In Brief: January 2022

Michelle Millen, dean of Academic Affairs/Workforce at McKinney Campus, has been named president of the 2022 Texas Health Information Management Association (TxHIMA) Board of Directors, a state association of theAmerican Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). AHIMA is the premier association of health information management (HIM) professionals worldwide. Serving 52 affiliatedcomponent state associations and more than 103,000 health information professionals, AHIMA is recognized as the leading source of HIM knowledge and a respected authority for rigorous professional education and training.

The English as a Second Language program recently acknowledged its English language learners at the Celebration of Achievement (the first on-site celebration since 2019). At the celebration, 23 ESL students were recognized for progress in the program, and nine students were honored for completing the program. Attended by more than 50 supportive family members, friends, faculty, and staff, the event included remarks from campus and program leadership and heart-warming testimonials from program students.

Collin College is proud to lead the North Texas consortium of Project Complete.So far, 410 Collin students have been awarded more than $500,000 in grants. This month, the college was notified it will be getting an additional $750,000 to support up to 500 more students this year.This is part of the Texas Reskilling Grant through Governor Abbotts GEER funds which the college passes on to students returning to complete their degrees.

The Collin College Foundation received an Award of Honor in the Pegasus Awards competition sponsored by the Dallas chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). The foundations entry was for the 2020 virtual scholarship reception in the Events/Observances category.

PRSA-Dallas officially announced the Board of Directors for 2022 with Lisa Vasquez slated as president-elect.

Collin College held its first in-person graduation since fall 2019 on Dec. 10.About 550 graduates walked across the stage and celebrated their incredible accomplishments.Thanks to the entire team that put the event on, especially Jennifer Waits, the colleges new registrar.Check the Collin College YouTube page for a recording of the ceremony, including a speech from The Honorable Angela Tucker, Collin Countys 199^thDistrict Court Judge.

In 2017, Collin College set a goal to increase the number of graduates by 241 each year over the previous year through 2030.From that baseline, the colleges goal was to reach 4,533 graduates in 2021.Dr. Tom Martin and the Institutional Research Office have determined the college awarded 5,315 degrees and certificates last year, beating the goal by 782.

Dr. Mary Barnes-Tilley was a guest on the Plano Chamber of Commerce podcast Plano Pulse in December. Listen on to her episode on Soundcloud (http://tinyurl.com/y2fde99s) or Apple Podcasts (http://tinyurl.com/qowxdvx).

Ceilidh Charleson-Jennings, professor of Communication and Speech, hasbeen selected as the community college representative for the 20-member National Communication Association (NCA) Future Conventions Task Force charged with creating and developing future NCA annual conventions as hybrid and more accessible events.

Representatives from Collin County Farm Bureau signed a $30,000 endowment agreement with the Collin College Foundation on Jan. 10 to benefit the colleges agriculture students. The memorial endowment honors former Collin County Farm Bureau board member Butch Aycock who passed away last year. Members of Aycocks family and Collin County Farm Bureau representatives were in attendance.

Allen Public Library has asked Professor Lorena Rodriguez to host a Pandemic Economics 101 presentation in January.

Dr. Shannon Bates Great Ideas for Teaching Speech (GIFTS) presentation was accepted to the Southern States Communication Associations (SSCA) 92nd Annual Convention, April 6-10, in Greenville, South Carolina.

Dr. Levi R. Bryant published Wild Things in After Discourse: Things, Affects, Ethics, edited by Bjornar J. Olsen, Mats Burstrom, Caitlin Desilvey, and Thora Petursdottir, Routledge, 2021.

At the October 2021 National Convention of the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA), student Monica Phillips was awarded an NFPA student scholarship based on a competitive application process.

On Nov. 19, IT/Cybersecurity had virtual events throughout the day to support five different companies: TEKsystems, CISCO systems, Aspire Systems, Citigroup, and McAfee. Ninety students attended these sessions, the biggest turnout the college has had for a virtual career fair.

Kyle Kundomal (Frisco Campus), Sonia Petch (McKinney Campus), and Martha Chalhoub (iCollin) presented Online Presence: Designing to Connect at American Mathematical Association for Two Year Colleges (AMATYC) National Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. This talk focused on sharing different course design methods that enhance student-to-professor and student-to-student interaction in an online setting.

Professor Jennifer Rice completed her two-year commitment as a Project ACCESS Fellow. Project ACCESS is a mentoring and research program sponsored by the American Mathematics Association of Two-Year Colleges. As part of her fellowship, Rice conducted a research project on Concept Exploration Through Discussion Board in College Algebra and presented the results at the conference in Phoenix, Arizona, in October 2021. Rice plans to continue this research by changing the modality from online discussion boards to face-to-face instructor-led discussions. Rice spoke at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Frisco Post 8273 monthly meeting on Nov. 2 as a representative of Collin College about Student Veterans of America and the Collin College Veterans Day Parade.

The Wylie Campus Veterans Canned Food Drive collected 1,789 donations, and the campus was named the 2021 Champion.

Health Information Management Director Lydia Danton, in her role as president-elect of Dallas Fort Worth Health Information Management Association (DFWHIMA), and with the help of faculty April Adams, Melody Timmons, and Alex Wright and students Jamee Cook, Indra Natarajan, and Shanthi Periasamy, organized the first in-person DFWHIMA workshop since the start of the pandemic. The first speaker at the event was Collin College adjunct faculty member Dr. Salman Moti.

Medical Assisting Advanced Practice Program Director Leon Deutsch will serve a two-year term on the Texas Health Community Impact Collin Leadership Council.

Dr. Kimberly Harris, professor of Music, was accepted to present Perfect Practice Makes Perfect: Rubrics in The Blended/Online Music Courses at the Online Learning Consortium Innovate 2022 Conference.

Dr. Sonia Petch, professor of Math, was appointed to the 2021-2023 American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) Nomination Committee.

Lee Powell, associate dean of Academic Affairs at the Farmersville Campus, attended the Chair Academy Conference, The Elements of Leadership, in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he presented an hour-long presentation titled, Targeted Professional Development for Adjuncts at Collin College.

Barbara Batista was appointed to Vice President of Accreditation for the Collin County Chapter of Texas Association for the Education of Young Children (TxAEYC) Board. She was previously a member at large.

David Montequin, reference librarian at Celina Campus, graduated from Texas Womans University on Dec. 10 with a Master of Library Science Degree. He was nominated for membership in Beta Phi Mu the Library and Information Science Honor Society.

The Celina Campus via its Celina Campus Community Connections (C4) Committee sponsored three Celina ISD families for Christmas. Items included toys, clothing, and food