Send business news about North Bay companies to news@busjrnl.com.Education
Santa Rosa Junior College librarians Loretta Esparza and Alicia Virtue's chapter "Art Meets Education through Technology” was recently approved for publication in the 2015 book E-Learning Innovations in Academic Libraries. Inspired by digital museum tours, Ms. Esparza and Ms. Virtue discuss their efforts to increase the practical quality of each student encounter with artwork found in SRJC's Doyle Library by developing e-learning tools and creating “interactive, multimedia art enrichment zones” through a successful outreach project called Art Talk.Employment
In a recent survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education, Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) was rated one of the best colleges to work for in the nation. It's the second consecutive year the college has received the distinction and has been named an honor roll institution. The results, released in The Chronicle's seventh annual report on The Academic Workplace, are based on a survey of more than 43,000 employees at 278 colleges and universities nationwide. Santa Rosa's was the only California community college to earn this distinction and one of only 12 nationwide to be named on the honor roll.Green
[caption id="attachment_96801" align="aligncenter" width="500"] (from left) David Horobin, board member, U.S. Green Building Council Redwood Empire chapter; Jarrod Denton, lead architect, Signum Architecture; Kathryn Hall, vintner-owner, Hall Wines; Mike Reynolds, president, Hall Wines; Craig Hall, owner, Hall Wines; Steve Leveque, director of winemaking, Hall Wines; Ann Nevero, mayor, St. Helena (credit: Lisa Heckaman)[/caption]
Hall Wines was awarded LEED Gold certification for its St. Helena modern tasting room and high-technology production facility. It's the second LEED Gold award for Hall's St. Helena property, which in 2009 was first LEED Gold winery in California. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a benchmark for construction, design and operations of green buildings. The St. Helena facility reduced stormwater runoff by 63.74 percent, used recycled materials in 11 percent of construction and saved 38 percent in water usage and reuses water to irrigate the event area lawn underground. Winemaking wastewater is recycled for vineyard and landscape irrigation. St. Helena-based Signum Architecture designed the project. The winery project also includes technology for optically sorting grapes, controlling HVAC and fermentation-tank cooling, varying wastewater treatment pond conditions, managing gravity-flow production and automating spectrophotometers.Finance
Redwood Credit Union held an official grand opening celebration for its new and expanded branch in Sonoma on Aug. 28. The branch, located at 500 W. Napa St. and in the same shopping center as the credit union's former location, features a larger, more comfortable space, a "tech bar" with mobile and online banking access, a 24-hour ATM, children's activity area and other upgrades.Hospitality
The Clif Family Bruschetteria food truck has opened in Napa Valley. The food truck will be parked just off the back patio at Velo Vino in St. Helena, serving most Wednesdays through Sundays. The truck will offer a seasonal menu of bruschetta, spiedini, salads, rotisserie chicken and sweet treats, with many ingredients sourced from Clif Family Farm. The truck's compact kitchen is manned by chef John McConnell, who previously worked with The Hillstone Group and in the Napa Valley at Michelin-starred Terra Restaurant.Consumer Products
Sonoma County-based La Tortilla Factory – a leading producer of health-conscious tortillas and wraps – has launched the industry’s first entirely Non-GMO, USDA certified Organic tortilla line. Distribution has already begun in California. Maintaining its position as an innovative company set apart by its use of superior ingredient profiles, La Tortilla Factory has been producing organic products for some time – its “Sonoma” line has included USDA Organic Certified and all natural tortillas for nearly 12 years. The statewide launch of La Tortilla Factory's new, exclusively organic line responds to the growing demand for certified organic and non-GMO food choices by health-conscious consumers. USDA Certified Organic. Not to be confused with the “all natural” or “made with organic ingredients” labeling on many tortilla products available to consumers, La Tortilla Factory’s new organic line consists of Non-GMO tortillas certified organic by the USDA National Organic Program (NOP). Education
The Larkspur-Corte Madera School District has celebrated the grand opening of its new elementary school, The Cove School. Designed by Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA), the school deviates from the typical campus to meet the changing needs of 21st century learning environments and will accommodate increased enrollment in the district, with capacity for about 450 kindergarten through fifth grade students. The five-building, 39,680 square-foot elementary school makes use of learning suites that depart from traditional stand-alone classrooms. Each suite includes two-classroom sized spaces that can be combined or differentiated by a partially transparent operable wall, allowing for collaborative and integrated teaching for group, individual and peer learning. The entrances for all suites face a central shared courtyard and the campus is anchored by a student services and cafe gathering space, which accommodates administration and counseling offices, dining, performance and exercise use, and school wide assemblies. The Cove School boasts abundant natural light, large alcoves for art and science, reading nooks and designated outdoor learning spaces, such as a central amphitheater, culinary gardens and nature exhibits. Construction for the school utilized a highly collaborative process among project partners and the district, completing in just one year. In addition to QKA and general contractor Lathrop Construction Associates, Inc., the project team includes Greystone West Construction Management, Brelje & Race Civil Engineers, Carducci & Associates Landscape Architects, O’Mahony & Myer Electrical Engineers, Costa Mechanical Engineers and ZFA Structural Engineers.Health Care
