The Southern Virginia Higher Education Center (SVHEC) recently hosted a ribbon cutting and open house to officially welcome Longwood University’s Institute for Teaching Technology Through Innovative Practice (ITTIP) to the SVHEC campus. Formerly located on Broad St. in South Boston, ITTIP relocated to the 820 Bruce St. campus in November 2015. The Southern Virginia Higher Education Foundation (SVHEF) remodeled the Leggett Resource Center to create five offices, a conference room, and storage for the Institute.

Longwood University Provost Dr. Joan Neff and Dean of the College of Education and Human Services Dr. Paul Chapman attended the ceremony and helped cut the ribbon on ITTIP’s new space. In her remarks Dr. Neff stated, “ITTIP fits really nicely with Longwood’s overall core mission to equip people to become citizen leaders. Having the opportunity to work with teachers and continue our progress as an institution that’s always valued education and preparing people to be educators, and to marry that with an emphasis on technology and the STEM field and provide teachers with that additional in-service training they need to work more effectively with students, is very much in keeping with Longwood’s history and tradition.”

ITTIP is a K-12 outreach initiative of Longwood University specializing in providing professional development for K-12 teachers in best practices for teaching and incorporating technology into the classroom. A primary focus for professional development is the integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the classroom.

SVHEC Executive Director Dr. Betty H. Adams remarked, “Our relationship with Longwood University is so special. They are one of our founding educational partners and it’s thanks to Longwood’s advocacy and support that the SVHEC, this year, is celebrating 30 years of providing educational access to citizens in rural Southern Virginia. By forging collaborative partnerships like we’re doing with ITTIP and the Longwood Small Business Development Center we are providing citizens with the education and training that has the power to transform lives and our community.”

Director Dr. Paula Leach leads ITTIP with support from Stephanie Playton (instructional design specialist), Bill Wilson (senior technology engineer), Susan Throckmorton (office manager) and Barbara Scott (logistics coordinator). For more information visit www.ittip.org.