Former Board of Trustees Member Tino Trujillo passed away in late June. A founding board member who served the college for almost 30 years, Mr. Trujillo helped establish the college and guide its course until his retirement last year. Dr. David Hammel, who passed away in July, served on the board of trustees from 2004 until 2010 and was a member of the Collin College Foundation board of directors for a decade.
The National League for Nursing (NLN) once again named Collin College as a NLN Center of Excellence in Nursing Education. The Centers of Excellence program recognizes schools that have demonstrated a commitment to excellence over a sustained period of time, distinguishing themselves in nursing education.
Collin College student Fernando Osornio received the Congressional Gold Medal from the U.S. House of Representatives. This is the highest honor that may be bestowed by the U.S. House of Representatives upon a civilian under the age of 24, other than the Purple Heart. Osornio was also recognized as one of “DFW’s Next Latino Leaders.”
Collin College’s Psi Beta chapter was awarded the 2014-2015 Chapter Excellence Award from the Psi Beta National Honor Society. Fewer than 10 of the nation’s Psi Beta chapters earn this distinction each year. Psi Beta is the national honor society in psychology for community and junior colleges.
Julie Boganwright, clinical coordinator for the respiratory care program, received the “Educator of the Year” award from the Texas Society for Respiratory Care.
Michelle Millen, program director for Health Information Management, was elected chair of the Council for Excellence in Education of the American Health Information Management Association Foundation. Millen’s article, “Patient Engagement: HIM and Education Filling the Gap,” will be published in the Journal of the American Health Information Management Association in September.
The state credentialing exam pass rate for the Collin College Fire Academy graduates is 100 percent. The college’s Law Enforcement Academy maintained a perfect pass rate on the Basic Peace Officer certification exam, a 100 percent pass rate for the Telecommunications Operator certification and a 97 percent pass rate on the Correctional Officer certification exam.
Education and child development professor Sharon Hirschy’s article “Developmentally Appropriate Technology in my Classroom — But How?” was published in the summer issue of “Texas Child Care Quarterly.” Hirschy also will write a chapter on early childhood technology and family engagement in a new book by Routledge and the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Photography professor Lupita Murillo Tinnen’s latest gallery show at the University of Texas at Dallas, “Immigrant Laborers,” ran from June through July.
Angela Switzer, professor of Respiratory Care was selected as the moderator for American Association of Respiratory Care’s National Sputum Bowl — a patient care and respiratory care trivia tournament. Switzer is a current National Sputum Bowl champion representing the state of Texas and Collin College, along with respiratory care clinical coordinator Julie Boganwright.
Karen Musa was selected to serve on the Texas Restaurant Association Education Foundation for a three-year term.
Brenda Macarty, associate professor in hospitality, was recently recognized at the Strategic HR Excellence Human Resource Awards and Symposium in Irving. She was selected in the HR Specialist (for profit < 5,000) category for demonstrating “Excellence in Strategy, Innovation, Leadership and Culture” in the profession.
Six students from the Institute of Hospitality and Culinary Education program received scholarships from Meeting Professionals International to attend the Future Leadership Forum in San Francisco. The scholarship covers registration for the World Education Congress and attendance to the Future Leadership Forum. The students are Anthony Garcia, Joe Tuazon, Ivy Tuazon, Deshawn Thornton, Doby Lokman and Preeti Talwar.
Geology professor Paul Manganelli presented a lecture titled “Before the Asteroid Strike: Life in Texas during the Cretaceous period” at the Frisco Heritage Museum.
Music faculty and staff hosted more than 100 students at the annual Jazz Camp at the Spring Creek Campus. The camp offered students a chance to hone their skills and play alongside Collin College and other visiting faculty in free nightly big band concerts.
The Collin College Robotics Club sent an eight-student team to the American Society of Engineering Educators Conference in Seattle, Washington. The team came in 10th out of 22 teams.
The college’s engineering department hosted two robotics camps this summer – one of which was an All-Girls Robotics Camp – serving 73 students. During the three-day camps, emerging engineers explored a variety of principles associated with building, programming, and controlling robots. Speakers included engineers from Oncor Electric, Dell Computer, Qorvo, and Emerson Process Technologies. Oncor Electric also donated $2,000 to reduce the cost charged to the campers.
Dance student Kieran King received a $7,000 scholarship to the University of Oklahoma that is repeatable each year.
The North Texas chapter of the Information Systems Security Association presented checks totaling $7,932.71 to Collin College and the Collin College Foundation. This donation represented the funds that remained after paying all costs for the Cybersecurity Conference that was held at the Preston Ridge Campus. One thousand dollars was donated to the Collin College students’ chapter of the ISSA and the remaining $6,932.71 was donated to the Collin College Cybersecurity Scholarship Fund.