News

The state’s community colleges and colleges of applied technology comprising the College System of Tennessee were given broad flexibility today to alter their classes and other operations as needed locally to protect students, faculty and staff from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including extending spring breaks before transitioning to online classes where possible.

Two committees of the Tennessee Board of Regents and the chairs of the board’s six standing committees will meet Tuesday, March 10, to review and consider a number of items in advance of the full board’s next quarterly meeting, March 26.

The Finance and Business Operations Committee will convene at 10 a.m. CT March 10 to consider approval of its recommendations for student incidental fees for Academic Year 2020-21. It will be followed consecutively by meetings of the Audit Committee and then the Committee Chairs.

A Tennessee Board of Regents Search Advisory Committee has selected four finalists for the next president of Jackson State Community College. All four will participate in campus visits during the week of March 16, the next step in the selection process.

The finalists are:

Two of the four colleges from across the country newly earning the prestigious Leader College status from the national Achieving the Dream Network for steady improvement in student success outcomes are Tennessee community colleges.

Across Tennessee today, proud parents and school administrators cheered on hundreds of high school students who signed on to pursuing career and technical educations at Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology.

It was National CTE Letter of Intent Signing Day across the state and nation – an event modeled after the NCAA’s National Signing Day for high school athletes. National CTE (Career & Technical Education) Signing Day honors students choosing to enroll in technical colleges to further their educations.

The Audit Committee of the Tennessee Board of Regents will convene a special called meeting Tuesday, Feb. 11, to receive and consider a recommendation to hire an investigative audit manager. The committee has authority to hire new audit staff members.

The meeting will be held by telephone conference call at 2:30 p.m. CT Feb. 11. The meeting is open to the public, and anyone wishing to join the call as listeners should contact Board Secretary Sonja Mason at 615-366-3927 or sonja.mason@tbr.edu by 9 a.m. Feb. 11 for call-in information.

Dr. Shanna. L Jackson, president of Nashville State Community College, has been selected by the Aspen Institute to join the 2020-21 inaugural class of the Aspen New Presidents Fellowship, a new initiative designed to support community college presidents in the early years of their tenure to accelerate transformational change on behalf of students.

The Tennessee Board of Regents Committee on Finance and Business Operations will meet Friday, Feb. 7, to begin discussions of student fees at the state’s community colleges and colleges of applied technology for the 2020-21 academic year.

The committee will meet by telephone conference call at 1 p.m. CT. The meeting is open; anyone wishing to join the call as listeners should contact Board Secretary Sonja Mason at 615-366-3927 or sonja.mason@tbr.edu by 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, for call-in information.

A community college supports the academic endeavors of its students. That support often includes helping students deal with personal challenges and needs beyond the classroom.

Northeast State Community College students and staff sought to meet those challenges by collaborating to create Students HOPE (Hold On Pain Ends), a collegiate recovery program (CRP) dedicated to creating a recovery community within the campus culture. The Students HOPE mission seeks to pair educational opportunity with recovery support to ensure students do not have to sacrifice one for the other.

The Art Gallery at Volunteer State Community College is hosting the Tennessee Intercollegiate Juried Student Art Exhibition through Feb. 22, with art by students from six Tennessee community colleges on display.

Students enrolled in studio art classes at the 13 Tennessee community colleges were eligible to submit art works. Students from six of the colleges are represented in this year’s show.

The works will be judged and prizes awarded. This year’s juror is Billy Renkl, professor of art, drawing and illustration at Austin Peay State University.

Northeast State Community College's Theatre Department racked up a slew of awards and nominations for two plays staged during the past year.

In 1984, Phil Graves had no idea that his college experience at Jackson State Community College would eventually lead him to teach international law at Tallinn University in Estonia. Graves has been at the university in Estonia for more than 10 years now.

Although he finished his associate degree at JSCC 34 years ago, he recalls his beginning at the college and knows that it set the foundation upon which the rest of his life and career would be built. “Jackson State provided me with an opportunity that I would never have pursued at a 4-year institution,” Graves said.

“We now have over 30 degree programs completely available online,” announced Chattanooga State President Dr. Rebecca Ashford. Chattanooga State’s new initiative, ChattState Online, is designed to provide busy adults with the opportunity to fit a high-quality college education into their lives. “Flexibility” was the key word used by administrators and current online students when ChattState Online was announced.

More than 2,000 Fall Semester graduates were awarded their degrees and certificates at commencement ceremonies at several of our community and technical colleges in December.

About half of the 40 College System of Tennessee institutions hold Fall commencements. Fall Semester graduates of colleges without December ceremonies can participate in their college's Spring Semester graduation ceremonies, which are held at all the colleges.

A sampling of December commencements across the System:

The Tennessee Board of Regents today approved 12 new training programs at nine Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology across the state, and expanded learning-support programs for students of the TCATs.

In other action during the board’s quarterly meeting, Regents received a report on various measures of student success, including dual enrollment of high school students taking college courses and earning college credits.

The Tennessee Board of Regents will hold its next regular quarterly meeting Dec. 12, with an agenda that includes consideration of budget revisions, 12 new student training programs at Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology and the annual satisfaction survey of graduates of the technical colleges and their employers.

The Tennessee Board of Regents is launching a periodic review of its 2015-25 Strategic Plan, starting Dec. 11 when a new TBR Strategic Plan Steering Committee will convene to begin planning the review.

Two committees of the Tennessee Board of Regents and the chairs of the board’s six standing committees will meet Tuesday, Nov. 19, to consider and review a number of items in advance of the board’s next quarterly meeting in December.

The Audit Committee will meet at 10 a.m., followed consecutively by meetings of the Personnel and Compensation Committee and the committee chairs. The meetings will be held in the board room at the TBR system office, 1 Bridgestone Park, Nashville, TN 37214.

Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor Flora W. Tydings has designated Dr. Robert Denn, a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, to serve as Veterans Coordinator for the College System of Tennessee, the state’s 40 community and technical colleges.

The Search Advisory Committee that will lead the search for a new president of Jackson State Community College has been selected and will meet Nov. 15 at the college, following a public forum to gather campus and community input.

The public forum is scheduled from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Nov. 15 in Room 111 of the Jim Moss Center for Nursing building on the college’s main campus at 2046 North Parkway, Jackson. Members of the public and the college community can express their views about the characteristics, qualities and skills the next president should have.