Virginia Tech will host an information session on its Professional MBA program at noon and 5 p.m. Nov. 9.

The session will include details on admission, academics, expectations, tuition and financial aid. It will be held in the Corporate Research Center’s RBVIII Conference Room, 2000 Kraft Suite 2100, Blacksburg.

Those interested in attending can register by filling out an RSVP survey. More information can be found by visiting the program’s website, emailing mba@vt.edu or calling 231-6152.

Jason Silvers, a managing director in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs & Co., will be the featured speaker at Radford University’s Global Capitalism Distinguished Speaker Series on Nov. 3.

The series is sponsored by BB&T and has previously hosted BB&T Chairman and CEO John Allison, Ingersoll Rand strategy and innovation vice president Jason Bingham and Marketing Associates senior statistician and analytic development lead Keith Shields.

Here’s a news release from Radford University’s website:

A managing director in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs & Co. will be the featured speaker at Radford University’s Global Capitalism Distinguished Speaker Series, sponsored by BB&T, at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 3 in the Hurlburt Student Center Auditorium.

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Agilent Technologies has donated equipment to the Virginia Tech College of Science’s department of chemistry and will help to implement an instrument and software loan program for new faculty members.

The equipment, including a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer, will be available to undergraduate students.

A ceremony to announce the new partnership is scheduled for Tuesday.

Here’s the full news release from Virginia Tech:

The Department of Chemistry in the College of Science will undergo a significant upgrade of its laboratories thanks in part to a generous gift from Agilent Technologies.

One of the equipment donations, a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS), will make Virginia Tech one of the first universities in the nation to offer high-powered analytical instruments in its undergraduate teaching labs starting in the freshman year.

“Agilent’s philanthropy and commitment to the education and training of the next generation of scientists, and this partnership will enormously enhance the undergraduate laboratory experience for all students enrolled in chemistry classes,” said Jim Tanko, chair of the chemistry department.

In addition to the donation of sophisticated lab equipment, Agilent will conduct regular training and maintenance on the equipment. The partnership will include helping with the start-up of an instrument and software loan program for new faculty members.

“The partnership with Agilent will result in unprecedented, state-of-the-art facilities in support of undergraduate education at Virginia Tech,” Tanko said.

A ceremony to announce the new partnership will take place Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2011 at 2 p.m. in 402 Hahn Hall North. Parking is available in the Perry Street lot. Visitors are required to have a parking permit, which may be obtained on the ground floor of the parking garage in the Perry Street lot.

Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business professor France Belanger and three doctoral students have completed a new study on required policies and guidelines for information systems, published in the Fall 2011 issue of Pamplin magazine.

The team used Virginia Tech as a case study, examining student, faculty, staff and administrator attitudes toward a security change which required them to change their passwords by a certain date.

Here’s the full news release from Virginia Tech:

Though most organizations have policies and guidelines to protect their information systems from unauthorized access, research has shown that employee compliance is often a problem.

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VT KnowledgeWorks and WilderWeber Leadership Group have partnered to form StrategicStudio, with the goal of helping organizations plan retreats, workshops and training programs.

Here’s a press release from VT KnowledgeWorks:

VT KnowledgeWorks and WilderWeber Leadership Group have partnered to form StrategicStudio to help local and regional organizations plan and implement leadership retreats, custom workshops, and developmental training programs.

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