The Collin College Foundation will tip off the Stetson & Stiletto Standoff – March Madness edition, online Saturday, March 6, as teams battle for the championship in a full-court press of basketball trivia. The clock is ticking on sponsorships and tickets, so sign up today to make a slam-dunk for student scholarships from the comfort of your easy chair! Visit www.collin.edu/foundation/events/stetson2021.html or call 972.559.3145 for details.
Collin College’s Construction Management Competition Team placed second in the 2021 National Association of Home Builders National Construction Management Competition. After receiving the Rookie of the Year award last year, the team is extremely proud of earning such a high place in a national competition. Craig Johnson, Director of Architecture and Construction Programs at Collin College, said that with all the challenges presented during the pandemic and the event being virtual, this was an especially difficult year to compete. As a reminder, this is a collaborative effort between three Construction Management students and two Computer-Aided Drafting and Design students. With the second-place finish, the college’s NAHB student chapter will receive a check for $500 and each student will receive a check for $300.
Craig Johnson, Director of Architecture and Construction Programs at Collin College, was appointed to the National Association of Home Builders’ student chapter’s national advisory committee during the International Builders Show annual meeting. Johnson said the advisory committee is “a powerhouse group of mostly four-year institutions and I am proud to have been appointed to represent Collin College.”
The Collin College Mock Trial Team competed in the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) regional competition, Feb. 5-7. The team earned 2-6 overall record in the AMTA 1G Regional, which included teams from Yale University, Princeton University, and Duke University. The record was a marked improvement from last year’s result of 0-8, with many close ballots that could have swung Collin College’s way, according to Benjamin Copeland, the Mock Trial Team head coach. Collin was the only community college competing in the regional. The students participating in Mock Trial this year included: Victoria Wittenmyer (Co-Captain, second year), Bronson Brown (Co-Captain, second year), Vivian Fallows, Eliot Fease (dual credit student), Lillian Bradley, Imaan Karachiwalla, and Kalixta Drinkard (first year). Mock trial builds invaluable skills for participants including public speaking, the art of making persuasive arguments, critical thinking, team building, and focus during pressure situations. Thank you and congratulations to the team members and Copeland for representing Collin College well, and to Plano Provost Mary Barnes-Tilley, Dean Kristen Streater, and Administrative Assistants J’Anna Mann and Gary Goldgar for their support.
State Farm announced funding of $135,000 for scholarships, student childcare, and special programs ranging from alumni professional development to educational resources during the pandemic. State Farm has been a major partner since moving to Collin County, and we’d like to commend our “Good Neighbors” for their innovative support for higher education in North Texas.
Plano Campus Writing Center Manager Rebecka Scott and Academic Affairs Dean Meredith Wang were recently awarded a $30,000 grant from Capital One for the Anthony Peterson Center for Academic Assistance (APCAA) to improve its digital presence through an embedded Canvas course and to pilot a new online appointment and tutoring platform. Through this grant, the APCAA hopes to enhance academic support, student success, and retention for online courses ahead of the opening of iCollin in the fall. In collaboration with instructional designers, district APCAA managers, the eLC, Executive Dean of iCollin Sarah Lee, and Webmaster Heather Webb-Losh, Scott created a supplemental Canvas course for the Plano Writing Center. The course is being piloted in Spring 2021 as an embedded services resource link in Plano campus Web English composition courses. Those composition courses currently serve more than 1,000 students. Also this spring, the Plano campus APCAA, which is supervised by Scott and Math and Science Lab Manager Brandon Barnhart, is piloting a new platform for scheduling appointments and meeting with students online called Accudemia, a cloud-based center management system. This has made the student registration and appointment making process faster and easier than the previously used platform.
English Professor LaToya Watkins’ two book deal with Tiny Reparations Books was noted in Publishers Marketplace. Watkins’ novel, “Perish,” is about “a Black Texan family that explores the effects of inherited trauma and intra-generational violence as the family comes together to say goodbye to their matriarch on her deathbed.” The Tiny Reparations Books imprint will also publish “Holler, Child,” a short story collection set in the same community as “Perish.” The collection deals with themes of family, guilt, betrayal, and forgiveness. In the announcement, Watkins was noted as a Public Space 2018 Emerging Writers Fellow and the Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat.
Nursing students made Valentine’s Day cards to be put into 350 Valentine goodie bags prepared by Collin College faculty and staff and delivered to Baylor Scott & White Centennial – Frisco staff to show the college’s appreciation.