Who we are
One of the first and most successful higher education centers of its kind, The Southern Virginia Higher Education Center (known as the HEC) was founded with someone just like you in mind. Like you, we live here, working, raising families, and giving back to our community. If you think it might be the right time to go back to school, you owe it to yourself to look into furthering your education through The HEC. We’ll make it easy for you to succeed.
Located in South Boston, Halifax County in the Southern region of Virginia, the HEC offers students a high quality education through our partnerships with eight Virginia colleges and universities. Here you can earn your Associate’s, Bachelor’s, and Master’s degrees in any one of 20 disciplines and 12 Degree programs. We also offer courses in everything from Nursing Assistant to Truck Driving, and Cosmetology to Cisco Certifications. As a student you get all the educational advantages offered by more traditional colleges right here in our own region.
Whatever your continuing education needs, The HEC has a program, and a schedule, that’s right for you.
Executive Director
W. W. "Ted" Bennett, Jr.
Biography
|
Where we are
The HEC campus revolves around a renovated Stem Factory tobacco warehouse, circa 1850, once owned by Export Leaf Tobacco. The Stem Factory is situated on the banks of the Dan River in South Boston, Virginia and boasts a high-tech interior in steep contrast to its historical brick façade. Over 200 student accessible computers in twenty classrooms and common areas give our students easy access to technological resources. A 16-seat mock LAN classroom with a server and a desktop computer is provided for each student for networking or server instruction. And, all classrooms are equipped with digital teacher podiums, Elmo® Desktop presentation equipment, VCRs, DVD players, computers with internet access, and full screen projectors. The HEC itself runs a Windows Server or Professional 2000 environment, or higher. Students are given accounts including data storage options and roaming profiles that follow students throughout the wireless center.
During renovation, the architects retained many of the Stem Factory’s interior features – features unique in a college building. Inside, next to high-speed computers, plasma screens and surrounded by wireless lit areas called “Hot Spots”, students walk past the original elevator works, fire-doors that were once activated by ropes that would burn through and an 1850s bucket-and-fan humidifier. The mix of the old with the new can symbolize for many students the part that South Central Virginia and tobacco played in the early days of industrial development, and the burgeoning role the HEC will play in the future of the area’s economy.
The HEC Strategic Plan
Framework for Success: A Model of Excellence for Systemic Change and Transformation of Southern Virginia
A presentation of the Center's history, plan for future growth and development, and rationale for new programming.
|
