Collin College Fire Academy and Paramedic program graduate Andrew Needum has been recognized for his heroic efforts in assisting a Southwest Airlines passenger during a mid-air emergency in route from New York to Dallas. A firefighter from Celina Fire Department, Needum was on the flight with his family when a fan blade from the engine separated causing severe damage to the engine and a window on the aircraft. The female passenger seated near the window suffered blunt trauma from flying debris and was partially ejected through the window. Needum immediately responded to help pull the passenger back into the aircraft and administered CPR along with a nurse who was a passenger onboard. Despite heroic efforts, the injured passenger did not survive. Needum graduated from Collin College Fire Academy Class No. 46 in April 2010, and recently returned to Collin for his Paramedic training. He successfully completed his training and was awarded the Spirit Award for Paramedic Class No. 23 at the graduation ceremony in March.
Sr. Vice President of Academic, Workforce, and Enrollment Services Sherry Schumann was recently interviewed regarding student funded scholarships. The interview aired on NBC Channel 5.
Executive Director of Academic Technology/Network Services Shane Ammons has been accepted into the Master’s Program in Information Technology at Georgia Tech.
High winds and frigid temperatures couldn’t keep the Texas Big Star Half Marathon and Cougar Run 5K from breaking records on April 14 at Preston Ridge Campus. Hosted in partnership with the North Texas Community Giving Foundation, the event finished with 1,816 registered runners, and sponsorships topped $98,000. The male half marathon winner broke the course and race record by over one minute, and the female half marathon winner broke the course and race record by 1/100th of a second. Also, 16 runners finished under one hour 30 minutes, which is blazing fast! The Cougar Run originated during the 30th anniversary of the college as an event for alumni and friends. This year, the Collin College Foundation merged the Cougar Run with the North Texas Community Giving Foundation’s Big Star Half Marathon designating a portion of proceeds to student scholarships.
Dean Wendy Gunderson was notified by Texas Tech University that she has been accepted into the university’s Ed.D. program cohort, which will start Fall 2018.
Associate Dean Meredith Martin completed Women in Higher Education Leadership Training, March 26-29 in Long Beach/Orange County, Calif.
Collin’s Respiratory Care program has received the Distinguished RRT Credentialing Success Award from the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care. The Certificate of Recognition will be presented at a reception to be held on July 17 in San Antonio.
Collin College hosted its 3rd annual School Counselors Conference on Thursday, April 5, 2018, with over 100 in attendance representing 20 independent school districts, private schools, and home school groups from across the region. Keynote speakers and topics included Dr. Le’Ann Solmonson, Professor and Director of Counselor Education with Stephen F. Austin State University regarding the Transition from Guidance Counselor to Professional School Counselor and Michael Villarreal, former state representative and Ph.D. Researcher with the LBJ School of Public Affairs with the University of Texas at Austin regarding the Impact of Dual Credit as a School Policy. Other highlights included showcasing Collin’s new Mobile Go Center and breakout sessions presented by Collin College’s team.
About 80 people attended the college’s 20th Annual Science Day event at Spring Creek Campus, April 7. Science Day is a free event for parents, teachers, students and siblings of students at Bowman, Otto and Wilson middle schools. The free annual event is designed to get students excited about science and math early in their school careers and encourage them to investigate potential careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Subjects discussed during the event included anatomy, biology, geology, chemistry and more.
The Collin College Foundation hosted a dedication ceremony for the State Farm® Career Center at the Spring Creek Campus, April 11. At the Career Center, students learn how their strengths apply to specific career fields so they can make degree plans leading to their dream jobs in high-wage, high-demand fields. State Farm provided start-up and program funding for the center, and we salute the company’s vision for community engagement. The event drew news coverage from Fox 4 and NBC 5.
Sixteen students from Collin College represented Honduras at the National Model United Nations conference in New York, March 26-31. The students represented Honduras on the General Assembly (GA) 1, GA2, GA3. GA5, Organization for Migration (IOM), Organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons (OPCW), Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA) committees. Students Samantha Sayers and Mohammad Khan won a position paper in the GA2 committee and the entire team won Outstanding Delegation, the highest award at the conference. In other Model UN news, Model UN student Jackson Reed has been accepted into the College of Engineering at The University of California, Berkeley. Model UN student Rochelle Offret was accepted into both Stanford University and Harvard University. Only 9 percent of transfer applicants are admitted to the Engineering program at Berkeley. Only 2 percent of transfer students are admitted to Stanford and only 1 percent of transfer students are admitted into Harvard.
Asal Moini, a student assistant at the Spring Creek Campus Writing Center, was named Student Employee of the Year at a ceremony on April 12. She was nominated for her effective communication skills, her professionalism and her helpfulness. She is known for her positivity and her willingness to engage students in friendly, warm conversation. A native speaker of Farsi, she is also invaluable in helping Persian students who visit the writing center. Moini received a plaque commemorating the honor and an official Collin College diploma frame, and is now eligible to be honored at the regional and/or national levels of the National Student Employee Association awards. Other nominees for the award were: Ujjwal Bajagain; Brittany Blakemore; Sarah Chaney; Kathleen Marie Chase; Steven (Eli) Gonzalez; Sarra Guesmia; Danielle Brianna Jacquot; Mooka Liamu Ndulubila; Claire Parde; Brandon Parrent; Anna Phillips; Taylor Pierce; Robyn Rozelle; Tiffany Sia; and Ximan Yu.
Music Professor Olga Amelkina-Vera has been named a winner in two categories of The American Prize. Professor Amelkina-Vera, who recently completed her master’s degree in composition at Southern Methodist University, won first place in the instrumental chamber music (student) division for a composition titled “Submerged Worlds” and third place in the student composer opera/theater/film/dance division for “All that Glitters.” The American Prize is a series of non-profit competitions designed to recognize and reward the best performing artists, ensembles and composers in the United States based on submitted recordings. The American Prize was founded in 2009 and is awarded annually in many areas of the performing arts.
The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement has requested that the Collin College Law Enforcement Academy pilot a Special Forces veterans’ peace officer course. This will be an accelerated course designed for beginning peace officers who have previously completed Special Forces training. In accordance with Commission regulations, the course shall consist of a minimum of 286 classroom hours. The Collin College LEA is one of only three providers in Texas being asked to offer this new course.
Lee Harvey Oswald was found “not guilty” during the Collin College Political Justice League (PJL) Landmark Trial on April 13. The annual mock trial is a chance for PJL members to revisit historical events and provide a modern audience with the opportunity to see what the trial might have looked like first-hand. The trial drew a packed house to the Abernathy Courtroom at Spring Creek Campus. This year, the PJL decided to recreate the trial that could have sprung from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, if Oswald had not been killed. It was inspired by the release of some of the remaining JFK assassination records in 2017. Members of the PJL presented testimony from Oswald’s estranged wife, one of the officers responding to the scene, Texas Governor John Connelly, a secret service agent, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and Oswald, then allowed a panel of mock jurors to determine Oswald’s fate.
Dr. Cheryl Wiltse, Professor of English at the Preston Ridge Campus was recognized at the Conference of College Teachers of English (CCTE) Annual Meeting held in Stephenville in early March. Dr. Wiltse was awarded the organization’s World Literature Award for her paper, “Memoria, Alexievich, and a New Genre: A Collage of Human Voices…” It will be published in the 2018 journal CCTE Studies.
Dr. Diana Hopes, Director of Academic Planning/QEP, was recently awarded the 2018 Texas Women in Higher Education Leadership Grant. The grant provides funds to attend the annual conference this year in Frisco and to participate in the year-long TWHE Emerging Leader cohort program. Dr. Hopes’ project, Women Mentors and Role Models from College to Career, proposes to add value to Collin College’s academic planning coach and mentor programs by intentionally building a mentoring pipeline from college to career that fosters a culture of meaningful mentorship and advocacy.
Susan Cannon, Project Manager-Grants, was invited to serve as a panelist for a webinar presenting best practices for succeeding with Perkins Indicator 3P1. It was broadcast statewide on March 29 and positively received by a wide audience.
Kimberly O’Neil, Associate Professor of Government was featured March 19 in the following article: https://dallasinnovates.com/defying-the-odds-cause-studio-gives-nonprofit-professionals-organizations-tools-to-succeed/ .
Professor of Criminal Justice Lee DeBoer successfully defended his dissertation at Texas A&M University-Commerce. His dissertation is titled, “The Effects on Student Perceptions Regarding Campus Safety and Carrying Concealed Handguns on a University Campus.”
Professor of Biology Dr. Sukanya Subramanian’s former CASMNS student, Arthur Davis, has been accepted into a summer undergraduate research program at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
Professor of Math David Rice’s former algebra and pre-calculus student, Victoria Dulemba, has been admitted to Pepperdine with a 100 percent scholarship.
Professor of Commercial Art Tonya McMillion was voted the new 2018 Membership Chair of the Broadcast Education Association, an international association, in the Two Year/Small Colleges division.
Associate Professor of History Andy Galloway’s documentary, The Eviction, won an Award of Merit from the Global Shorts Festival. It is also an official selection to the CV Film Awards and the Pinnacle Film Awards.
The All College Council’s “Spring Into Action” Meals on Wheels project collected 469 boxes and $656 for an in kind contribution valued at more than $19,400. Central Park Campus donated 205 boxes and $90. Collin Higher Education Center donated 21 boxes and $200. Courtyard Center donated 37 boxes and $15. Preston Ridge Campus donated 55 boxes and $140. Spring Creek Campus donated 149 boxes and $211. Two boxes were created out of extra items sent by each campus.