Employees, dependents have until Dec. 1 to apply for aid, scholarships

Tuesday, Dec. 1, is the application deadline for spring semester educational aid and scholarships for qualified university employees and their dependents.

Educational aid is available for classified employees who have worked at Old Dominion full time for at least one year and make less than $60,000 annually. The Human Resources Department will pay for a maximum of 15 credit hours for the year – six credit hours in the fall, six in the spring and three in the summer.

Scholarships are available for faculty, faculty administrators (nine credit hours per year), their dependents and spouses (a maximum of three credit hours each in the fall, spring and summer) and the dependents and spouses of classified employees (a maximum of 15 credit hours for the year – six credit hours in the fall, six in the spring and three in the summer). The employee or sponsoring employee must have worked at Old Dominion for at least one year and make less than $60,000 annually.

Educational aid and scholarships for graduate-level courses may be considered as taxable income. Also, receiving educational aid or a scholarship from the Human Resources Department may affect any other financial aid award a student may receive.

For more information call Kathryn Whitson at 683-4237.

Norfolk Chamber Consort presents 30th anniversary concert on Nov. 23

The 30th anniversary season of the Norfolk Chamber Consort continues with a program of French music on Monday, Nov. 23, in Chandler Recital Hall of the Diehn Fine and Performing Arts Center.

The concert, which features two widely contrasting works from the 18th and 20th centuries, begins at 8 p.m.

Olivier Messiaen’s monumental “Quartet for the End of Time” will be the major work for the evening. Composed and first performed while Messiaen was a prisoner in Stalag VIII-A during the early days of World War II, it is one of the most significant works of chamber music of the 20th century.

This will be the group’s fourth performance of the piece in its 30-year history. Two of the musicians have been involved in all four performances: artistic co-director and clarinetist F. Gerard Errante and cellist Janet Kriner.

Kriner, one of the most experienced and widely known chamber instrumentalists in the area and a former Old Dominion faculty member, will be honored at this concert as the only musician who has performed with the Norfolk Chamber Consort in every one of its 30 years of existence. She has been principal cellist with the Virginia Symphony for over 35 years.

The first half of the program comprises the elegant, sophisticated “Concert Royal No. 3 in A Major” by Francois Couperin.

Tickets will be available at the door one-half hour prior to the performance. Admission is $12.50 for adults and $7.50 for seniors and students. A reception in the atrium will follow the concert. For more information call 440-1803 or 622-4542.

Classified employees may sign up for one of two information sessions in Webb Center next month about the Virginia Sickness and Disability Program. Sponsored by the Human Resources Department, they are scheduled for 9-11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1, in the Chesapeake Room and 9-11 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, in the Potomac/York River Room.

These two-hour sessions will provide detailed information about the new benefit. Materials will be provided to help employees make an informed decision.

Supervisor’s approval is necessary to enroll. Call 683-3042 for a registration form.

Workshop offers help with task of assigning grades

Virginia Tidewater Consortium’s Center for Effective Teaching offers a free workshop, “Assessing Student Performance in the College Classroom: Improving Test Validity and the Scoring of Essay Tests, Papers and Projects,” from 1-4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, at the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center.

Robert Hanny, professor of education at William and Mary, will address one of the most difficult tasks in college teaching: assigning grades to student work. The workshop will focus on techniques that will help reduce the anxiety and stress related to making tests and assignments and assigning grades to essays, papers and projects. Participants will be taught to develop scoring rubrics and should bring a syllabus, textbook and samples of tests and assignments from a course. Anyone owning a laptop computer should bring it to the workshop, but this is not required.

For more information or to register call 683-3183; www.vtc.odu.edu.

The University Library offers the final installment next month in its fall workshop series for faculty. Scheduled for 12:30-1:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3, is “Enhance Your Course Web Pages“; 12:30-1:30 p.m. It will be offered in the Digital Services Center (third floor).

This workshop will discuss how the library’s Digital Services Center can assist faculty with identifying or creating course materials for the Web. Demonstrations will include options for scanning text and images and incorporating multimedia.

The Debate and Forensics Team brought home 12 individual awards and a third-place Team Sweepstakes trophy from the St. Anselm’s Jack Lynch Invitational Tournament in Manchester, N.H., Nov. 7.

The team of nine students won three awards in poetry, two in debate, two in dramatic duo, three in impromptu and one each in dramatic interpretation and prose.“The team consists of freshman to senior students of diverse backgrounds and various core studies, including majors in biology, communication, criminal justice and English,” said coach Sandra Washington.

Other schools competing in the tournament included Suffolk University of Boston, Northeastern University, Bridgewater College and Franklin Pierce College.

Chandler Recital Hall will be the venue for a variety of performances by Old Dominion musicians and local consorts:

Counseling Services was recently re-accredited by the International Association of Counseling Services Inc., an Alexandria, Va.,-based organization of U.S., Canadian and Australian counseling agencies.

“The accreditation process gives the staff in Counseling Services the opportunity to examine every aspect of our operation in comparison to a set of national professional standards. In reviewing those standards in preparation for reaccreditation, we are able to make adjustments if needed to ensure that the university and our students are receiving the best and most effective counseling services we are able to provide. It is always gratifying when the review team says you have accomplished that goal,” said Jim Calliotte, director of Counseling and Advising Services.

The Counseling Services staff includes three full-time counselors and two part-time clinical graduate assistants. Over the past year, the staff saw 1,336 students for personal, academic and career concerns.