Dr. Betsy Summerfield, Human Resources manager at Southwest Virginia Community College, has been awarded the Risk Management Certificate from the Virginia Risk Control Institute (VRCI). VRCI is a partnership between the Department of Human Resources Management’s Workers’ Compensation Services, Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Business and the Department of Treasury’s Division of Risk Management.
VRCI participants complete a rigorous program of study that requires mastery of a number of key Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) program topics and issues. Participants are evaluated in HSE laws, regulations, and regulatory processes; accident/injury causation; the design and operation of accident/incident data reporting and collection systems; analyzing complex processes and systems; identifying and prioritizing risks; “designing out” significant loss producing hazards and threats; and, a variety of additional specialized programmatic topics, such as ergonomics and accident cost-accounting.
Summerfield completed her B.S. in Business Administration from Appalachian State University; MBA in Management from Golden Gate University; and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from East Tennessee State University.
She has over 25 years experience in the Human Resources Management field in both the public and private sector. In addition, she completed an internship at Leeds University where she conducted research on England’s employment laws and fringe benefits. She has conducted extensive research on workplace violence and published articles related to this topic.
Summerfield has also worked with several companies and governmental agencies conducting workforce development seminars in management, sexual harassment, time management, performance evaluations, employment law and workplace violence