In Brief: May 2022

Professor Mike Panahi of the Frisco Campus was awarded the 2022 Service Award by the Texas Section of the Mathematical Association of America for his support of this organization and math colleagues throughout the state.

Connie Eubanks, Frisco Campus fitness center manager, is a Spring 2022 recipient of the Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC) School Safety Spotlight Award for her work with RAD (Rape Aggression Defense) systems in the Positive Climate and Prevention Programs category. You can see an article on her accomplishment on this webpage.RAD is a nationally recognized womens self-defense program. Plans are underway to offer one class this summer and two in the fall and spring semesters based on RAD training.

Sergeant Scott Knight, Collin College police officer, is a Spring 2022 recipient of the Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC) School Safety Spotlight Award in Outstanding Individual Service. You can read more about this honor on thiswebpage.In recognizing Sgt. Knight, the TxSCC pointed to his work in the training division and noted cross-training with the colleges law enforcement and fire academy students.

In April, the Collin College Model United Nations Team brought home several awards from the National Model United Nations Conference in New York. The team received third place (Honorable Mention) for its representation as Djibouti across all seven of its committees.In addition, the team won second place in a video contest. To view the video, click here.
The following honors were awarded to the team.
Outstanding Position Paper, General Assembly First Committee Josh Apple and Kirby Morgan
Outstanding Position Paper, General Assembly Second Committee Manaal Shaikh and Mykah Robins
Outstanding Position Paper, International Organization for Migration Max Halevy, Ali Kernal, and Cat Wright
Outstanding Position Paper, International Atomic Agency SeherNasir and Thomas Moore
Outstanding Position Paper, United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund Caitlyn Yukna and Kari Brown
Outstanding Delegate award in General Assembly Second Committee Shaikh and Robins
The conference administrators also recognized Morgan and Nasir as outstanding head delegates.

Collin students Callie Dugger, Emma Montgomery, and Elizabeth Guevara were recently published in the 51stedition of theMockingbird Poetry Society Anthology. They presented their pieces on April 23 in McKinney at the annual publication event.

Raven Hartkopf, discipline lead for Collision Technology, has been asked to chair the Dallas Metro I-CAR Committee. The committee meets several times a year, raises funds for the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF), and brings awareness to the importance of proper training for those in the collision field.

Commercial Music Professor Michael Medinas band, The Reddcoats, was featured in and made the cover of the May issue of International Musician magazine.

The iCollin Virtual Campus collaborated with Dr. Allison Boye and presented two webinars for faculty this spring. Full-time professor Betsy Brody presented a webinar for all Collin College faculty titled Providing Feedback to Students in the Online Environment. iCollin full-time professors Dianne Stroman, Meena Beri, and Whitney Pisani presented a webinar titled Ensuring Academic Integrity in Online Classrooms. These webinars were well-attended and provided faculty with actionable best practices that can be incorporated into their online classrooms.

iCollin full-time Professor Whitney Pisani hosted a Passport to the World event focused on Zimbabwe. Approximately 70 students attended this in-person event on the Plano Campus.

Abel Saenz, Michael Rodriguez, and Aaron Dixon from the Wylie Campus Physical Plant represented the campus at the Wylie Chamber of Commerce Cornhole Cornament Tournament on April 29. The team took fifthplace out of 26 teams.

Sydney Portilla-Diggs, adjunct professor of Humanities at The Colony High School Collegiate Academy, was featured in an article in The Paw Print, the student online newspaper. You can read the article here.

Jane Lopes, director of Vocational Nursing, has been selected by the National League of Nursing (NLN) Assessment Services Division to serve as a subject matter expert representing Practical Nursing (PN)/Vocational nursing (VN) education to assist in the development of future nursing assessments, test writing, and revision of test blueprints to reflect current PN/VN practice.

The colleges nursing students gave 4,977 hours back to community partners through Spring 2022 Service Learning. Seven graduating students joined the esteemed 100+ Hour Club, and a new highest number of service hours was set at 268.5 by Rhonda (Mischele) McEntire.

Twenty-four of the colleges nursing students will assist the city of Frisco emergency medical services in their Active Threat Training exercise on June 8. Collin College nursing students were the only students invited to participate in the all-day event.

Dr. Lee Powell, Farmersville Campus associate dean of Academic Affairs and Workforce, was inducted into the Farmersville Rotary Club on April 26.

Art Professor Brianna Burnett participated in a Collin Art Department initiative for a pop-up mural at the McKinney Arts and Bloom Festival, April 8-10. She assisted participants in painting a mural in the town square.

Matt Diggs, professor of Psychology, was announced as the 2022 Putt Powell Texas Sportswriter of the Year by the Texas High School Coaches Association.

The Emergency Management Services (EMS) department conducted a Trauma Day event on May 7, including active shooter training for the Collin College Law Enforcement team. The next Trauma Day events are scheduled for Oct. 22 and 29.

EMS Director Tim Mock and Director of Health Care Simulation Jackie Langford held a presentation about Trauma Day for the Rotary Club of McKinney Sunrise.

Professor Amy Bierhup earned her Doctor of Education degree with an emphasis on Nursing Education in May 2022 from Bryan College of Health Sciences, Lincoln, Nebraska. She has been a registered nurse for more than 19 years, with most of her experience in critical care nursing. She has taught at Collin College for 10 years.

Kathy Brown, contract administrator for the Purchasing Department, earned the Certified Professional Public Buyer designation from the Universal Public Procurement Certification Council. The Universal Public Procurement Certification Council (UPPCC) is an independent entity formed to govern and administer the Certified Public Procurement Officer (CPPO) and Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) certification programs. The CPPO and CPPB programs are the most highly regarded and well-respected certifications among procurement professionals and their employers in the public sector. The UPPCC has certified well over 14,000 professionals, primarily within the U.S. and Canada, but in other nations around the globe.

Anna Genneken, professor of English at the Technical Campus, graduated from Texas Womans University with her doctorate in rhetoric. Her dissertation was titled Paradoxical Power: Victim Rhetoric as a Rhetorical Genre.

Collin College supported a successful fundraiser for the Texas Chefs Association in Plano on May 14. The evening celebrated the life of Dr. Wright Lassiter, who was pivotal in advocating for the development of one of the first culinary programs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area during the 1970s. Chef Kimberly Brock Brown, national president of the American Culinary Federation, attended the event. Chef Ron Reczek, discipline lead in the Culinary and Pastry program, led the organization of this event and was supported by fellow faculty members, Chef Andrew Jardim and Chef Jill McCord. Collin College culinary and pastry students supported chef stations and provided their culinary creations for the event.

The Frisco Campus hosted a Texas Chefs Association monthly chapter meeting and mixer on May 3. It was well attended by chefs, students, and industry members from throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Collins culinary educators and students put on a fantastic event, including a tamale station, a pasta station, and a selection of artisan breads, desserts, and agua frescas.

Dr. Mary Barnes-Tilley was recently selected by Leadership Plano Class 38 and confirmed by the Leadership Plano Advisory Board to serve on the Leadership Plano Advisory Board for a three-year term.

The Technical Campus Summer Food Drive donated 200 pounds of food to the All Community Outreach (ACO) food pantry to support their Kids Summer Food Program. This program helps students in the community have meals during the summer when school is not in session.

Career Coach Dr. Tara Lewis was featured in an article on the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) website titled, Community Colleges are Valuable Partners for Employers Looking to Build their Talent Pipeline. You can see the article here. Dr. Lewis will also be presenting at NACE this summer. This is her second year being selected for this honor.