Three new faculty members and seven staff members have begun work at New River Community College over the past semester.

Susan Lazear, of Christiansburg, joins NRCC as a full-time assistant professor of English. Before joining NRCC as a faculty member, she worked for 14 years at Blacksburg High School as a reading specialist. She has a bachelor’s in English from Virginia Tech and a master’s in English and education with a reading specialist certification from Radford University. Lazear has taught as an adjunct faculty member at NRCC since 2007.

Kelly Brown, of Christiansburg, is an assistant professor of nursing at NRCC. She joins NRCC full-time after previously working at Carilion New River Valley Medical Center in The Birthplace. She has a bachelor’s in exercise science from Warner University and an associate degree in nursing from Wytheville Community College. Brown will graduate in May with her bachelor’s and master’s in nursing from Lynchburg College.

Amy Watson, of Dugspur, comes to NRCC as an associate professor of nursing with the second year ADN students. Watson previously worked as an adjunct faculty member in the nursing department while also working at Carilion in Radford until she joined NRCC full-time. She graduated from the University of Phoenix in 2015 with a master’s in nursing with a specialization in healthcare education.

Travis Newman, of Radford, joined NRCC full-time in the fall as a web applications developer. He comes from National Bank after 10 years as an assistant vice president of information technology and network administrator.

Joey Williams, of Pulaski, is joining NRCC as the coordinator of emergency response and security. Williams has worked at New River for fo
ur years but was previously contracted with Dynamic Security and Admiral Security.

Nancy Denis comes to NRCC as an innovations specialist with the business and technologies department.

Michelle Melton, of Dublin, joins NRCC’s staff as an administrative assistant for dual enrollment and the Division of Business and Technologies. Before working at NRCC, Melton was a full-time student at the college while also interning in the business and technologies office.

Ivy Gibson, of Radford, is an ITV media specialist at NRCC with the distance education department. She assists with the interactive television classes that go between the Dublin campus, and Giles and Narrows high school. Before joining NRCC, she previously worked as the manager for Claire’s Boutique in the New River Valley Mall. Gibson graduated from Radford University with a bachelor’s in English and a minor in women’s studies.

Ann Akers, of Pulaski County, is the shared services distance learning/Northern Virginia Community College liaison at NRCC. She previously worked in NRCC’s distance education department for six years. NRCC offers a minimum of 12 courses per semester with NOVA, and the college supports students by proctoring their tests within the college’s testing centers in Dublin and at the mall site.

Kelly Kaiser, of Blacksburg, joins NRCC full-time as a public relations assistant after working for the Blacksburg Police Department for three years. She has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Virginia Tech

— Submitted by Kelly Kaiser