PartnershipsFort y Ye ars

of

ConneCtionsPellissippi State

Fall 2014

In September, Pellissippi State Community College begins

celebrating 40 years of providing outstanding educational

opportunities in East Tennessee. As we look back at the College’s

history of academic excellence, we also remember and celebrate

four decades of community involvement and partnerships. We at

Pellissippi State are proud of the good work we have done with

you, our community partners and supporters, and we have chosen

“partnership” as the theme of this issue of “Connections.”

Together, we have highlighted East Tennessee’s arts heritage

through The Arts at Pellissippi State. Together, we have created

new opportunities for workforce development and lifelong

learning. Together, we have opened better avenues for everyone

to have access to an excellent education. Together, we have

devoted ourselves to the service of our community.

As we celebrate 40 years, we also celebrate you.

You have stepped forward to make a difference, and you have

helped Pellissippi State to better lives in East Tennessee.

Thank you for your support. We look forward to 40 more years

of partnership with you.

Connections is published by the Marketing and Communications Office of Pellissippi State Community College. To contact the office, call 865.694.6405.

www.pstcc.edu

com mon grou n ds

The Business and Community Services training connection

prou d to serv e

The Ben Atchley Veterans Success Center: easing the transition for student veterans

se e ds oF ch a nge

Service-Learning gets its hands dirty at Pond Gap Elementary School

t h e s w e et sm e l l oF succ e s s

A Pellissippi State alumna bakes up the perfect recipe for a local business

t h er e’s a n a m p! For t h at

The College aids a young business in building a better laser scanner

it ’s a l l a m at t er oF per spec t i v e

From student to director, an alumna brings experience

ci a r a sh e ets ta k e s on t h e wor l d

The Tennessee Consortium for International Studies opens a world of possibilities to students

h e a lt h y pa rt n er ships

Nursing students help Loudon County give flu vaccinations

sa F et y F ir st

The Campus SaVE Act and you

t h e a rts at pe l l is sippi stat e

A look at the 2014-2015 cultural events coming to Pellissippi State

r e a dy to l au nch

The Career Magnet Academy is set to help students reach new heights4

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Fall 2014 • Vol. 8, No. 1

ConneCtionsPellissippi State

A member of

l. anthony wise Jr.president, pellissippi state community college

High school students are being drawn like magnets to a unique educational opportunity on Pellissippi State’s Strawberry Plains Campus.

The Career Magnet Academy at Pellissippi State launches with a full house, a freshman class of 125, in August 2014.

The academy, a partnership with Knox County Schools and the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, is a brand-new, four-year high school with a distinct methodology: introducing students to high-skill, high-wage career and technical fields.

The partnership between the College and the school will allow students to graduate with not only a high school diploma but also a certificate in their chosen field.

The programs also are designed to allow academy graduates to earn an associate’s degree in only a semester or two more at Pellissippi State or, through Tennessee Transfer Pathways, at other higher education institutions.

“The four areas of study that will be offered at the Career Magnet Academy,” said Jim McIntyre, superintendent of the Knox County Schools, “accurately reflect the needs of the labor market, so that students can acquire the 21st century skills necessary for high-wage, high-demand occupations within high-growth industry sectors: advanced manufacturing, sustainable living, homeland security and teacher preparation.”

By their sophomore year, students will choose one of the four areas, or “clusters.” Classes at the freshmen and sophomore levels will be taught by Knox County educators, and junior- and senior-level courses will be instructed by Pellissippi State faculty.

“We are thrilled that we will have students learn in this unique learning environment,” said McIntyre, “and we greatly appreciate the extraordinary contributions of Pellissippi State and the Knoxville Chamber in helping us teach and develop well-rounded, critical-thinking young people who are prepared for college and career.”

The Career Magnet Academy will offer high school students another pathway to success in an innovative, nontraditional structure. The four clusters, all career and technical education curricula, are designed to demonstrate the relevance of academic content in real-world applications.

“Traditionally, career/technical education was often seen as ‘shop classes’ or ‘vocational education,’ training students for low-wage, low-skilled jobs,” said Ted Lewis, vice president of Academic Affairs at Pellissippi State. “The academy will help change that perception by combining skills-based education with an academically rigorous curriculum to prepare students for both high-wage, high-skill careers and postsecondary education.”

“Pathways have been developed which will enable students to earn an Associate of Science General Education Core certificate at the time they graduate high school,” said Lewis, “as well as complete an Associate of Arts, Associate of Science or Associate of Applied Science degree following one or two additional

semesters. Students may also apply courses toward a baccalaureate degree at a four-year institution.”

“Pellissippi State has been an exceptional partner and an integral part of the planning process for this new school from the very beginning,” said McIntyre. “It has been a true collaboration.”

Pellissippi State faculty, staff and administrators, he said, have aided in “identifying the clusters, creating the courses of study, doing research on similar school models, designing the high school facility, writing curriculum and identifying certificates.”

“We are very excited to partner with Knox County Schools to provide this unique opportunity to prepare students for careers in high-demand, high-wage professions that will have a profound impact on our economy,” Lewis said.

Knox County opened enrollment for the academy in October 2013, and construction and renovations began in January.

Pellissippi State Community College dedicated the Jenny and Randy Boyd Building at the Strawberry Plains Campus Friday morning, May 9. Pictured, from left, are Jenny and Randy Boyd, Pellissippi State Nursing student Chisa Huffman and Pellissippi State President L. Anthony Wise Jr. In 2012, the Boyds donated $1 million to the Pellissippi State Foundation toward the purchase of the Strawberry Plains Campus. The campus began offering classes in fall 2013.

Magnet academy set to help students reach new heights

READY TOLAUNCH

3... 2... 1...40 Years of Innovation

4

Human intelligence and common sense are still at the center of needs for businesses, even in the rapidly changing

manufacturing and automation fields. Pellissippi State’s Business and Community Services makes sure people get the training they need—even if that means training only one or two at a time.

“I was an operator and electrician at Kimberly-Clark, and my employer sent me and another employee to Pellissippi State for higher electrician training,” said Rick Brown. He attended three semesters of classes at Pellissippi State as a working adult and came away with an Electrical Systems Technology certificate.

Brown and the other employee took electrical engineering classes with the thinking that their new training would allow them to apply for higher-paying jobs within the company.

“The opportunity then came available to become a full-time electrician at Kimberly-Clark,” said Brown, “and both of us who had attended classes at Pellissippi State left the floor to take those jobs. We would both credit Pellissippi State as being beneficial for us. We received a lot of training as well as confidence. It was a great opportunity.”

In partnership with other community employers, Business and Community Services designs curricula that are used across entire companies, even nationally.

At Keurig Green Mountain Inc. specialty coffee and coffeemaker company’s East Tennessee location, for example, BCS has launched a new, for-credit Electrical Systems Technology certificate. Keurig Green Mountain is using the program to

improve the training of its employees in operating and repairing electrical systems across the country.

“To make sure all of our participants in the Electrical Systems Technology certificate program will receive the same quality content,” said Victoria Cooney, Keurig Green Mountain spokesperson, “regardless of their geographic location, Pellissippi State’s Business and Community Services team partnered with other community colleges in several of our locations.

“We’ll be able to deliver the curriculum that Pellissippi State designed for us to train maintenance technicians at sites as far away as Washington state and Vermont.

“We would not have been able to provide this learning experience for our employees without a strong academic partner, and Pellissippi State has delivered.”

The for-credit training not only allows Keurig Green Mountain employees to update their training, but it also gives them an opportunity to apply the credits toward a higher education degree if they choose to pursue one.

Pellissippi State instructors worked directly with a group of Keurig Green Mountain maintenance employees to customize curriculum content.

“We were impressed with the curriculum, which included significant hands-on lab experiences for students and was very relevant to our manufacturing process,” Cooney said.

“This certificate, and our other partnerships with Keurig Green Mountain and other local employers, is part of Pellissippi State’s ongoing efforts to improve workforce development in East Tennessee,” said Teri Brahams, executive director of Economic and Workforce Development at Pellissippi State.

Through BCS, Pellissippi State partners with many East Tennessee companies, among them, Cherokee Millwright & Mechanical Inc., DENSO Corporation, Alcoa Inc., Y-12 National Security Complex and Massey Electric Company.

“We can customize curriculum and education programs for any company: for-credit or not-for-credit, at our campuses or on location at their sites,” Brahams said.

With Massey Electric, Pellissippi State has begun teaching the company’s four-year U.S. Department of Labor apprenticeship

program at the commercial electrical contractor’s site. Employees who complete the apprenticeship receive a certificate from the Labor Department and can earn up to 30 hours of college credit.

Pellissippi State recently created a concentration in Automated Industrial Systems in the two-year Engineering Technology degree program out of a partnership with DENSO. AIS combines electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and general studies classes into one streamlined curriculum. The concentration is open to any Pellissippi State student.

“DENSO has the demand for this type of degree, which trains employees in using automated equipment and understanding the electrical and mechanical components of it,” said Carl Mallette, who coordinates Pellissippi State’s Electrical Engineering concentration. “DENSO has this demand, but so do other companies using automated systems, and they can take advantage of the same two-year degree.”

Business and Community Services not only partners with employers to solve business challenges and find training solutions, but it also partners with individual students to help them meet professional and personal education goals.

The Business and Community Services training connection

40 Years of Training

“Pellissippi State

has delivered.”

6

Now, through that program, prospective student veterans at Pellissippi State can get pre-enrollment help and advising, particularly with choosing career paths and testing.

“We discovered we were duplicating services,” said Sharon Shastid, the College’s VA school certifying official, “so we partnered with UT to find better, more efficient ways for each of us to provide services to veterans.”

The Veterans Success Center is named in honor of former Sen. Ben Atchley (pictured below), an early and longtime supporter of Pellissippi State and a veteran himself. Atchley was born in Knoxville in 1930, served in the Naval Reserves 1948-58 and was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1972. He was elected a state senator in 1976 and served consecutive terms for 28 years.

“This is as exciting as it can be, for me,” Atchley said at a dedication ceremony attended by Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett (pictured at left) and other officials on Veterans Day, November 11, 2013. “That Pellissippi State has a program to help veterans after their time of service is a wonderful thing. And for that, I wish to say thank you.”

“Ben Atchley has demonstrated the life of service we wish to inspire in our students and encourage them to emulate,” President Wise said at the ceremony.

Pellissippi State is providing staff and equipment to the Veterans Success Center with the help of a $37,982 Tennessee College Access and Success Network grant. A three-year, $98,000 Tennessee Board of Regents Access and Success Network grant brings in additional funding for veterans support, including supplemental educational opportunities through tutoring and

workshops. With the assistance of the grants, Pellissippi State hopes to increase student veteran involvement and enhance veteran persistence in completing a degree.

“Pellissippi State is fortunate to be the recipient of the TCASN grant,” said Rachael Cragle, the College’s director of Advising.

“It has allowed us to take an idea that we had discussed for three years and make it a reality.

“Our goal is to continually improve the opportunities available to veterans at Pellissippi State and to provide

the support they need to reach their educational goals.”

Thanks to the new facility, an estimated 125 veterans each year will receive graduation-focused support. The students also will have access to tutoring, mentoring, advising, financial aid assistance, job placement services and a fully equipped study lounge. Internship opportunities with local, veteran-owned businesses will be available through a partnership with the Tennessee Veterans Business Association.

“The Veterans Success Center will offer not only the ‘formal’ network of support these students need,” said Ted Lewis, vice president of Academic Affairs, “but it will also provide them with an informal network through which they can work together, socialize and share common concerns.”

Among veterans attending college now, most take advantage of either the Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33). A majority of those using the bill are younger combat veterans who have served within the last 10 years. Typically, a large number of student veterans are low-income, first-generation college students.

Struggling with an impersonal bureaucracy and a foreign-feeling classroom. It’s one more battle returning servicemen

and servicewomen don’t need to fight when they enter college.

The Ben Atchley Veterans Success Center at Pellissippi State brings many of Pellissippi State’s veteran-related services into a centralized, user-friendly location in the Educational Resources Center on the Hardin Valley Campus. Now the facility is expanding its offerings to student veterans through a partnership with the University of Tennessee.

“We’re trying to provide an additional layer of support to an important group of students—and a growing group of

students—who are returning to college after service in Iraq or Afghanistan,” said L. Anthony Wise Jr., Pellissippi State president. “We want to provide the best possible environment for them to learn and grow while they’re here at Pellissippi State.”

The College enrolls about 500 veterans, about 5 percent of the student population. The center is available to veterans, reservists and family members.

Pellissippi State has broadened its scope recently by partnering with UT’s Veterans’ Pre-College Program. The UT program helps eligible veterans enroll in college, technical or vocational training. It is funded by the Veterans Upward Bound Program.

PROUDSERVE

The Ben Atchley Veterans Success Center: easing the transition for student veterans

40 Years of Gratitude

to “Ben Atchley has demonstrated

the life of service we wish to

inspire in our students and

encourage them to emulate.”

PROUDSERVE

8 9

Spades, seeds and watering cans add up to more than the sum of their parts at the College’s Pond Gap Elementary School

community garden.

The garden is the result of a Pellissippi State Service-Learning project, “You Are What You Eat: The Edible Schoolyard Project,” and is part of a joint partnership with Knox County Schools and the University of Tennessee’s University-Assisted Community Schools program.

“A community garden like this is all about the natural neighborhood revitalization that can come by inviting schoolchildren, their families and community college students to work together on quality service projects,” said Annie Gray, coordinator of the Service-Learning program and an English professor.

“The Edible Schoolyard Project” planted the seeds for the spread of other College-sponsored community gardens by piloting the venture at Pond Gap during the 2013-2014 school year. Pond Gap is located near the Division Street Campus, off Sutherland Avenue.

The garden was dedicated May 12 in a ceremony attended by Pellissippi State, Knox County Schools, Knox County and City of Knoxville officials.

The Service-Learning project launched in fall 2013 with the help of an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, Matt Callo. Callo worked to jump-start the venture, plan and build the garden, and staff it during its inaugural year. Pellissippi State students, staff and faculty also have volunteered at the garden, even spending time with Pond Gap students there.

“The garden has been a great educational opportunity to the children here,” said Callo. “Even at a young age, their interest

in the garden is immediate. I think it distills an interest in the field of agriculture; it’s awesome to see the initiatives they take.”

According to Gray, “There are all sorts of curricular tie-ins for Pond Gap students, who can, at minimum, receive valuable math and science lessons from participating in the life of the garden.”

“The Pond Gap neighborhood is ideal for piloting a project that unites neighborhood families, the elementary school, and the College; that cuts across cultural differences to encourage relationships and teach new skills; and that inspires higher education.”

Pond Gap Elementary is Knox County Schools’ pilot school for the Community Schools Initiative. The initiative is one component

of a national movement designed to strengthen schools, families, neighborhoods and communities. Community Schools participants integrate traditional academics with community engagement to help students learn, support their families and promote healthy living. One aspect of the effort is to make schools such as Pond Gap into community hubs by opening them for extended hours for outside programs and events.

The Pond Gap Community Schools program is overseen by UT. Gray is working closely with Bob Kronick, UT’s director of University-Assisted Community Schools, and Mark Benson, UACS program coordinator, on the community garden effort.

The Pond Gap garden may be used as a model for starting gardens at other Knox County Community Schools, and Pellissippi State may eventually offer an urban gardening certification program to college students.

Now in its fourth year, Service-Learning allows students and faculty to integrate meaningful community service and reflection with more traditional learning experiences, teaching civic responsibility and strengthening communities. Service-Learning supports the community service placement of 1,000 tnAchieves scholars at Pellissippi State, all of whom must complete eight hours of volunteerism each semester.ofSeeds

CHANGE

40 Years of Growing

Knoxville Area Urban LeagueVolunteers work with Knoxville Area Urban League youth services, including the Read and Rise Literacy Program and the Digital Academy, an after-school curriculum-based program to help at-risk middle school students improve their technology skills and become better prepared to achieve high school success.

Green Hills Community CenterVolunteers serve people of all ages who live in the Green Hills Apartments complex, a low-income subsidized housing facility. Volunteer opportunities include working with after-school activities, job readiness training, youth workshops, and parenting and nutritional resources. Student volunteers from Pellissippi State often serve in tutoring and mentoring capacities to the youth served by the Green Hills Community Center.

National Multiple Sclerosis Society Mid South ChapterIn May, Instructor Holly Knowling’s Hospitality students helped to plan and cater the Knoxville Walk MS 2014 event. Knowling’s class is one of many at Pellissippi State that include a Service-Learning component as part of the course curriculum.

Service-Learning

places students

in service in the

community.

Recent projects have included

Service-Learning teams student, staff, and faculty volunteers at Pellissippi State with area organizations

to work on community service projects as diverse as river cleanup, Habitat home building, and hospice.

Many courses at the College now offer a Service- Learning component. Students who register as volunteers through the College’s ServiceCorps program to complete their community service commitment have the opportunity for their verified service hours to be listed on their transcript.

What is

Service

Learning?

What is

Service

Learning?

10

Chandra Taylor used a Pellissippi State Community College education—and a lifelong love of baking learned from

her great-grandmother—to open her own business, Mer Mer’s Bakery in Knoxville.

Backed up by a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management, Taylor not only bakes her cakes, desserts, and other goodies but also handles all the marketing, accounting, and other business responsibilities.

“I’ve been baking since I was a little girl,” said Taylor. “My great-grandmother taught me to bake, and I learned how to decorate cakes as part of the Girls Club of Knoxville in 1978 and 1979. I won Girl of the Year in 1979. I could decorate cakes, bake, sew and all the other activities they taught me at age 9. I always enjoyed it.”

Taylor originally planned to pursue a career in architecture, but as she continued to bake cakes for family members’ and friends’ birthday parties and other special events, she realized baking was what she truly loved.

“So I changed my major in my second year at Pellissippi State to Business Administration so I could manage my own business and handle all the finances and paperwork.” Taylor graduated with honors in 1998.

“I love Pellissippi State. It was family oriented and I could talk to my instructors on a personal basis, which was helpful as a single mom with two small daughters. I had a few personal issues during my time there, and I could go to my instructors and tell them I didn’t want to leave class or give up, but I needed a day or two to just get myself together.

“My teachers were so good to me. I learned at Pellissippi State. I learned enough information there to make my bakery idea work,” Taylor said.

“If you’re focused, you can do anything, and I think Pellissippi State is a great place to learn anything. It’s the place to go.”

Taylor opened Mer Mer’s Bakery in 1999 on Gay Street in Downtown Knoxville. To fund the start-up, she used what she had learned at Pellissippi State to create a business plan, which she then presented to local banks to request a small loan.

“I prayed faithfully and set a goal for myself to have it all ready by November, and that’s just what I did. I was turned down once, but eventually I received the very first small-business loan in 1999 from First Tennessee Bank.”

She applied those funds to capital for Mer Mer’s, and she has kept the bakery as a small, family-owned business ever since.

“With the help of the good Lord Jesus,” she said, “I have been baking and working here for the last 15 years of my life.”

Mer Mer’s Bakery offers all-occasion cakes, cookies, brownies, bars, and cupcakes, as well as its specialty, old-fashioned pound cakes. Taylor often takes

her success and gives back to the community through charitable donations and participation in events like the annual Cupcakes in the Park, which benefits Helen Ross McNabb Center.

“I want to do anything I can to help other people, especially children. They get so excited over little things, over cookies or cakes, and I love to be involved with children in the community that way.”

40 Years of Dreams

Pellissippi State alumna bakes up perfect recipe for local business

“I learned enough

at Pellissippi State

to make my bakery

idea work.”

12

When Bill Freshour, an engineering lab tech at Pellissippi State, spent much of his spring semester helping a small,

young Etowah-based manufacturer develop a prototype laser scanner, he was just doing his job.

At least that’s what the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics would say. According to the BLS, engineering lab technicians “work to resolve issues and solve problems in manufacturing…. To accomplish their goals they use science, engineering and math, and the theories that accompany them.”

So, yes, Freshour did what his job description said he would do. But to the staff of Advanced Measurement Systems Inc., he did a whole lot more.

“This prototype is a very innovative design using new technology,” said Robert Watts, the company’s CEO, “and Bill and Pellissippi State were key to us being a part of that type of trial.”

Freshour, pictured with 3D images of the scanning prototype, got involved in working with Advanced Measurement Systems as part of the College’s involvement in the Advanced Manufacturing and Prototype Center of East Tennessee. Known simply as AMP!, the center is a public-private partnership intended to revitalize manufacturing and create jobs.

For small and start-up companies, AMP! partners provide

resources for improvement and growth that the companies often wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise. In the case of Advanced Measurement Systems, the competitive boost came from the technical expertise of Pellissippi State and the use of a 3D printer at Tech 20/20 in Oak Ridge.

Pellissippi State and Advanced Measurement Systems began working together after Tech 20/20 put out a call for businesses to take advantage of AMP! resources.

“This began as a student project for the AMP! Innovation Challenge, which pairs start-up small manufacturers in counties with high unemployment rates with STEM [science, technology, engineering, math] students,” said Mary Kocak. Kocak is a professor at Pellissippi State in the Engineering Technology degree program’s Mechanical Engineering concentration.

“The needs of AMS proved to be quite challenging,” she said, “so the project was taken on by Bill.”

Advanced Measurement Systems, a four-year-old McMinn County business that manufactures and sells cutting-edge laser electronic measuring systems to the collision repair industry, initially brought to the table the design for a prototype scanner that would allow greater accuracy in repair.

When a car’s frame is damaged, collision repair companies may use machines to reshape the frame and fix the vehicle. This type

of repair was once measured by hand and then by individual laser measurements, but the new prototype allows continuous, dynamic measurements of a vehicle’s frame.

“This prototype is quite different than the scanner we are currently using,” said Watts. “For one, it’s significantly smaller, which prevents targets getting blocked and increases the accuracy of the measurements from the scanner to each target. It’s completely wireless, and it also uses only one laser beam, rather than two.”

The new prototype employs what’s called a “green laser.” Unlike a flashlight beam, which grows wider the farther it travels, a green laser retains its small diameter over a greater distance.

“That integrity over distance will allow us to measure larger vehicles, like motor homes and tractor trailers—which we currently can’t do—because the measurements are more accurate,” Watts said.

Every improvement to the laser scanner gives the business a competitive advantage in the collision repair industry.

Freshour took the company’s conceptual ideas and initial design for the prototype and created 16 separate 3D renderings of each piece needed to construct the revolving, turret-shaped laser. Those drawings were then sent to Tech 20/20 and manufactured using the company’s 3D printer.

AMS and Pellissippi State are now working together to modify design of the prototype further to allow it to be 3D printed in fewer pieces.

“If it can be made in one piece, as we think it can be,” said Watts, “that will save a lot of money in production and assembly. But it requires very precise design and manufacturing accuracy to be printed in one piece—no angle could be incorrect.”

If the one-piece design works as intended, no calibration of the laser will be needed, making the scanner even more accurate and reliable.

“Everything the College, Tech 20/20 and AMP! have done in collaboration with us has been invaluable in completing this project in a timely manner,” Watts said.

Advanced Measurement Systems hopes to show off the finished scanner at an October trade show. Using 3D printers, companies can create prototypes quickly, with less waste and cost than using traditional methods. The AMS prototype is still undergoing revisions, but in its current design, it could only be manufactured by a 3D printer.

“This is what the Engineering Technology/Mechanical Engineering team at Pellissippi State does,” said Freshour. “We work with industry on design problems and help them to work things out. Local industry hires our students, so working with them also creates opportunities for our graduates.”

As Kocak points out, no partner in the equation—neither Pellissippi State nor Advancement Measurement Systems nor Tech 20/20—could have brought the laser scanner project to fruition. And therein lies the benefit of AMP! and other community partnerships in which the College participates.

AMP! was funded initially by a federal grant. Under the helm of lead grant applicant Tech 20/20, Pellissippi State works together with collaborative partners Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services.

Thanks to the grant, the College also has created a certificate program in Additive Manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, and provides more than $250,000 in scholarships for 125-plus students in Advanced Manufacturing courses.

40 Years of Technology

College aids young business in building a better laser scanner

“We work with

industry on design

problems,

and help them to

work things out.”

14

“There were so many animals, so many unique creatures, that you are literally next to animals all day long. Iguanas

walk next to you on the street. Sea lions sit on the benches while you’re eating ice cream.”

Getting up close and personal with wildlife is one of the many experiences Pellissippi State student Ciara Sheets brought home when she spent several weeks studying biology in the Galápagos Islands this summer. Her travels were part of a study abroad program offered by the Tennessee Consortium for International Studies and funded by the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.

Sheets earned credit for a Biology II course on her trip. In addition to studying animal life, she visited a volcanic mountain range and came to appreciate the unique social culture of the islands. About 3 percent of the Galápagos is open to human settlement. The rest is reserved for wildlife.

“We went to the Charles Darwin Research Station, the research center where scientists from around the world come to research the indigenous species on the islands,” she said. “It was incredible. I can’t even describe most of the experience. To walk with those animals and to stand on a volcano were awe inspiring experiences.”

Sheets was one of only two community college students in Tennessee to receive the Gilman Scholarship.

“I was thrilled to have won the award. It’s such an honor.”

The Gilman Scholarship offers grants to undergraduates—particularly those who are typically underrepresented in

international studies, such as students of limited financial means, community college students and minority students—to pursue academic studies or career-oriented internships abroad. The program is intended to better prepare students to assume significant roles in an increasingly global economy and interdependent world.

“Ciara participated in our Ecuador program, a four-week course in the Galápagos Islands that focuses on the study of biology

and genetics,” said Tracey Bradley, executive director of TnCIS. “It’s a unique program that offers fieldwork with an outdoor laboratory.

“Study abroad opportunities are traditionally thought of as arts- or humanities-related, but we’re very

proud to offer one that is strongly science-based.”

Sheets plans to graduate from Pellissippi State in May 2015 and then attend the University of Tennessee to pursue a pre-veterinary degree.

TnCIS, whose headquarters are at Pellissippi State, organizes study abroad opportunities as part of its mission of boosting international experience and culture in higher education across the state. More than 425 students and 65 faculty in Tennessee participated in the summer 2013 study abroad programs organized by TnCIS.

Marilyn Harper never thought she’d be a student at Pellissippi State Community College.

She first stepped onto the campus in 1990, accompanying her son, Jeff Hacker, who has cerebral palsy, to his classes, taking notes for him and assisting with his transportation. As she sat through Jeff’s classes, though, Harper began to realize how much she loved learning, and before long she’d signed up for a class herself. She soon found herself assisting other students with classwork, taking additional classes and finally learning a new language, Spanish.

“When I found Spanish, I fell in love,” she said. “It was so alive to me. I couldn’t get enough of it: I needed to know what this word meant, what that word meant, how to say this.”

Harper graduated with highest honors and an associate’s degree in 1994, earning the Foreign Language Department’s Academic Award, the Presidential Award as the College’s outstanding student and a $1,500 transfer scholarship.

By 1998, she had earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and a master’s degree in education from the University of Tennessee. She worked through financial and marital difficulties to obtain her degrees, along the way raising two children.

Harper taught Spanish at a local high school for six years and in 2001 returned to Pellissippi State as a part-time faculty member. She was hired to teach full time in 2004.

“It was always my dream to come back and work with students at Pellissippi State,” she said. “People here were so good to me and so good to my family. I wanted to not only return some of that support but also pay it forward.

“There are a lot of things about Pellissippi State that helped me develop confidence in myself. It was the catalyst that opened up a whole new world for me. That’s why I have a lot of love and respect for this place.”

These days, Harper is director of Academic Support Programs. There, she has revitalized the tutoring programs at Pellissippi State’s five campuses.

“In Academic Support, we work with students who have difficulties,” she said. “I understand the College from a lot of different perspectives: as a student, a single mother, the mother of a student, a faculty member, an administrator and the mother of a handicapped student. When students come to me and say, ‘You just don’t understand what it’s like,’ I tell them that I do. I do understand.”

In 2008, Harper was named Outstanding Full-time Faculty at Pellissippi State. The following year, she was the recipient of a National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Excellence Award.

Last year, Harper was awarded Pellissippi State’s Innovations Award, which recognizes a project that demonstrates success of creative and original instructional and learning support activities. She was acknowledged specifically for her work in improving the use of tutoring resources at the Academic Support Center.

Harper also has been a Student Success coordinator at Pellissippi State, and she has been head of the College’s Foundation of Excellence projects since 2006.

“Marilyn Harper represents the determination and effort to succeed that so many of the students of this College possess,” wrote Annette Eldridge, a fellow

employee, in nominating Harper for the 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award. “As a former student, she fought the battle that the majority of our nontraditional students face daily, as a single mother determined to better her life for herself and her family.”

Harper volunteers at her church and with the United Cerebral Palsy group home in Knoxville, where her son resides. Both Jeff and his sister, Jennifer Hacker, are also Pellissippi State graduates.

perspectiveit’s all a matter of

40 Years of Stories40 Years of Stories

Ciara Sheets

THE WORLDtakes on

Ciara Sheets

THE WORLDtakes on

“We’re very proud to

offer a study abroad

that is science-based.”

“I understand the

College from a

lot of different

perspectives.”

From student to director, alumna brings experience

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Nursing faculty, staff and students at Pellissippi State are taking part in a blossoming partnership with the Loudon

County Health Department and Loudon County Schools to administer FluMist vaccinations in schools.

Pellissippi State volunteers have been helping with the flu vaccinations in Loudon County schools for the past three years. Last October, Pellissippi State volunteers and Loudon County Health Department officials administered the vaccine to around 3,000 students.

“This is a project of ours every fall,” said Beverly Rogers, interim dean of Nursing, “to go out to the 12 Loudon County schools and join their nurses to assist with the FluMist program for all students from elementary age to high school.”

“Several years ago, the Loudon County school system had issues with schools having to close because so many students would contract the flu and grow ill,” said Mickey Harchis, nursing supervisor at the Loudon County Health Department.

“To counteract that, Loudon County decided to be proactive and administer the flu vaccine in schools. However, our health department has only two full-time and one part-time nurse on

staff, and there’s no way we could administer that vaccine to so many students. If it was not for the Pellissippi State nursing students, I don’t know how we could get this done.

“Through this partnership,” said Rogers, “we’re not only able to help Loudon County and be a good neighbor, but our students are able to get valuable experience administering vaccinations and working with students. It’s a win-win situation.”

HealtHy

For the past three years, Pellissippi State has welcomed the community in experiencing the rich array of arts in East

Tennessee—stirring music, rousing theatre, inspiring lectures, exciting visual displays—by offering The Arts at Pellissippi State.

In 2014 and 2015, the College not only presents yet another astounding mixture of culture and entertainment but also celebrates its own rich heritage as a thriving, transformative asset to the community. Beginning this September, Pellissippi State marks its 40th anniversary … and everyone is invited to celebrate!

Pellissippi State has a long history of commitment to the community and to the arts. The College is home to a permanent display of student artwork and public sculptures, and the Bagwell Center for Media and Art and the Clayton Performing Arts Center are state-of-the-art venues for exhibits and performances.

The perennially popular “Holiday Spectacular” is back by popular demand, part of Pellissippi State’s yearlong concert series. Other events include faculty lectures on topics as varied as the power of persona, Socrates, philosophy in film and the art of the African diaspora.

This year, join The Arts at Pellissippi State and help us celebrate 40 years of community outreach and appreciation for the arts.

For a full calendar of The Arts at Pellissippi State events, visit www.pstcc.edu/arts.

Nursing students help Loudon County give flu vaccinations

Partnerships

Just a few of the many exhibits:

• “a look in Both dir ections” August 25-September 6—The College’s inaugural alumni art exhibit, featuring artists Paige Bruchell, Jessica Burleson, Pete Hoffecker, Daniel Huxtable, Steven Kempster, Jamie Schneider, Pamela Simpson, Bill Warden, Elliott White and Dean Yasko.

• “a laur a ingalls wilder christmas” December 12-13—Presenting two years of life in the Ingalls family, of the well-loved “Little House” children’s books; co-produced with The WordPlayers.

• “pseudoscape” January 15-February 6—Featuring the work of Crystal Wagner: man-made installations that “grow” like life forms through the gallery.

• eighth annual Festival oF cultur es April 10—A glimpse into cultures from around the world through food, music and more.

• “the tempest” April 17-19 and 24-25—The classic Shakespeare work, co-produced with Duck Ear Productions.

Student safety is of paramount importance at Pellissippi State, and to help preserve health and

wellness among students, as well as faculty and staff, the College is partnering with the Knoxville Family Justice Center to implement the Campus SaVE Act.

The Campus SaVE Act, or the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act of 2013, affects both colleges and universities. Schools are required to educate students and employees on the prevention of rape, domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

The SaVE Act was enacted as part of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, which was signed into law March 2013. The SaVE Act applies to all students on campus, not just women.

With the Family Justice Center, Pellissippi State has launched video training for new students. The video includes interviews with campus security staff, other College employees and Family Justice Center spokespeople. The video gives tips on how to prevent dangerous situations and offers solutions for how to deal with such situations if they arise.

The Family Justice Center offers a variety of services, including counseling, support groups, safety planning, and housing, to area victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

40 Years of Creativity

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www.pstcc.edu865.694.6400

P.O. Box 2299010915 Hardin Valley Road Knoxville, Tennessee 37933-0990

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Knoxville, TN

The Tennessee Board of Regents system consists of 46 institutions with a combined annual enrollment of more than 200,000 students, making it among the nation’s largest systems of public higher education. TBR’s six state universities, 13 community colleges, and 27 colleges of applied technology offer classes in 90 of Tennessee’s 95 counties. The TBR system is a $2.2 billion per year enterprise.

Pellissippi State Community College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: Executive Director, Human Resources and Affirmative Action, Room 262, Goins Building, 865.694.6607, humanresources@pstcc.edu. Creasey Printing, 15,000. PSCC 11417908

Bowden visits classrooms during the day, then begins his public presentation at 7:30 p.m. in the Clayton Performing Arts Center. The book signing and a Q&A follow the lecture.

The presentation is sponsored by the English Department and the Pellissippi State Foundation.

Bowden’s Common Book essay, “The Measured Man,” recounts the work of Larry Smarr, an astrophysicist and pioneer of the Internet who advocates “digitally enabled genomic medicine” through in-depth study of his own body.

The author relates Smarr’s self-diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, an incurable chronic inflammation of the GI tract, and his intensive self-study of everything from his bodily excretions to his DNA. Smarr foresees a future in which health care is personalized and each person is in charge of his or her own treatments. He faces criticism that such a future could lead to unnecessary medical intervention and anxiety.

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER

SEPTEMBER 18, 7:30 P.M.Ticket prices are $10

order tickets at www.pstcc.edu/tickets.

Bestselling author Mark Bowden visits Pellissippi State Thursday, September 18, for a lecture and book signing.

He is the author of “Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War,” as well as an essayist in Pellissippi State’s 2014 Common Book, “The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013.”