Meet Debra Daugherty- Director of Development

Debra Daugherty is the director of Development here at Vol State, working in the College Foundation. She began her new position this spring. She comes most recently from the 15^th Judicial District Child Advocacy Center in Lebanon where she was executive director. She also has extensive event coordination experience at companies including Sumner Regional Health Systems.

“I’ve always enjoyed event planning. I’ve been doing it forever, it seems like,” said Daugherty. “I have had a few classes at Vol State. I was an adult learner. I had to go back to school as a parent. I realize how important it is to have a great community college.

In her role as director of Development at Vol State, Daugherty will organize college fundraisers and Foundation events. She will also manage the College Alumni Association.

“We’re going to have an alumni networking event soon, a chocolate and wine tasting,” she said. “The Alumni Association is a great way for Vol State grads to stay in touch with each other and build career connections.”

For more information on the Vol State Alumni Association visit www.volstate.edu/alumni

Aquatic Wildlife Training Program Comes to Vol State

Many people have wondered what the cinder block building is, currently under construction where the Humanities Building was supposed to go. TBR has made us change plans yet again. There is apparently a huge need for trained Aquatic Wildlife Technicians in Middle Tennessee. So, the Humanities Building project has been canceled and we are building a 50,000 gallon dolphin training center in its place.

Tami Wallace will be the new Director of the Aquatic Wildlife Technology program. She apparently specializes in dolphin communication and care. This picture shows her during recent training. Please congratulate Tami on her new position.

For those of you who bother to read an entire article, we will also add that what you are really seeing rising up as part of the Humanities Building project is in fact the Flexible Instruction Space (FIS). It will be used for large meetings, events, conferences, trainings, theatre productions, music productions, and lecture-style classes. It is the only two-story room in the building.

We'll keep you updated on further building tips in the future. But you may have to read to the bottom of the article to get to the real story. And please, enjoy as I do the people who won't read this article and will be asking about the Aquatic Wildlife program for weeks to come.
 

Foundation Honored for Fundraising

The Volunteer State College Foundation has been recognized for its fundraising program by an international education organization. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) picked eleven community colleges in the nation for the 2015 Educational Fundraising Award. The honor highlights colleges that have shown overall performance or improvement in fundraising. Each year the Volunteer State College Foundation provides nearly $300,000 in student scholarships and support for major building projects, including $1.7 million for the new Humanities building, currently under construction on the Gallatin campus. In the last 20 years, the College Foundation has awarded more than 3700 scholarships and raised more than $10 million.

“Our College Foundation has a wonderful Board of Trustees and an active and engaged Executive Committee. They’re integral in our fundraising efforts,” said Karen Mitchell, vice president for Resource Development. “The trustees, combined with the contributions of donors, alumni and business groups, give us important connections to the community.”

“This is just one more sign of the commitment of our donors and supporters in moving Vol State forward with new educational opportunities for our students,” said Jerry Faulkner, Vol State president. “I would like to congratulate our Foundation staff and the Board of Trustees on this honor. Their hard work makes a real difference.”

For more information about the Foundation visit www.volstate.edu/foundation.

Tornado Response in Action

In the case of a large scale emergency it is likely that our employees would be the first to respond on the scene to help. During a major disaster, such as the 2006 tornado, outside emergency crews could take quite some time to make it to campus. That's one reason that we have Vol State employees specifically trained in emergency response. The program is called CERT -Community Emergency Response Team. We have done CERT training on campus for years now. The latest simulation was at the Fox Building last week.

Imagine responding to find smoke billowing from the building and bodies strewn about the parking lot. The CERT trainees were responding to a tornado simulation that left several Vol State people "injured". Volunteers did an excellent job at portraying the various ways people involved in an emergency might respond. One volunteer kept rushing around trying to help people - even though she herself was injured. She had to be escorted away from the other patients. Another was walking around with a head injury. Fake blood helped with the injuries.

The Gallatin Fire Department and Sumner County EMS eventually arrived and that allowed the trainees to learn how to work with first responders.

CERT is an important program on campus. During the real 2006 tornado trained Vol State employees assisted in building searches and helped with triage for the few people with minor injuries on campus. If you would like to participate in upcoming trainings please contact Lisa Morris with the Campus Police at 230-3525.

Staff Council Awards

Staff Council would like congratulate Leslie Norwood, winner of the Classified Staff Appreciation Award for the month of May! Leslie is a Technician in the Information Technology department.

We also want to recognize all the nominees in the month of May for exceptional service:

Beverly Houser from Business & Finance

Beverly Peden from the Learning Commons

Gayle DeSalles from the Math and Science Division

Jessie Poindexter from Plant Operations at the Livingston campus

Mark Poindexter from IT at the Livingston campus

Mark Dennis from IT Telecommunications

Teresa Carter from the Office of Records and Registration

Every month a winner is drawn from the pool of nominees who were seen offering exceptional service to the Vol State community. The award recipient receives a certificate of appreciation and a $20 gift card. Any Vol State employee can fill out the short nomination form to recognize any permanent classified staff employee by going to the Staff Council webpage (http://www.volstate.edu/StaffCouncil/index.php). The Staff Council webpage can also be found using the A-Z Index.

Thank you for supporting this Staff Council initiative and your fellow coworkers!