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 SVHEC) 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 SVHEC. We'll make it easy for you to succeed.
Located in South Boston, Halifax County in the Southern region of Virginia, the SVHEC offers students a high quality education through our partnerships with eleven public and private colleges and universities. You can earn your Associate's, Bachelor's, and Master's degrees in any one of 75 degree programs. We also offer courses in everything from Nursing Assistant to Truck Driving, and digital art and design and Medical Lab Technology. 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 SVHEC has a program, and a schedule, that’s right for you.
Executive Director
Dr. Elizabeth "Betty" Adams
Biography
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Where we are
The SVHEC 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 facade. 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 SVHEC 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 SVHEC will play in the future of the area's economy.
Important Organizational Documents
The SVHEC 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.
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) Report on the Analysis of Education Demand in Southside Virginia and Recommendations for Action
How the SVHEC is Leveraging Virginia Tobacco Indemnification & Revitalization Commission Funds to Innovate and Sustain Workforce Education
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