Filipino American elected to Va. Beach city council Virginia Beach councilman Ron Villanueva believes the city would do well to take a few pages out of the Old Dominion University book. In May, Villanueva, a 1992 Old Dominion graduate and until recently a member of the university’s Board of Visitors, became the first Filipino American elected to Virginia Beach’s governing body, an achievement that attracted both local and national media coverage. As he prepared to begin his four-year term July 1, he said he hoped to draw upon his experiences at his alma mater. As the city builds sophisticated hubs for technology and foreign languages for its school system, Villanueva said he would recommend something akin to Old Dominion’s TELETECHNET distance learning network as a cost-effective means to broadcast instruction from one school to another. “It seems to me that all our high schools are wired,” he said. “Rather than having separate venues for these academies, this gives students greater opportunity to excel.” Villanueva, who earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and is completing a master’s in public policy from Regent University, was a co-founder of Old Dominion’s Filipino American Student Association and Delta Chi Fraternity. As an alumnus, he helped with efforts, along with other community leaders, to raise more than $100,000 for a Filipino Cultural Center on campus. Villanueva is executive vice president and a partner of Venture Dynamics Corp. of Newport News, a diversified marine industrial firm. He is married to ODU alum Catherine Caragan, who received her bachelor’s degree in nursing in 1993 and her master’s in physical therapy in 1999. Villanueva said he sees development and quality of life as continuing issues for Virginia Beach as the city government seeks to maintain a balance between growth and economic prosperity. “If we’re going to attract the higher-paying jobs and address issues like improving our education system and our public-safety needs, we’ll need to find long- and short-term solutions to the growth question.” Although he announced in June that he would not seek reappointment to the Board of Visitors when his term expired June 30,Villanueva said he plans to remain active in alumni activities. “You want your alumni to be involved in terms of time and talent and financial contributions.” Villanueva said his appointment to the Board of Visitors in 1998 was one of his highest honors. He was among a group of BOV members who supported a measure to include student representation on the board. “What I like about Old Dominion is knowing we have so many great people – from the president and VPs to the maintenance staff – that believe in the university,” he said. “The university has grown in so many ways. The quality of the students is exceptional and the diversity of the student body is a model all universities should follow.” – James J. Lidington