Monday, November 23, 2009

Phi ThanKs

Saturday, I joined twelve of our Phi Theta Kappa students from our Alpha Alpha Iota chapter, along with Karen Hedgepeth and Mark Ulseth, as we cleaned Springsteen Road. It was a great encouragement to me for so many of our students to come out and participate. The students who were there were:

Doris Kasprak
Stacey Hill
Jamie Boone
Jennifer Bell
Vicki Pennington
Elizabeth Palmisano
Joe Green
Shannon Gardner
Stephen Medlin
Patricia Celley
Diane McBride
Darrell Hyatt

They were enthusiastic about the roadside cleaning and their work at the College. My thanks go out to all of them, their sponsors Karen Hedgepeth and Bill Bass and all the members of our PTK. I had a chance to catch up with Patricia Celley who was PTK president last year. She went through a tough time recently with the after effects of a car accident and had to withdraw for a while. She told me she was in a good place now and on track to graduate this spring. I also had a chance to talk with our current PTK president, Jamie Boone. Jamie has volunteered to participate as a learning coach in a project led by Taunya Paul to help students with learning skills. Jamie blew me away with her insight into the paradigm many of our students are in who are failing but don’t seek out assistance. My time with all of them reminded me how thankful I am for York Tech and all the people who make it happen. You are doing amazing things every day in a real, bold and better way.

Faculty Recognition

Mary Anne Laney, Department Manager for Nursing and Health Careers, will graduate in December with a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership from the University of South Carolina. She began her journey taking courses through the Higher Education Leadership certificate program, offered through the technical college system, at the University of South Carolina. Upon completion of the certificate program, she then applied and was accepted to the USC Higher Education Leadership Ph.D. program. All course and dissertation requirements are complete. Her dissertation topic: An Investigation of the Relationship between Program Assessment and Curriculum Change in Accredited and Non-Accredited Associate Degree Nursing Programs. Congratulations, Mary Anne, on your achievement!

If there are other faculty and staff that deserve recognition for their accomplishments, please email the information to Jacquelyn Nesbitt.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Congratulations Nursing Faculty!

The National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) reaffirmed accreditation for our practical nursing program earlier this year. The nursing faculty began developing their self-study over two years ago by updating curriculum and processes to ensure the NLNAC standards were met. The next evaluation visit is scheduled for spring 2017. Congratulations to the Nursing Department (Mary Anne Laney, Jane Fleischer, Julie Hamilton, Gina Misle, Amy Newton, Denise Roberts, Ann Scott, Jan Sinfield, Sue Tatro, Brenda Weatherington, Suzanne Williams, and Karen Worthy) for their outstanding achievement.