Contact: Sammy McDavid
More than 20 community college leaders from Mississippi and Alabama are about to take part in a weeklong professional development program organized by Mississippi State University.
The 2001 Mid-South Community College Fellowship Program is holding its annual summer leadership retreat Sunday-Friday [July 22-27] at the Lake Tiak O'Khata Conference Center near Louisville.
Now in its eighth year, the fellows program gives special attention to the encouragement and training of minorities and women for leadership positions. Participating institutions, along with the State Board for Community and Junior Colleges and the Lower Pearl River Valley Foundation, provide support.
Ned Lovell, MSU educational leadership department head, said the program he helped found is the first and only university-based endeavor in Mississippi specifically focused on future community college leadership. To take part, participants must be nominated either by their institution's president or the community/junior college board.
"It is important to nurture and prepare the next generation of community college leaders," Lovell said. "That is what this undertaking is all about."
Problem-based learning, team building, technology in education, conflict management, and workplace diversity are among areas covered during the training. Initially developed as a one-week session, it has evolved into a yearlong continuing education effort for both the new and more than 170 previously inducted members.
Lovell said administrators from Mississippi's two-year colleges will be joined at the 2001 session by colleagues from Alabama's Bessemer State Technical College in Bessemer and Bevill State Community College in Sumiton, near Jasper.
Clyde Muse, longtime president of Hinds Community College, will deliver the program's keynote John C. Stennis Memorial Lecture on Wednesday. The following day, Mississippi Economic Council head Blake Wilson will inaugurate the program's Mid-South Economic Forum Lecture Series.
The new Mid-South Community College Fellows include:
BESSEMER STATE TECHNICAL COLLEGE--Charles Fowler, general education department chair and instructor of horticulture and mathematics.
BEVILL STATE TECHNICAL COLLEGE--Max Weaver, director of student services.
COPIAH-LINCOLN COMMUNITY COLLEGE/NATCHEZ CAMPUS--Bettye Mullen, director of student support services.
COPIAH-LINCOLN COMMUNITY COLLEGE/WESSON CAMPUS--Michael Tanner, business manager.
EAST CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE--Brent Gregory, director of student life and student recruitment, and Mickey Vance, vice president for business operations.
HINDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE/RAYMOND CAMPUS--Joan Davis-Haynes, coordinator of the Tech Prep program and workforce development.
ITAWAMBA COMMUNITY COLLEGE/TUPELO CAMPUS--James Davis, work-based learning coordinator.
JONES COUNTY JUNIOR COLLEGE--Shannon Campbell, assistant director of the Career Resource Center; Robert Landrum, director of workforce development and the Career Resource Center; and Gwen Magee, dean of students.
MERIDIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE--Irven Skinner, coordinator of work-based learning.
MISSISSIPPI DELTA COMMUNITY COLLEGE--Jacquelyn Moore, academic counselor.
MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE/JACKSON COUNTY CAMPUS--Pamela Ladner, library director, and Bill Yates, financial aid director.
MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE/JEFFERSON DAVIS CAMPUS--Deena Necaise, workforce director, and Gaye Winter, language arts instructor.
MISISSIPPI GULF COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE/PERKINSTON CAMPUS--John Shows, assistant dean for vocational education.
PEARL RIVER COMMUNITY COLLEGE--Martha Lou Byrd, reading instructor.
PHI THETA KAPPA CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE (in Jackson)--Rod Risley, executive director. [PTK is the international honor society for two-year colleges.]
SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI COMMUNITY COLLEGE--Elaine Coney, Spanish and English instructor, and Carolyn Williams, workforce basic skills specialist.
STATE BOARD FOR COMMUNITY AND JUNIOR COLLEGES (also in Jackson)--Jason Pugh, director of distance education.