Last semester Dr. Chuck Blauvelt, Associate Professor of Health and Physical Education, had to get used to teaching students who were a little shorter than usual.
     Blauvelt taught physical education at Prince Edward County Elementary School as the first participant in the college' Faculty Connections Program, which enables faculty members to gain work experience off campus. "We want faculty to come back enriched, knowing what the environment is like so they can help our students,² said Dr. Norman Bregman, Vice President for Academic Affairs.
     From January through June, he taught students mostly in grades K-2. He taught seven to nine classes daily, including a stretch every day of six consecutive classes with no break, and a total of 39 classes each week. "The pace was physically demanding,² he said.
     Faculty Connections experiences will be done by three professors this academic year. This fall Dr. Edward Adusei, Associate Professor of Economics, is working in his native Ghana as a general manager for foreign operations with Dara Salam Group, a Ghanaian conglomerate; and Dr. James Munson, Associate Professor of History, is doing research and evaluating and cross-referencing educational packages with Learning Sites, a small company based in Williamstown, Massachusetts, that uses computers to disseminate information about ancient buildings and archaeological sites. In the spring Dr. Carolyn Cooper, Associate Professor of Guidance & Counseling, will work with counselors in public schools in Nottoway and York counties, with emphases on career counseling and on how schools implement crisis plans.
     The Faculty Connections program was cited in a story, "The Stay-at-Home Sabbatical Increases in Popularity,² in the July 23 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education (pp. A16-18). Blauvelt and Bregman are quoted in the article, and Blauvelt is one of three faculty members whose photos accompany the story.

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