Music, journalism students honored by Regents

Published or Revised April 29, 2010

For the second year in a row, Paris Junior College Chorale students were selected to the prestigious 2010 Texas Two-Year College All-State Choir, and were honored by the PJC Board of Regents at Monday night's meeting. Music students honored were Lynsey Boss, Gloria Cooper, Alex Fowzer, Justin Frazier, Trent Little, Josh Mooneyham, Glenn Pruitt, Katie McCormack, Sattriona Nyachwaya, all of Paris, and Val Schmidt of Bogata, Texas. Also honored were PJC journalism students Stephanie Norman of Paris and Quentin Carpenter of Quinlan. At the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association convention, Norman, who is editor of PJC's student newspaper [i]The Bat[/i], received a $400 scholarship and honorable mention for Page One Newspaper Design. Carpenter, who is [i]The Bat[/i]'s sports editor, received honorable mention for both Sports News Story and Sports Feature Story. Regents also honored two retiring PJC employees, Joyce Bookout and Pat Fowzer. Bookout started with PJC as a part-time instructor in 1981. She became a full-time vocational nursing instructor in 1989, and in the last two years she coordinated nursing home training. Fowzer started as a part-time PJC employee in 1985 and became full-time in 1990. She has built a strong musical legacy with the Encore!, chorale and chamber singers over the years In other business, the Regents:

• Received a positive financial report from Vice President of Business Services John Eastman.
• Cancelled the elections for Board of Regent's Place 3 and Place 4. Berdie Gibson filed for Place 3 and Carlton Grant filed for Place 4, but neither drew an opponent. The election will still be held for the At-Large Position with incumbent Thomas Hunt III and challenger Louise Taylor. Early voting for this race has already begun at the Office of the Election Administrator in the Lamar County Courthouse Annex at 231 Lamar Ave. in Paris.
• Approved Update 25 to the Policy Manual received from the Texas Association of School Boards.
• Approved contracting with Quinlan ISD and other Hunt County school districts to offer reduced tuition for high school students taking courses on the Greenville campus from 8 a.m. to 9:15 a.m., basically a modified form of an Early College High School.
• Received a report on data from the Survey of Entering Student Engagement and attendance by PJC employees at the SENSE Institute this month in Austin. As a result, three goals have been adopted by PJC to improve student success.
• Heard an update from Thomas Hunt and Paul Gene Roden on their attendance at the Achieving the Dream Board of Trustees Strategy Institute in Santa Fe last month. The focus was on developmental math.
• Set the Budget Workshop for Aug. 2, 2010, at 5 p.m.
• Received the President's Report. Dr. Anglin followed up on an item about United Way participation in Greenville and Sulphur Springs and said PJC employees there do not participate in any organized payroll deductions, so no funds from those counties go outside their communities. The dates for graduation ceremonies and pinning's are May 11 for GED graduation, May 13th for Jewelry graduation, and Surgical Technology, Medical Records Coding, and Associate Degree and Vocational Nursing pinning ceremonies. Dr. Anglin also explained the Transfer 101 link on PJC's website, developed through coordination with the University of Texas and Texas A&M University systems. This site facilitates the transfer of community college students to Texas four-year universities. She also demonstrated where federal- and state-required information may be found on PJC's website. A position statement on academic success for PJC student athletes was distributed to the regents. According to the Statewide Performance Measures and Accountability System, there has been a 139 percent increase in the number of degrees awarded by PJC and we are ranked in the top ten in Texas. Finally, there will be a Guaranteed Maximum Price for Phase II of residence hall construction available in August. Renovation will also begin on the east side of the Workforce Training Center for the new housing of the heating, air conditioning and refrigeration program.
• Accepted the retirements of Joyce Bookout, Otho Bowmer and Pat Fowzer.