“My degree helped me succeed and increase my skills in human services, criminal law and management. Every course meant something to me and led me to successfully complete my Bachelor of Science degree.”

-Wade Viar, BSCJ, ‘21

As a father, husband and full-time employee, Wade was eager to find a program with flexible options to make balancing his responsibilities more convenient. He chose ���Ĵ�ý Online based on their ability to offer programs that allow you to study anytime and anywhere.

Wade started his journey at ���Ĵ�ý in 2018 and graduated in Spring 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and Criminal Justice. He is currently a program manager for enCircle in Lynchburg, VA, where he manages the operations for group homes and provides support to those with mental and physical disabilities. Wade’s degree has helped him expand his knowledge in many areas, including human services and management and he hopes to develop more skills in the future through his employment with the company.

There are many things Wade loves about ���Ĵ�ý Online, but his favorite are the online accessibility, the effective communication from ���Ĵ�ý team members and the one-on-one support from professors.��Wade found that ���Ĵ�ý offered courses that were consistent with “everyday life” and he could relate to in terms of material and interactions. Overall, Wade’s time at ���Ĵ�ý was more than just an education, it led to a brighter future filled with beneficial life skills that led to success in his career.

Click here to learn more about ���Ĵ�ý’s Criminal Justice and Sociology programs!

The post Cougar Spotlight: Meet Wade Viar appeared first on ���Ĵ�ý Online.

“I was able to receive my degree due to the flexible format and amazing faculty and staff at ���Ĵ�ý.”

–Barry Booth, MBA ‘21

Barry Booth is a retired police officer of 30 years and a proud veteran of the U.S. Army. In ���Ĵ�ý’s recent 2021 graduation, Booth received his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. He is now planning to use his MBA to begin a new career in Columbia, SC.

When we asked why he chose this program, Barry told us it was to establish a building block for his career. Earning his MBA provided him with valuable lessons, experiences and information that he will need in his supervisory career.

As Barry completed his coursework, he was able to work a full-time job and take care of his family through the flexibility of ���Ĵ�ý Online.

When asked to provide advice to those considering starting or returning to school, Booth said “there is no time like the present to get started.” He also mentioned he believes it is important for students to look for a program that offers flexibility in their coursework, such as ���Ĵ�ý. This will allow you to easily and successfully manage family, school work and your career at the same time.

Click here to learn more about ���Ĵ�ý’s MBA program.��

The post Cougar Spotlight: Barry Booth appeared first on ���Ĵ�ý Online.

The moment you’ve been working so hard for has finally come and gone. Graduation.

Now what is next?

It’s time to F.U.U.S.E. your life!

What does this mean? Let us explain.

F – Find Your Dream Job:�� Now that you’ve worked hard and earned your degree, it’s time to find the job you have aspired for all your entire life! Take advantage of networking opportunities on social media and connect with your fellow alumni. These connections can lead you to an unexpected mentor in your desired field, and can help you land an interview for your dream career!

U – Update Your Resume: Since you have graduated, it’s time to update your resume. Your resume should now have a professional layout to it, rather than one of a student’s. It should include your top skills, be easy to read, use professional language and list your accomplishments in a measurable format. Contact Angie McAdams at ���Ĵ�ý’s Center for Community Engagement and Career Competitiveness to ensure your resume is top-notch for your next interview! Click here for her contact information.

U – Update Your Appearance: When it comes to updating your look, we don’t mean to run to the nearest Target. However, if you wore mainly t-shirts and hoodies throughout your studies, it may be time to gain a more professional image before your next big interview. As you enter into the job market, it is important to make sure your overall appearance is professional. Also, it is best practice to review all of your social media accounts after graduation. As you review, make sure all pictures and postings display you in a positive light. Any you find that may not, now is the perfect time to delete them!

S – Set Your Goals: Now that you have accomplished your goal of graduation, it is an excellent time to set new goals for your post-graduate career. Do you want pay off your student loans by a certain date? Do you have a dream job in mind? Do you want to own a home, or move far away? These goals should be based on what you want in life, so you can plan your next action steps to accomplish them.

E – Evaluate Your Objectives: Now that you’ve set your goals. It’s time to evaluate them. Decide on how you are going to accomplish them in a timely manner. Do you want to pay off your student loans in five years? Action item: Start setting aside $500 a month for my loans. Do you want to work for a CPA firm? Action items: Update my resume, network with other CPA’s, and start taking the CPA exam. Evaluate your goals in a manner so you can create easy to accomplish action items for yourself. This will in turn make your goals much more attainable, and you will find yourself achieving your goals more quickly!

Even though you have graduated, education never stops! Continue to learn and expand your knowledge within your field. ���Ĵ�ý Online offers an Alumni Scholarship to all of their Alumni. Click here to learn more about this offer!

Click here to learn about ���Ĵ�ý Online’s programs!

The post It’s Time to F.U.U.S.E. Your LIFE! appeared first on ���Ĵ�ý Online.

I had several favorite things about ���Ĵ�ý. I liked living on campus even though I lived in Danville. The small classes allowed me to talk directly to the instructors, and gained one-on-one attention in my studies. Also, the family-like atmosphere of ���Ĵ�ý made it feel like I was at home. -Connie Jennings, BA’82, MBA’07, M.Ed.’08

Connie Jennings is a three time ���Ĵ�ý graduate. She chose ���Ĵ�ý for its Theatre department, and Ms. Betty Smith. Ms. Smith was one of ���Ĵ�ý’s acting, directing, and public speaking professors at the time of Connie’s enrollment. She was also an one-act theatre judge for a play Connie performed in. After seeing Connie perform in a play, Ms. Smith encouraged her to attend ���Ĵ�ý.

Connie’s undergraduate degree in English and Theatre has helped her to obtain teaching positions at George Washington High School. Her additional graduate level degrees have helped to excel her career even more, and gave her personal satisfaction along the way.

We asked Connie what her advice was for someone debating going back to school, and she said “I would tell them to go. One of my favorite quotes is by the late blues singer, B. B. King who said, “The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it from you.”

The post Meet Connie, a Three Time ���Ĵ�ý Graduate appeared first on ���Ĵ�ý Online.

“My favorite aspect of ���Ĵ�ý is that you can get a top notch degree and still experience the benefit of developing personal and genuine relationships with your professors. I still see and occasionally interact with many of the professors I had almost 40 years ago. I love the fact that the staff and faculty are part of the Danville community and that they still make me feel like I’m part of the ���Ĵ�ý Family.” – Dean Hairston, BFA’84

Dean Hairston graduated from ���Ĵ�ý in 1984 with Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. Dean’s undergraduate degree laid the educational foundation for a life-long and continued learning experience for him. It provided the structure he needed to be successful in the business sector, and provided important social skills to effectively communicate with those in his community and career.

Deputy Chief Hairston’s degree not only gave him the foundation for his law enforcement career, but allowed him to excel in it as well. Dean has received numerous awards and honors throughout his career. However, his achievements do not stop there. He has had the privilege of speaking on Capitol Hill, C-SPAN, PBS, CBS, and the History Channel. Also, he has been invited to the White House on three different occasions as a Subject Matter Expert on Police Intelligence and Communications. Dean has also graduated from the FBI National Academy Class #246 in 2011; where he was invited back to teach grant writing.

Dean’s advice to students is to “Focus on learning everything you can, but most of all; Enjoy the Journey! You will never have another networking opportunity like the academic process, so make the most of it!”

Learn more about ���Ĵ�ý’s Criminal Justice & Sociology Programs!

The post Learn How ���Ĵ�ý Has Helped Dean appeared first on ���Ĵ�ý Online.

From a couch at ���Ĵ�ý’s Riverview Campus, to an office in Folsom, California, ���Ĵ�ý alumnus Kevin Jang ’15, ’17, attributes his success to three things: the values his parents instilled in him at a young age, being a student in the ���Ĵ�ý GPS program and his work at Infinity Global.

“Never lose the hustle. If I wasn’t going to school, and working here (at Infinity Global) at the same time, I would have never developed the hustle that I have. I attribute that to the MBA program at ���Ĵ�ý and this company. That work ethic and gumption will always stay with me.”

He calls it his transformation process in which he learned his potential.

Kevin Jang was born and raised in South Korea. As a young boy, he says his parents asked him if he wanted to go to middle school in China. At the time, Kevin dropped out of elementary school to chase his passion of becoming a pro gamer; however, Kevin’s parents were so worried that he was making such a big decision at a young age that they wanted to broaden Kevin’s perspective by giving him more opportunities in another country. Instead of questioning his parents, he trusted them, and as a 12-year-old boy he left home.

“I simply noticed the importance both countries, China and Korea, put on learning English and realized that there is no escaping it regardless of where I went. That really opened my eyes and I knew that, from my experience of learning Chinese, the best way to learn a language is to completely immerse yourself in that culture.”

Jang says all the children in China already knew the English language, something he was behind in and that made him feel inferior.

“I thought to myself, I should be able to speak English as well but at the time, I barely knew the alphabet.” That pushed him to work harder.

“My objective of going to America was quite simple: to learn the language, English. But during my journey, I gained much more than just that. I loved the freedom and the diverse education it provided. I was able to blossom in the right culture and assimilate in a positive way. I was learning English at that time, without knowing the full benefits it would bring later in my future, such as being able to lead international projects involving European, American and Asian clients, helping manage distribution centers in 11 different countries and more.”

Jang came to America in 2007. He attended Broad Run High School in Ashburn, Va. from 2008-2012. Starting high school, he could speak Korean and Chinese, but barely any English. So he enrolled in an English as a Second Language (ESL) program with other international students. He took one year of the three-year program and tested out to graduate early.

Always looking towards the next step, his higher education journey led him to ���Ĵ�ý for its “love for diversity.”

“I received the Presidential scholarship and without that, I would not be here,” he said. “Without ���Ĵ�ý’s love for diversity, I would not be here. After receiving the scholarship and researching the University, I found that ���Ĵ�ý really embraced not only domestic diversity, but international diversity as well.”

“Without ���Ĵ�ý’s love for diversity, I would not be here. After receiving the scholarship and researching the University, I found that ���Ĵ�ý really embraced not only domestic diversity, but international diversity as well.”

He did not obtain his green card until his second semester in ���Ĵ�ý. This was an important and timely goal for Jang, because as a permanent resident, he could obtain working status, which was crucial for him to stay and excel at ���Ĵ�ý. He wanted to have a full-time job while being a full-time student because it was important for his family.

“This meant that I was able to legally work to finally support my parents financially. They have been struggling economically for a while and it had been weighing on my heart for quite some time. It was a huge relief for our family.”

It was in his second year when he landed his first job as a marketing analyst at a start-up company, AllergEase, which later proved to be a crucial stepping stone for his future. He said it was his academic advisor at ���Ĵ�ý who helped him get an interview with AllergEase.

“Without this opportunity, I’m not sure where I would be now.”

Working and going to school full-time, Kevin occasionally utilized one of the empty classrooms at ���Ĵ�ý’s Riverview Campus to catch some rest during his break.

“I often felt sleep-deprived. So during my break at AllergEase, I would walk across the street, turn off the lights and put my head down for a minute at Riverview.”

Just trying to rest one day between school work and work, on a couch in one of the classrooms, Jang woke up to a conversation that would change his life.

That’s when Carly Pearce, executive director for Graduate and Professional Studies (GPS) student services, found Jang. She realized his work ethic and potential, and offered him a job as her graduate student teaching assistant. This meant he would be able to get his master’s degree.

“The fact that I was able to earn my master’s degree without the financial burden is what really meant a lot to me personally, as my family has been struggling monetarily.”

“The fact that I was able to earn my master’s degree without the financial burden is what really meant a lot to me personally, as my family has been struggling monetarily.”

Jang started working for Pearce after receiving his undergraduate degree. Around that time, he got a new job at Infinity Global because AllergEase was leaving the area.

That summer, Jang had quite the busy schedule.

“I would work daily from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. at Infinity Global, on Tuesdays I had class from 6-10 p.m., and Monday through Friday, I also worked as a GA from 6-10 p.m. From Monday through Friday, I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t have time nor energy to go out or network. I barely made time to go to the gym to decompress and recharge, just to get home right around midnight to repeat the same hustle the next day.

“I told myself that you have to do it, you don’t have an option. On the weekends, all my time was dedicated to working on my academics – writing papers, preparing presentations and collaborating with classmates on group projects – and catching up on sleep. I do remember going to sleep Saturday morning and waking up Sunday morning, saying to myself, ‘did I really lose a day? I’ve got to put in extra work to make up for the lost time!’ I was focused.”

It was that focus that now has Jang promoted to a new job with Infinity Global in California, working directly with the senior vice president as a business operations analyst.

“At Infinity Global, we look for people that possess three key things. We are looking for people who are hungry, humble and smart. Kevin possesses all three of these things and it is why he has been successful in his various positions at Infinity Global. Having Kevin in California allows me to work with him on a more frequent basis and will help him develop his career with us more quickly,” said Kevin Palmer, senior vice president.

Kevin’s position as Business Operations Analyst was designed to help Infinity Global improve its departmental reporting and create key performance indicators that will allow departmental managers to improve the management of their workload, their direct reports and projects.

“I’ll look back to the experience I had at ���Ĵ�ý and will always be grateful.”

“I’ll look back to the experience I had at ���Ĵ�ý and will always be grateful.”

Learn about our MBA programs

The post Three Countries, Two States and One ���Ĵ�ý Alumnus: How Kevin Jang Found His Way appeared first on ���Ĵ�ý Online.

“What made me decide to pursue my degree as an adult, was based on the fact that I want to be more marketable and also be able to impact people in my day-to-day life.” – Joseph A., BSCJ Student 18′

“What made me decide to pursue my degree as an adult, was based on the fact that I want to be more marketable and also be able to impact people in my day-to-day life. I’m very busy. I mean at times I work 16 hours in a day.

Traveling on the road, I am able to sit down to say I need to do it. So being able to juggle my personal life and also having time to do my assignment, the motivation is there.

What kept me motivated to finish my degree is the word ‘failure’. I don’t want to fail in life and also I want to be able to impact my kids, my grandkids and also motivate my niece and nephews that even though I am not that old, and I pursue my education, they can also look at me as a role model. To also keep on, you know, educating themselves.

The advice I would give to a current student or somebody that is interested to go to school is for the need to have the attitude, believe in themselves, have the courage and determine that if I can do it, anybody else can do it. I wish anybody the best of luck.”

Learn about our Sociology and Criminal Justice Programs.

The post Learn Why Joseph Chose ���Ĵ�ý to Pursue his BSCJ appeared first on ���Ĵ�ý Online.

Hello, I’m Chad Overby, I work for Essex Bank as a Loan Documentation Specialist. I have earned a Bachelors in Business Administration.

What made you decide to pursue your degree as an adult?

I didn’t have the means to go when I was younger and wanted to pursue a degree for career advancement.

Why did you choose ���Ĵ�ý’s Graduate & Professional Studies program?

My wife attended ���Ĵ�ý through the GPS program and earned her bachelors and then her Masters. I heard only good things about the school and the program fit into my busy schedule.

How was your experience interacting with the ���Ĵ�ý team?

Everyone was very helpful through the entire process from admission to graduation. The staff and faculty were always willing to help and were very knowledgeable.

What advice would you share for current and incoming students in ���Ĵ�ý’s GPS Program?

My advice is don’t putt off until tomorrow��what you can do today. It is possible to achieve your goals. It may not always be easy and sacrifices will have to be made, but YOU CAN DO IT!

What kept you motivated while in your degree program?��

I was motivated by my daughter, I want her to be able to look at her Dad and be proud of me. At graduation it was all worth it when she gave me a big hug and kiss and said “Daddy you won!!”

Read 6 Reasons Why Now is the Perfect Time to Earn Your BBA Degree

Learn more about our BBA program

Download BBA Requirements

The post Learn why Chad chose ���Ĵ�ý to pursue his BBA appeared first on ���Ĵ�ý Online.

“I chose to study at ���Ĵ�ý because from the get-go, every person that I talked to was so energetic and enthusiastic and helpful.” – Jennifer W., BBA ’18

Learn about our Bachelor of Business Administration program today.

“The moment I decided to go back to school, was probably one of the most fearful times in my life. I was nervous. I didn’t think that I would be able to do it.

I chose to study at ���Ĵ�ý because from the get-go, every person that I talked to was so energetic and enthusiastic and helpful. Halfway through the program, my husband and I got pregnant and it just got overwhelming. ���Ĵ�ý adjusted as my life adjusted. I was able to continue classes and fit them in, as my life changed drastically.

The motivation to finish my degree was my family. Every hard class that I went through, every late night studying, every all nighter writing a paper, I kept my family in mind. It is important to me to give my girls that strong, independent, educated female figure, so that they have someone to look up to. And, they realize that if they truly want something, and they go after it, they can achieve it.”

The post Learn Why Jennifer Chose ���Ĵ�ý to Pursue Her BBA appeared first on ���Ĵ�ý Online.

“If you’re thinking about returning to school, I would highly encourage it. It’s a short term sacrifice for a long term gain.”�� – Wendy M., M.Ed. ‘18

Learn about our Master of Education programs.

The post Learn Why Wendy Chose ���Ĵ�ý to Pursue Her M.Ed. appeared first on ���Ĵ�ý Online.