Alpha Mu Tau, Collin College’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter continues to excel by winning multiple awards this year. Its Texas regional convention was March 5-8 and the annual Catalyst Convention was April 16-17. This year, because of the COVID-19 response, it was a virtual Catalyst. Below is a list of the awards that the Alpha Mu Tau Chapter won.
Texas Regional Awards 2020
- Five Star Chapter Award
- Honors in Action and College Project Participation Award
- District II Horizon Award: Dr. John Macready
- District II Hall of Honor:
- Ramsha Akhtar
- Hailey Mathis
- Oliver Myers
- Garrett Norwine
- Saniya Syed
- Safia Sharif
- Jonatan Gregorio
- Alpvin Kipkirui
- Texas Hall of Honor for College Administrators for the Texas Region of Phi Theta Kappa: Dean Wendy Gunderson
- Friend of Texas award: Debbie Burrow
- Community Service award: First place for CougarThon Children’s Miracle Network Dance Marathon
- Second place in Speech Competition: Ramsha Athar Akhtar
- First place in Speech Competition: Saniya Syed (State representative at Catalyst)
- Hall of Honor for Chapter Members 2020: Robert Reinhardt
- Hall of Honor for Chapter Officer 2020: Neel Dodhia
- Hall of Honor for Advisors Award 2020: Dr. Jessica Hargis
- Hall of Honor for Advisors Award 2020: Professor Brandy Jumper
- Distinguished Chapter Advisor Team Award 2020: H. Jessica Hargis, Brandy Jumper, Zack Shipley and John Macready
- College Project Award of Merit 2020
- Top Texas Chapter Award – Ninth in the Texas Region 2020
- Continued Excellence Award 2020
- Alumni Appreciation Award 2020: James Carter
- The Chapter campaigned to hold the District II Vice President position for the Texas Region. The Chapter won the election and selected Jonatan Gregorio as the DII VP Representative.
Catalyst Awards 2020
- 2020 Five Star Region (If a majority of the region chapters obtain Five Star status, the Region is considered a Five Star Region)
- 2020 Five Star Chapter
- 2020 PTK Distinguished College Administrator Award: Wendy Gunderson
- 2020 PTK Distinguished Advisor Award: H. Jessica Hargis
- 2020 PTK Distinguished Advisor Award: Brandy Jumper
- 2020 PTK Distinguished Member Award: Robert Reinhardt
- 2020 PTK Distinguished College Project Award: Confronting the Stigmas of Community College (Collin is one of 51 winners out of 1,300 chapters internationally)
- 2020 PTK Top 100 Chapter (based on its equally-weighted Honors in Action and College Project scores)
- 2020 Beta Alpha Continued Excellence Award (Collin is one of 11 winners out of 1,300 chapters internationally. This honor is awarded to chapters named a Distinguished Chapter for three years consecutively).
- Oliver Myers campaigned to be a part of the International Officer team as Division II VP. Because of the online nature of Catalyst, the campaign moved from a face to face format to an entirely social media based campaign. Oliver rose to the occasion campaigning for almost four weeks on Facebook and Instagram (there were 38 candidates, eight for DII VP). Although Oliver was a finalist, he did not win the election
The Chapter remains active online during this time and is currently working on ideas for Honors in Action and College Project as well as doing service and fellowship (all online). The chapter will hold its Spring induction online April 27. Congratulations to the chapter on its continued honors and thank you for representing Collin College well.
Collin College loaned ventilators to Baylor Scott & White-McKinney and Methodist Dallas Medical Center to assist with the shortage of ventilators due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The college has loaned several ventilators at this point and will loan nine in total. Additionally, the college donated PPE (masks, gowns, and gloves) to Baylor Scott & White-McKinney, Medical City Dallas, Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Parkland, Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas, and UT Southwestern Medical Center to assist with the PPE shortages caused by the virus. Collin alumni are also on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic as they manage critical care ventilators and provide therapeutic interventions for patients. Respiratory care students receive extensive training in managing ventilators and treating cardiopulmonary disease.
Eight Collin College Faculty and Staff members have been awarded a League For Innovation in the Community College’s 2019 League Excellence Award. The award recognizes outstanding faculty, staff, and leaders in the community college field who have made a significant difference in the lives of students and in the communities their colleges serve. This is the third year that Collin College has participated in the awards (previously known as the John and Suanne Roueche Excellence Awards). The awardees from Collin College are: Ketia Bradley, Program Manager, Medical Assistant, CE Healthcare; Deborah Cardenas, Professor of Biology; Nancy Huff, Administrative Assistant for Workforce Development; Courtenay Jauregui, Professor of Education; Suzanne Jones, Professor of Art Education; Lisa Means, Professor of Photography; Tom Mokake, Jr., Admission Records Assistant; and Julie Turnbow, Professor of Developmental Math.
More than 400 people celebrated our 35th anniversary at the Collin College Foundation’s Stetson & Stiletto Standoff on Feb. 29 at the Frisco Campus. The event raised more than $225,000 and set a record for attendance. Special gratitude is extended to Dr. John Anthony, Bill Cox and Dr. Bob Collins who led a 35th anniversary champagne toast while students from Professor Kathy Morgan’s OneSound a capella group sang “Happy Anniversary, Collin College.” Professor Jill McCord’s Pastry Art class also deserves praise for the desserts that were a perfect complement to the mouth-watering buffet from our in-house catering department. This unforgettable moment in college history was made possible by an army of sponsors, supporters, volunteers, and staff, so sincerest thanks go out to everyone who helped raise scholarships for our students.
For the third year, state final competition for the Texas Academic Decathlon was held at the Frisco Campus March 6-8. Forty teams comprising 360 students competed in the three-day event for honors and scholarships. The Texas Academic Decathlon is an academic competition where high school teams of nine students from three academic levels – three “A” students, three “B” students and three “C” students – compete as a team in their knowledge of arts, mathematics, language & literature, music, economics, science and social science. Students also compete in the areas of speech and interview, and as well as the “Super Quiz.” This is a huge undertaking. Thank you to Dr. Don Weasenforth for his support for the event and all the volunteers who proctored exams, judged competitions, aided with the Super Quiz and helped with the awards ceremony. Thank you to Bryan Rasmussen who coordinated the entire event, and his committee including David Boozer, Catherine Duke, Sean Ferrier-Watson, Diana Sage, and Kaycee Washington, and staff members Janice Kranz and Renee Long. Hundreds of volunteers from the Frisco Campus, the college and the community aided in the event which ran smoothly thanks to all of their work and the support from the volunteers.
The Nursing program received the Texas Board of Nursing Board approval for an abbreviated curriculum change to the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program that allows Collin College to admit Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVN) as a separate cohort to the ADN program. This change offers LVN learners a more flexible class schedule and increases the didactic hours while reducing the number of clinical hours needs to complete the ADN program based on their prior nursing experience. Applications are being accepted now for a summer start to this revamped program. We have already received interest from over 200 applicants.
Adjunct Humanities Professor Amanda Ledwon was named one of five finalists for the DFW World Affairs Council International Educator of the Year. She was scheduled to be an honored guest at an awards ceremony March 15.
Adjunct Spanish Professor Cristina Gonzalez Boles has been accepted to present at the Medical Spanish and Internship program in Soria, Spain, for the VI International Colloquium on Languages, Cultures, Identity in Schools and Society.
Adjunct Embedded Spanish Professor Katharine Isbell co-presented “From Start to Finish: Anatomy of a Proficiency Based Lesson” at the Region X Language Summit.
Dr. Marta Moore, Humanities Professor presented, “World Literature in the Central European Context” as a panelist for “An invitation to Genius: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the 21st Century Student.”
Dr. Troy Doucet, Adjunct Humanities Professor, was invited to present a chapter from his dissertation on “Heidegger, Technology, and Religious Experience” at The Queens College, University of Oxford March 26-27 at the University of Oxford Conference on Religious Studies. That presentation has been delayed because of travel restrictions.
Craig Johnson, Director of Architecture and Construction, was asked to serve on a State of the Industry Summit for the Dallas Builders Association, March 19. The State of the Industry Summit was scheduled to feature experts on the biggest challenges facing the DFW residential construction market. The event is being postponed until September due to concerns about spreading COVID-19.
The Frisco Campus (Preston Ridge) hosted the first LEGO League Junior Competition with 120 middle school students in attendance along with their parents. Professor Yiping Wang and students promoted Collin’s Robotics Club.
An Environmental Science/CASMNS Research student in Professor Tamara Basham’s ENVR-1401 classes provided an oral presentation about their research on the impacts of an invasive grass on native grass fungal associates at the Texas Academy of Science Annual Conference Feb. 28-29.
Professor of Theatre Gail Cronauer appears in the film “One of These Days,” directed by Bastian Gunther. Inspired by the East Texas “Hands on a Hard Body” contest, the film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February and was planned to screen at the South by Southwest Festival in March before that event was cancelled.
Lupita Murillo was be part of a group exhibition at the University of Texas at Dallas SP/N Gallery. The exhibition titled “Light Waves” was scheduled to run Friday, March 27-Saturday, April 25. For more information, visit www.utdallas.edu/ah/events/detail.html?id=1220453813.
Dr. Mary McRae extended kudos to Dean Craig Leverette and Associate Dean Daphne Babcock for developing the entire inaugural schedule of classes for the new Wylie Campus.
More than 60 architects, civil engineers, and designers attended the Association for Learning Environments monthly meeting held at the Public Safety Training Center, Feb. 19. Fire Science Director Pat McAuliff and Law Enforcement Director Scott Donaldson teamed with PBK Architects, CORE Construction and RWB Consulting Engineers to give a presentation showcasing the unique design features and applications of the Public Safety Training Center.
Plano Campus Scholarly Communications Librarian Mindy Tomlin gave an invited presentation on “Cosplay and Fan Culture” at Texas Christian University, Feb. 19.
Over the last several weeks, advisors and degree specialists have been reviewing a list provided by the Institutional Research Office of students who appeared to be close to their degree/certificate but had not been awarded one. This situation occurs because students transfer without applying for graduation, pursue one area without realizing they had completed a degree/certificate in another one, or any number of other causes. Reviewed students also were not currently enrolled. Of 986 students reviewed, 370 are being awarded an associate degree or academic certificate and 199 are within one class of graduation. Those students are being re-recruited to complete their credential. Thank you to everyone who worked on this important project, the academic advisors and degree plan specialists, and IRO, particularly David Malone and Marina Kuryshina for creating the system that allowed it to happen.
All 15 of this year’s second year Dental Hygiene students took their National Board Exam over Spring Break and everyone passed. The students got to take their exam just before they shut down the testing site.
The Surgical Assisting program has a 100% pass rate for its certification exam. This is the first graduating class for Surgical Assisting.
The Nursing Simulation faculty successfully implemented the first virtual clinical capstone for graduating students. Eighty-four percent of the students passed the clinical capstone experience (which measures clinical judgment) on the first attempt and 100% of students successfully completed the capstone after a second attempt.
Of graduates that took Registered Nurse licensure exam, the unofficial pass rate for December graduates is 89.06%.
Professor Lee DeBoer published the Criminal Justice textbook Ethics in The Criminal Justice System which he co-authored with two other professors.
The Texas Board of Nursing approved an abbreviated curriculum change for the LVN to RN program as part of the Associate Degree Nursing Education Program. The proposed Vocational Nursing program submitted a proposal to the Board of Nursing for approval.
Tanya Sanchez, Health Professions Faculty, recently completed her Doctorate of Nursing Practice. Sanchez was one of the first faculty members to teach in the Health Sciences Academy. She teaches the Nurse Aide (NURA) classes, including clinicals. She also worked on the proposal for the Activity Care program. Congratulations to her on this achievement.
Collin College’s Public Relations department won a silver Paragon award from the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR) for an article publicizing the college’s culinary and hospitality cornerstone class. The article, “Collin College’s Red Room: A Trial by Fire for Student Chefs,” had earned a gold in the organization’s regional contest in October 2019. This year’s NCMPR national convention was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the awards were announced in early April.
Collin College alumnus Dylan Rafaty has been named to the Governor Greg Abbott’s Committee on People with Disabilities. The founder/chief navigator of DylanListed, a support services provider focusing on consulting, employment, and training opportunities for people with disabilities and director of Business Development Partnerships of C-Hear, Inc., a technology company focused on digital accessibility, serves on numerous executive boards including as Social Responsibility Committee chairman of IAICDV, an Advisory Council Member of Angel City Sports, and an Advisory Board Member of Sandlot Children’s Charity, and Care and Mercy Foundation.