clubs and coffee shops). Some have fairly normal “working” hours, while others are aggressively unconventional, specifically aiming to attract people who already have “day jobs” and need a place to work, collaborate, and generally pursue their dreams late into the night.

Photo credit: Charlottesville’s Coworking Facebook Page

Regardless of the business model used, coworking spaces have been shown to be solidly self-sustaining. They include small comfortable work spaces that can be rented by the day or by the week, with no commitment for longer-term use, along with real conference rooms and white boards and that foster informal group brainstorming sessions and as well as meaningful, hard-nosed deal-making.

Learn more…

Category: Business Community | 3 Comments »
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Posted By HR Partnership on February 1, 2010

Hoping to unify and bolster Hampton Roads’ political clout on military issues, including the fight to keep one of the region’s aircraft carriers, U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye has formed a panel of local, state and federal elected leaders and retired military officers.

The Hampton Roads Military Affairs Commission will “serve as a watchdog and an advocate for the military community,” Nye said Thursday as he stood with several panel members outside Nauticus in Norfolk.

“Clearly one of the top issues on the agenda is the question of the East Coast home porting of our nuclear carriers,” said Nye, a Democrat whose 2nd District encompasses Virginia Beach and part of Norfolk. “As you know, the Navy has not demonstrated a clear strategic rationale for spending up to $1 billion or more to create a redundant nuclear carrier home port on the East Coast at a time when we are facing serious budget shortfalls in other areas.”

Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim said the panel’s creation is long overdue given that some other communities, including supporters of the effort to move a Norfolk-based carrier to Mayport, Fla., already have well-organized groups that include local and federal leaders.

“A coordinated effort where we have direct access to our congressional delegation is so important,” Fraim said. “There’s strength in numbers.”

Joining Fraim on the panel will be at least three other mayors, including Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms; the state’s two U.S. senators and all local congressmen, outgoing Gov. Timothy M. Kaine; and several retired senior naval officers. Nye said he is also asking the region’s state legislators and Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell to participate.

The region’s communities already created the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance (HRMFFA), a quasi-public agency funded by cities and counties to protect and expand federal government activities in the region.

The new commission, which includes Alliance director Frank Roberts as a member, would expand that effort to include federal and state officials and those with military expertise, Nye said.

“I felt like we needed to take it up a notch,” Nye said. “I think there was a lack of feeling in the military community that we really were unified.”

excerpts from by Bill Bartel, The Virginian-Pilot; Photo credit, Fox 43 TV

Category: Military Bastion | 1 Comment »
Tags: Hampton Roads, HRMFFA, Military Bastion

Posted By HR Partnership on January 31, 2010

Found this great site that will help you plan your perfect getaway to America’s Historic Triangle of Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown: “Williamsburg Weekends” featuring different events and programs happening in our area, new information brought to us by the Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance on a weekly basis.

For more information, contact Williamsburg Weekends at: info@williamsburgweekends.com

Photo courtesy of
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA

And, if you want to stay up-to-date on tourism happenings in the Hampton Roads region and throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, follow “Virginia is for Lovers” on Twitter.

If you have a terrific tourism experience in Hampton Roads, please share your story and your photos with us! If you live in the region and you’ve enjoyed an attraction, venue or arts & cultural event, we’re looking for blog guest authors.

Category: Visit HR | No Comments »
Tags: Arts, Culture, History, Jamestown, Tourism, Williamsburg

Posted By HR Partnership on January 30, 2010

According to Marine Log magazine, Virginia shipyards are backing the newly formed Virginia Offshore Wind (VOW) Coalition.

“Our goal is to be the Emerald City of green energy on the East Coast,” said Virginia Beach Mayor William D. Sessoms Jr., announcing the group’s formation. “Promoting wind energy off Virginia Beach’s coast is good for business and good for the environment.”

Coalition members include developers, manufacturers, utilities, localities, businesses and environmental groups: BAE Systems Ship Repair, Colonna’s Shipyard, and Earl Industries. Others include Apex Offshore Wind, AREVA, the City of Virginia Beach, Dominion Virginia Power, Earl Industries, Fugro Atlantic, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, Science Applications International Corporation, Seawind Renewable Energy Corporation, Weeks Marine and W. F. Magann. The coalition also includes organizations and individuals that endorse offshore wind in Virginia.

“Offshore wind can become an important and clean diversification of Virginia’s power generation portfolio in the coming years,” said Coalition Chairman Theo de Wolff, principal of Seawind Renewable Energy Corporation.

The coalition has two goals…

Category: Business Community | 4 Comments »
Tags: Economy, Energy, Environment

Posted By HR Partnership on January 29, 2010

“The real story is how many people showed up tonight; there’s real passion in the region for high speed rail. This is the most important decision in Hampton Roads for the next 50 years.” — Attendee

We're on board with High Speed Rail…

Over 500 regional residents, public officials and private citizens alike, jammed into Norfolk’s Half Moone Cruise Terminal on the evening of January 28^th. Only negative comment heard during this Virginia Dept. of Rail and Public Transit’s (DRPT) federal hearing? Not enough seats! The crowd was standing room only!

What is the economic impact of bringing high speed rail to Hampton Roads? According to Mike Barrett, Chair of the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance (HREDA), it’s $3 Billion and 30,000 jobs. As the 36th largest metropolitan area, this region deserves high speed rail. “Proximity equates to prosperity,” said Barrett. “We will see immediate return on investment from day one.”

New DRPT Director (and former Virginia legislator and U.S. Congressman), Thelma Drake, arrived late to the event due to a disabled car in the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT). Drake explained that the mission of the DRPT is to expand the state’s transportation choices and increase mobility, adding that tonight’s crowd should show the federal government how critically important this project is to the citizens of the region.

Norfolk City Mayor Paul Fraim welcomed everyone and mentioned the announcement today of the $8 Billion in first-round awards for the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program and how Virginia fared. (see White House Press Release)*

Read the full summary here, including public comments…

Category: About Hampton Roads, Business Community, Economy, Government & Citizens, Military Bastion, Transportation, Visit HR | 6 Comments »
Tags: Economy, Environment, General Assembly, Hampton Roads, Military Bastion, Newport News, Norfolk, ODU, Regional, Transportation, Virginia Beach