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A newsletter for the students, faculty and staff of the Collin County Community College District. Published monthly. For information or submissions, call 972.599.3142. Cougar News welcomes student and faculty submissions. Next deadline: January 10. All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on the due date. Photos cannot be returned. Text should be emailed to mrobinson@ccccd.edu or sent on disk. Please submit copy that is proofed, edited and saved in Word format. Cougar News staff: Lisa Vasquez, director; Mark Robinson, editor; Marcy Cadena-Smith, contributor; Stephanie Hall, student correspondent; Adriana Rodriguez, student correspondent; special contributors: Heather Darrow, Sonya Flaming, John Glass; Nick Young, photography and layout.
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Professor of the year, endowed chairs honored at reception
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| Collin Chairman Dr. Bob Collins congratulates Jennifer Brooks, Professor of the year. |
Calling Nov. 28 a red-letter day for the college may be an understatement.
That is because at the Spring Creek Campus, college, Foundation and community leaders honored three faculty members for three outstanding announcements.
Psychology professor Jennifer O’Loughlin-Brooks was informally recognized for being the Texas Professor of the Year, and Dr. Joyce Swegle, professor of nursing, and Dr. Lisa Roy-Davis, professor of English, were named the Dickinson Endowed Chair in Nursing and the Lebrecht Endowed Chair for Scholarly and Civic Engagement, respectively.
“We have all had one or two professors that stand out in our minds,” Dr. J. Robert Collins, Board of Trustees Chairman, said. “These professors we are honoring today have the same impact on our students today. With that kind of services, we are grateful for what they do.”
According to Collin President Cary Israel, “This is a major milestone event for our institution.
O’Loughlin-Brooks was the first to be honored.
On Nov. 16, she was formally awarded the Texas Professor of the Year award by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching at a ceremony in Washington D.C. This is the only national program recognizing college and university professors for their teaching skills.
O’Loughlin-Brooks is the second Professor of the Year honor given to a Collin professor after theatre professor Brad Baker took home the U.S. Professor of the year in 2000. Rice University and The University of Texas at Austin joins Collin as the only institutions with multiple winners.
President Israel also announced that a Texas Senate proclamation 1263 was read commemorating O’Loughlin-Brooks’ honor.
“The only thing I want to say is that this job has been a dream,” she said. “Ever since I’ve been at Collin, I’ve wanted to be full time. Not only am I blessed with an amazing professional life, but I’m blessed with an amazing family.”
The new endowed chairs were next in receiving kudos from their peers.
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| Lisa Roy-Davis |
The Lebrecht Endowed Chair for Scholarly and Civic Engagement was established to recognize Royden L. Lebrecht’s commitment to education and the community. Lebrecht’s $1 million gift was the largest from an individual in the history of the college. Dr. Roy-Davis has been a professor of English at Collin since August 2003. She holds a bachelor of arts in English from Atlantic Union College in South Lancaster, Mass., a master of arts in English from La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif. and a doctorate with a specialty in 20th Century American Literature, U.S. Latina Writers from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
“This is like being given an Oscar award before making the movie,” Dr. Roy-Davis said, citing the many duties she has yet to take on in her new position. “I feel privileged to have my work recognized and affirmed in this way.”
According to Dr. Swegle, she equates the fabric of her position to the proverb that if you give someone a fish, they eat for a day. Teach them to fish, they eat for a lifetime.
“Hopefully, the students will be learning the principles of lifetime learning in order to continue their development as professionals,” Swegle said.
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| Joyce Swegle |
The Dickinson Endowed Chair in Nursing was created due to a $400,000 gift from Richard Dickinson in honor of his mother, a nurse, Florence Marie Dickinson.
An endowed chair can be focused on an academic discipline, career program or area of study. An endowed chair carries considerable prestige and demonstrates the strongest commitment on the part of the donor and the college to a particular program. The Collin College Foundation will work with the donor to identify and match donor interests and college programs. Collin will provide resources to fund the endowed chair’s salary, release time and professional development while investment earnings allow for an annual payout from the endowment to support student scholarships.
An endowed chair is awarded competitively to reward instructional excellence and leadership. The chair carries the name selected by the donor and is listed in the college catalog, website and on appropriate signage. The Endowed Chair will complete a project, participate in professional development and serve on the scholarship selection committee for recipients of the Endowed Chair Scholarships.
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