TALIAS program at ECSU saves residents time and money
Kesha Williams
June 28, 2011
Thanks to a new videoconferencing program, Elizabeth City State University students and area residents now can participate in free learning programs ranging from veteran benefits and domestic violence to foreclosure prevention and workplace rights.
ECSU is one of four Historically Black Colleges and Universities joining in the videoconference workshops hosted by North Carolina Central University School of Law. The new technology, which broadcasts interactive workshops to the Elizabeth City campus, will save residents valuable time and money they otherwise would spend to attend the sessions in Durham.
NCCU School of Law received nearly $2 million for a Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant to upgrade broadband services and deploy videoconferencing to the remote sites, including at ECSU. The program is called TALIAS, or Technology Assisted Legal Instruction and Services. The goal is to use videoconferencing as a means of providing low-income residents and students at participating universities insight into various issues and the NCCU law school’s program.
Other universities participating in the program are Fayetteville State University, North Carolina A&ampT University and Winston-Salem State University.
At ECSU, the workshops are shown at Moore Hall, Room 124. They are free, but advance registration is required.
Already, more than 20 people on the four campuses participated in the recent workshop, "What to Do When Facing Mortgage Issues."
The next workshop, Workplace Rights: Equal Opportunity is the Law, will be held on June 25 from 10 a.m. to noon. Representatives from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina will give an overview of the laws enforced by the agencies and complaint processing procedures. A panel of plaintiffs’ attorneys also will be available to answer questions.
Other workshop topics this month include veterans’ benefits and domestic violence.
ECSU Chancellor Willie J. Gilchrist traveled earlier this month to NCCU to join administrators from participating universities to celebrate the opening session of the TALIAS program. Gilchrist is pleased that ECSU is one of the videoconference sites and he welcomes residents of the Albemarle to the campus for this service.
To register to attend at any location, contact Michelle S. Roberts at (919) 530-6601 or e-mail msroberts@nccu.edu.