In Brief: October 2021

The Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) Board of Commissioners granted initial accreditation to the baccalaureate nursing program with Jan. 15, 2020 as the effective date for initial accreditation of the program. The next evaluation visit is planned for Spring 2026.

Jackie Langford, director of Simulation, recently wrote an article for the magazine CIO Applications about the benefits of health care simulation in learning. The article, titled Walking the Tightrope Between Reality and Simulation in Education, can be found at https://simulation.cioapplications.com/cxoinsights/walking-the-tightrope-between-reality-and-simulation-in-education-nid-4530.html.

Summer 2021 Diagnostic Medical Sonography graduate, An Truong, recorded a perfect score on the ARDMS SPI national registry board exam. The ARDMS SPI is a difficult exam with an overall pass rate last year of only 68 percent.

Dr. Marta Moore, full-time professor of English at Plano Campus, presentedLike a Bull: Central European Visionary Poets, Slavic and Eastern European Languages and Literatures Panel at the South Central Modern Languages Association Conference on Oct. 9.

Sherry Scamardo, program manager for Seniors Active In Learning, has been appointed to the Plano Senior Advisory Board from Nov. 1, 2021, to Oct. 31, 2023.

A group of second-year Dental Hygiene students volunteered their own time for a project called Keep Veterans Smiling.Dr. Sam Nechamin of Sherman puts on this event every September, treating up to 60 veterans.The program provides hygiene and restorative service. The Collin student volunteers were:Sidney Hanner, Elizabeth Smith, Baylie Lindsey, and Paige Lester.

Dr. J.D. Isip, full-time English professor at Plano Campus, will have his poem, A Gallon of Milk, published in the Edges and Borders issue of Colorado State University-Pueblos literary magazine, Pilgrimage Press. In November, he will present his paper, The Way of the X: The American Social Contract from Puritan to Mutant Pilgrims, at the American Studies Association of Texas (ASAT) Conference in Wichita Falls.

Dr. Lisa Kirby, full-time professor of English at Plano Campus, presented a paper titled Heroes for a Divided Nation: The Cajun Navy in American Mythmaking at the 12^thAnnual Louisiana Studies Conference. Dr. Kirby was also named one of the judges for the Working-Class Studies Associations John Russo and Sherry LinkonAward for Published Article or Essay for Academic or General Audiences.

Dr. Karrie Newby, professor at the McKinney Campus, has been selected as a reviewer for the National Wellness Committees certification exam. As a reviewer, she will be utilizing her expertise in health and wellness to ensure validity and reliability for the national exam.

Betsy Brody, full-time professor for iCollin Virtual Campus, was accepted as a presenter at the 23rd Annual Legacies Dallas History Conference. The theme is Dining and Drinking in Dallas. She will be presenting on her digital humanities project Digging In: How Food, Culture, and Class Shape the Story of Asian Dallas at the conference in January 2022.

Rhonda Lewis, a full-time professor for iCollin Virtual Campus, was accepted into the Technical Writing Certificate Program at the University of North Texas for 2022.

The college has three respiratory care students concurrently enrolled in Midwestern State Universitys Registered Respiratory Therapist to Bachelor of Science in Respiratory Care (RRT-BSRC) program. Students can complete six credit hours through MSU by the time they graduate from Collin. Upon credentialing, students are awarded 41 credit hours towards their BSRC. The college has had an articulation agreement with MSU in place since 2017.

Linda Kapocsi, professor of Integrated Reading and Writing, and Dr. Rosalinda Valenzuela, professor of Political Science, both from Plano Campus, have been awarded scholarships to attend and present at the Fall 2021 Virtual Conference for the Two-Year College English Associations Southwest (TYCA-SW). TYCA-SW serves teachers and administrators of English programs in two-year colleges from Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The pairs joint presentation is titled, Wrongful Conviction, Exonerations, and the Innocence Project: A Co-Requisite Approach to Demystifying American Government for Integrated Reading and Writing Students Based on a Criminal Justice Reform Theme.

The Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) at Baylor McKinney reached out to Collin College Health Sciences to request additional assistance with the high patient numbers in their emergency department. Eleven fourth-semester nursing learners worked 12-hour shifts circulating the waiting room to complete vital signs and assist with completing EKGs and transmitting. The BSW CNO later offered gratitude for the quick response and noted, Both students and our caregivers seem so grateful for the opportunity this partnership has provided us.One of the nurses in the emergency department commented on how well the students jumped in and helped out, saying, this is the best help you could have given us!

Blakley Higgins, charge nurse at Medical City Plano in the neonatal intensive care unit, shared positive comments about Aaron Sanders, one of the colleges Emergency Medical Technician students. Sanders was in the NICU for what Higgens described as one of the busiest and craziest nights I have ever experienced, including working in a short-staffed department, attending a very high-risk delivery of a baby with an open abdominal defect, and assisting with emergency bedside surgery. Sanders also helped with sterile line changes, IV starts, feeding babies, changing diapers, and other duties. Higgins said he would even give him the unofficial title of honorary NICU nurse.

In October, the college awarded its 200^th recipient of the Texas Reskilling Grant. This grant assists students who had to take some time off from school due to the pandemic. This funding comes from the Governors Emergency Fund through the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The college has more to give away. If you know a former student who had to sit out before completing their degree, please have them email studentsuccess@collin.edu.

Remaining CARES Act funding will allow the college to assist adults in its service area who have never attended college with a tuition and fee credit to take their first couple of classes.

In October, the college partnered with the North Texas Food Bank and hosted mobile food trucks at the Wylie and Plano campuses. In just one day at each location, this great partnership was able to help serve 262 families.

Dr. Meredith Wang, dean of Academic Affairs at Plano Campus, has been selected for the next class of North Texas Community College Consortiums CLARA program.

Photography professor Elizabeth Mellott juried, curated, and installed the fourth annual Lone Star Art Competition at the Texas Discovery Gardens.

 

Renee Dessommes, professor of theatre, opened a world premiere of the new play, A Very Sordid Wedding by Del Shores at Uptown Players in Dallas on Sept. 24.

Dr. Levi R. Bryant, professor of Philosophy at Frisco Campus, published Wilderness Heritage: For An Ontology of the Anthropocene in Heritage Ecologies, edited by Torgeir Rinke Bangstad and Thora Petursdottir, Routledge: 2021

Dr. Leslie Stanaland, Political Science professor at Frisco Campus, published a manuscript on Protecting the Texas Electric Grid: A Cybersecurity Strategy for ERCOT and the PUCT in Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy Sept. 8.

Dr. Sean Ferrier-Watson, professor of English at Frisco Campus, published the poem Ghosts in Down in the Dirt, vol. 188, Oct. 2021. Dr. Ferrier-Watson published the short story Changeling, A Story in 100 Words: Literature in Tiny Bites, July 29.

Frisco Campus Science Labs Manager Melody Holmes filmed an educational video for Sweet Adelines International on Vocal Anatomy. Sweet Adelines International is a non-profit organization whose mission is Elevating women singers worldwide through education, performance, and competition in barbershop harmony and a cappella music.

Frisco Campus Associate Dean Cathy Thurman is serving as Secretary for the Texas Association of Developmental Education (TADE).

Celina Campus Associate Dean Lisa Forrester graduated from the Consortium Leadership and Renewal Academy (CLARA) on Sept. 17. Forrester was also selected as a member of the inaugural class of Leadership Celina.

Polysomnography Director Amber Allen spoke on two panels at the Certification in Clinical Sleep Health Innovation Conference, part of the third annual Scientific Conference for the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine on Sept. 16.

Respiratory Care Director Araceli Solis and faculty member Kelley Reynolds published in The Coalition Chronicle on Ultrasound Education at Collin College (Solis and Reynolds, pgs. 15-17).