Collin College Law Enforcement Academy is now the first academy in Texas to have personnel trained for the Texas Law Enforcement Peer Network (TLEPN). TLEPN is a statewide program designed to give every Texas law enforcement officer access to a specially trained peer to address stressors, trauma, fatigue, and other needs to combat workforce burnout and end police suicide and self-harm. Texas is the first state in the U.S. to have such a program. The plan is to embed a short introduction into the CCLEA Basic Peace Officer Course and also be able to offer the full 16-hour course to any external stakeholders. Four CCLEA staff members and two Collin College Police Department command staff members completed the “train the trainer” course in early November.
Collin College received two Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) Student Success Acceleration Implementation Grants. An award of $152,914 will continue to expand the college’s Academic Planning Coach Program and support first-year students with faculty and staff mentors. A second award will create “Operation Degree Completion,” which will be a consortium with Collin, the University of North Texas, and North Central Texas College to go after students within one semester of graduation but whose finances may have been an obstacle keeping them from completion. This mostly scholarship-based grant of $245,978 will support approximately 250 students across North Texas in completing their degrees.
Collin College has been selected to participate in the 2023 MENTOR-CONNECT Cohort for Technical Assistance and Mentoring Support to submit a National Science Foundation Advanced Technical Education Grant proposal for Advanced Welding. Funding for workshops and conference attendance is included. STEM faculty members Landon LaRocque and Cesar Lopez-Maldonado, along with Laura McCord as the grant professional and Mike Coffman as the administrative lead, will make up the Collin team and take part in a 10-month program to prepare a STEM project proposal for the 2023 National Science Foundation Advanced Technical Education grant solicitation.
Collin College was one of 10 colleges and universities selected to join Rice University’s OpenStax Institutional Partner Program for the 2022-2023 school year. The college will receive support from OpenStax experts as we work to save students money by increasing the use of free, openly licensed textbooks across the district.
Health Information Management Director Lydia Danton has been accepted as a Health Information Management Peer Reviewer by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM).
The Collin College Theatre Department was named a runner-up for Best In Plano Professional Theatres. The college is listed here in the right column under “Best Adult Theatre Company.”
More than 180 students attended a leadership and success event at the American National Bank Honors Institute hosted by Dr. Jay Corwin in November. Donors were present for the event and praised engagement on the campus.
More than 500 students, faculty, staff, and community members attended the first biennial Blooming Harvest event at the Farmersville Campus on Oct. 19. Attendees enjoyed live music, food trucks, face painting, bounce houses, and a petting zoo.
Over 450 students and community members attended the first annual Trunk or Treat event at the Farmersville Campus on Oct. 26. Faculty and staff decorated their vehicles, passed out candy, and engaged with students and the community.
For the second year in a row, Wylie won the Collin College Veterans Service Office canned food drive with 1,896 donated items.
Benson Kinyanjui, an advisor with ACCESS, edited and co-authored five chapters in the book, Disabilities and Accommodations in Higher Education: A Handbook for Disability Advisors, published in September 2022 by BN Press, New York. The book is available for purchase here.
Dr. LaToya Watkins, professor of English for iCollin, and Professor Scott Yarbrough Yarbrough, who teaches English at Plano Campus, were featured readers along with Oklahoma Poet Laureate Nathan Brown at The Wild Detectives bookstore in Oak Cliff during the recent American Studies Association of Texas Conference hosted by Collin College. The event was headed by Dr. Sean-Ferrier Watson, professor of English at McKinney Campus.
Eric “Gunny” Hartman, adjunct professor of English, was elected president of North Texas Mensa for 2023.
Kinesiology Professor Susan Forshaw-Evans was selected to serve a three-year term on the Texas Transfer Advisory Committee’s discipline-specific Kinesiology/Exercise Science subcommittee to assist in the development of the Texas Transfer Field of Study Curriculum (FOSC).
Vocational Nursing Graduates from Summer 2022 achieved a 100% pass rate on the NCLEX-PN exam needed to begin practice as a nurse.
Vocational Nursing Director Jane Lopes was named to the Texas Board of Nursing’s Advisory Council on Education.
Associate Degree Nursing Director Amy Wilson participated in a THECB site visit evaluating the preparedness of a new nursing program in Rio Grande City, where three hospitals and a business partner have come together to attempt to start a nursing program.
Dr. Lisa Kirby, an English professor at Plano Campus, presented a session titled “Community Colleges and COVID-19: An Exploration of Challenges and Inequities” at the Two-Year College English Association — Southwest Conference on Oct. 14.
Mackenzie Miranda, a student in the Hospitality and Foodservice Management program at Collin College, was awarded the $5,000 Alex Seymour Scholarship for a student pursuing an associate degree in Hospitality Management at the 15th Annual HOSPY Awards Gala at the Omni Hotel in Dallas. The HOSPY Awards, presented by the Hotel Association of North Texas (HANTX), recognize individuals and organizations for extraordinary achievement in the hospitality industry. Miranda was one of over 100 applicants who applied for the associate degree scholarship across the metroplex. Mackenzie has been accepted into the Disney College Program for the Spring 2023 semester. She will spend the entire semester working at Walt Disney World, where she will get the opportunity to complete an apprenticeship in all aspects of the hospitality industry. She will be assigned a mentor while she is in the program and a valuable contact upon graduation.
Dr. Eric Tobin, Hospitality and Food Service Management discipline lead, was also recognized at the HOSPY Awards. Dr. Tobin and Collin College were nominated as an allied partner to the industry for all we do to prepare the students for successful careers and the work the college does with the industry to help them with staffing.
The Celina Campus held its first Celina Student Research Symposium on Nov. 11. The symposium was a poster presentation for Professor Brett Adams’ HIST 1301 class. Seventeen students – six of whom were Celina ISD dual credit students – presented their research. There were two guest speakers: Dr. Bradley Folsom, a History professor at Grayson College, and Nasreen Ahmad, director of Institutional Research at Collin College. More than 45 people attended. Symposium organizers were History professor Brett Adams; Dr. Brian DiNuzzo, APCAA Manager; George Herrera, science lab manager; and Joan Mendez, branch manager of the Brenda Willard-Goodell Library.
The Celina Campus participated in two city of Celina events to market the Celina Campus – Beware of the Square and Christmas on the Square. Each event had over 1,000 participants. The Celina Campus participants dressed in costumes for each event.
More than 120 students attended the Health Professions job fair at the Technical Campus on Nov. 16. The event included past and current health professions students as well as LVN and RN students. Hospital systems represented were HCA, Baylor Scott & White, Methodist, Cook’s Children’s, and Parkland. Cooks and Parkland recruiters shared very kind comments about the students present.
Collin College got a shout-out on ESPN while former Lady Cougars basketball player Lucy Ibeh was playing for Texas Christian University. Collin Athletics is now streaming all basketball games on the Collin College YouTube Channel, a change from streaming on Facebook in recent years.
Dr. Ryan Farrar presented at the 79th Annual South Central Modern Language Association Conference in October.
Jacqueline Grayczyk, Sally Rosete, Tammie DeVoe, and several Collin students handed out over 4,000 pieces of candy at Wylie’s Boo On Ballard.
Dr. Sarah Lee, executive dean for iCollin Virtual Campus, has been added to the Definitions and Standards Subcommittee of the Learning Technology Advisory Committee (LTAC) for THECB.
Ann Blackman, executive director for Technology Support, presented at the Educause Conference 2022.
Polysomnography Director Amber Allen was elected president-elect of the board of directors for the Board of Registered Polysomnographic Technologists (BRPT).
Collin College’s National Student Clearinghouse Six-Year Completions data highlighted increases in almost every demographic category. The greatest opportunities for improvement are in underrepresented males and part-time students under 25 years old.
Officer Juan Campos received his Master Peace Officer proficiency certificate.