Highlanders in the News: Week of Oct. 23, 2023
Every other week, our Highlanders are using their education to do extraordinary things. Here, we’ll highlight some notable mentions from local, regional, national and international news media. Whether our students, alumni, faculty and staff are featured as subject matter experts in high-profile stories or simply helping make the world a better place, we’ll feature their stories.
Practice like you play
Golf lessons certainly don’t come cheap. Then there’s all the walking that’s involved, the club-carrying and the sun that must be screened, not to mention the eternal question of whether or not your favorite polo is due for an upgrade.
But you can skip all of those hassles with this handy set of free pointers from a Highlander expert, Jessica Barts ’10, a certified PGA professional in teaching and coaching who played golf while attending Radford and who’s currently stepping up the games of golfers at Carmel Country Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Last month, on the Golf Range Association of America website, Barts published a list of her own personal suggestions called “Practicing Like You Play,” part of the GRAA’s “Women Leading on the Range” features.
Barts offers such recommendations as concentrating on aim or gaining a better understanding of yardages, instead of just trying to see how far you can hit your driver. She also offers tips for building a pre-shot routine and setting up more productive practices.
“I have always taught my students that the quality of their practice is more important than the quantity,” Barts wrote.
“I would rather they practice for 30 minutes, hitting only a handful of golf balls, and do so with purpose rather than mindlessly hitting a million balls. Why not be specific with what you are trying to achieve?”
Putting themselves in Ja’s shoes
Radford’s men’s basketball team recently got the hook up from a high place – this month, the players received pairs of Memphis Grizzly point guard Ja Morant’s signature Nike sneakers, “Ja 1.”
The comp footwear didn’t come out of nowhere. Radford guard DaQuan Smith was a teammate of NBA star Morant when both attended Murray State in 2018-2019, and Radford’s current assistant coach, Shane Nichols, was also a Murray State coaching staffer at that time.
“He did a favor for me and Coach Shane,” Smith said in an Oct. 19 Roanoke Times story about the gesture.
Morant shared his shoes with other schools he has ties to as well, including the University of Memphis volleyball team and Mississippi Valley State, where his sister plays women’s volleyball.
“Best basketball shoe out right now,” Smith told the newspaper of the new Nikes. “It was good that we could … be one of the teams to get Ja 1s.”
In the piece, Nichols recalled that he foresaw Morant’s potential early enough to put in an advance request.
“I told him, before he even had a shoe, that once he got one, I wanted to get them for our team,” Nichols recalled.
“HUB” of activity
The HUB at Radford for Economic Development opened its doors Oct. 17 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, an event that drew coverage from local media outlets.
Radford University created The HUB to support economic development in the city, the region and beyond. Its location on East Main Street is now home to the Radford University Division of Economic Development and Corporate Education, as well as the Vinod Chachra IMPACT Lab, which has moved closer to campus from its previous site at Radford’s Corporate Park.
Along with the Division of Economic Development and Corporate Education, the ribbon-cutting was sponsored by the Radford Chamber of Commerce.
In an Oct. 19 report by Roanoke's WDBJ-7 news, Radford City Director of Communications Jenni Goodman said The HUB provides "economic growth and vitality, sustainable over a long period of time, but also a job opportunity and internship opportunity for students.
"We want students to stay in the area; we want them to invest in our community and love Radford as much as we do, so this is a great way to do that," Goodman said.
The Roanoke Times published coverage of the ribbon-cutting on Oct. 17 and posted a five-minute video of the ceremony itself, with remarks by Bret Danilowicz, president of Radford University.
“As of this ribbon-cutting today, we want to make it clear to everybody that, literally, Radford University is open for business,” Danilowicz announced.
Vice President of Economic Development and Corporate Education Angela Joyner was quoted in the article as identifying a major goal of The HUB: To attract businesses to move into Radford and the surrounding region as a whole.
“Something we’re very passionate about is our impact to Southwest Virginia in particular,” Joyner said. “And a lot of the work we’ve done through economic development and the Vinod Chachra IMPACT Lab has been in Southwest Virginia, where there’s the greatest need.”
Radford University’s coverage of the event can also be found here.
