Squatter's Rites Award

Congrats to Squatter's Rites student literary magazine for taking third place for the southern division of small colleges in the Community College Humanities Association college magazine contest. The award-winning publication is going through some changes this year- including a new name. You can vote for your favorite name of the finalists on the front page of the Vol State student blog.

Vol State in the News

The Governor has issued an editorial discussing how recent higher education grants help in the Drive to 55 initiative. He mentions the Vol State Math and Science projects. It's here in the Wilson Post.

The Tennessean recently ran our news release about the Med Lab Technology Program. It's interesting to see why we're attracting many students who already have bachelor's degrees to the program.

Holiday Concerts Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm

Music is a big part of the holiday season. Students at Volunteer State Community College will be presenting two nights of festive songs in a show titled “A Starry Night - An Evening of Christmas Favorites.” There will be choreographed performances from the Showstoppers, rock and roll from the Commercial Music Ensemble, and country musical renditions by the Bluegrass Ensemble, Bluegrass Ablaze. There will also be music by two new Vol State groups- the Guitar Ensemble and the Wind Ensemble. The event will highlight the wide-ranging talents of more than seventy-five students.

The concert includes a CD release of Vol State student work. This year’s CD will be for sale at the shows on December 2 and 3 in the Wemyss Auditorium in Caudill Hall on the Vol State campus at 1480 Nashville Pike in Gallatin. The show time is 7:30 p.m. each evening. A suggested donation of $5 benefits the Music Department Scholarship Fund. Admission and a copy of the Christmas CD are $10. For more information contact the Office of Humanities at 615-230-3202.

Pictured: Bluegrass Ablaze performs in the 2015 holiday concert. Photo by Tony Young.

Tennessee English Conference at Vol State

Vol State hosted the Two-Year College English Association of Tennessee (TYCAT) conference on November 11 and 12.  English professors from 10 of the 13 TBR community colleges were in attendance. 

This annual conference allows community college English professors across the state to share ideas, concerns, and pedagogical approaches with their colleagues.  This year’s conference was conducted in the style of “TED Talks” and made great use of the Performing Arts Studio in the new Steinhauer-Rogan-Black Humanities Building.  Ten of the 37 presenters were Vol State English Faculty, and they include: Emily Andrews, Cindy Chanin, Leslie LaChance, Betty Mandeville, Laura McClister, Ami Price, Catherine Randall, Cynthia Wyatt, Kevin Yeargin, and April Young. 

Vol State students from the Sigma Kappa Delta English Honor Society were also on hand to assist with registration and to listen in on some of the presentations. 

-Deb Moore

Vol State in the News

The Med Lab program was a recent Vol State program release. Here's a link to the story in the Tennessean.

Rad Tech Students Win Knowledge Bowl

Vol State Rad Tech students took first place in a competition of Radiologic Technology knowledge recently. It was part of the annual meeting of the Tennessee Society of Radiologic Technologists. They’re the professionals who perform x-rays and other radiographic imaging of patients in hospitals and clinics. Teams of four students from across Tennessee competed in a single elimination student bowl. There were a total of ten teams participating. The Vol State team of Leslie Williams, Chelsey Odum, Lindsey Bullock, and Meagan Foss won all four rounds of the competition, taking home first place. The students will graduate with their class in May of 2017.

Pictured: The winning Vol State team, left to right: Leslie Williams, Meagan Foss, Chelsey Odum, and Lindsey Bullock.

Vol State Food Drive

The Vol State Employee Relations Committee is sponsoring “FOOD DRIVE FOR THE FAMILIES” from November 9 – November 28. The goal is to fill the cupboards of families in our community during the holidays. Please place your nonperishable canned/ boxed foods in the wrapped boxes located in these buildings:

SRB 208	Mattox 101
Warf 100	Building 300
Rochelle Center Gallery	Wallace 102
Gibson Hall 106	Great Hall
Caudill 222	Wood 117

There has been an outpouring of donations in past years. Let’s fill those boxes!

Respiratory Care Week

During Respiratory Care Week the Vol State Respiratory Program students hosted an educational skills fair at a local clinical affiliate, NHC Sumner Place. Each of the students prepared different respiratory related booths. The students were able to educate over 100 of the facilities employees, residents, visitors, and volunteers. 

The service learning opportunity the skill fair provides for the students and the community is something to be excited about. Each person that participated in the skills fair gained solid knowledge of new, useful information on how to care for themselves, residents, or a loved one. The Vol State Respiratory Care Program will be hosting another skills fair in the spring. Keep your eyes out for the opportunity to stop by, learn and to participate in the neat activities.

-Mallory Higginbotham

Vol State in the News

The outsourcing of jobs is an issue at the state level. The question is whether state colleges and universities should have some maintenance and custodial work outsourced. Last week WSMV took a look at Vol State as it relates to outsourcing.

One Vote Matters: Carole Bucy on National Radio

Vol State History professor Carole Bucy recently took part in a Radiolab Podcast about the election and whether one vote really matters. Radiolab is produced by WNYC in New York and syndicated nationally on public radio stations. You can listen here. Carole's story comes in at 31 minutes. Carole explains the role of the state of Tennessee in the women's suffrage vote, the 19th amendment, and how one vote made all the difference. There's a little Jack Daniels involved and a very important Tennessee mama. It's an amazing story and a big part of Tennessee and American history. Check it out...it's a fun listen, about 15 minutes long. We always like to hear a Vol State faculty member paired with a Harvard faculty member for expertise in the media.

Criminal Justice Parade

The Criminal Justice program showed off the teaching squad car in the Hendersonville Veterans Parade last weekend. They were joined by the Vol State Cheerleaders.

Dr. Faulkner: Regrets

Frank Sinatra famously crooned

Regrets, I've had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

What do you regret most in your life? 

A recent article in Inc. Magazine titled Science Says this is the Most Common Regret led me to an eleven year old article from the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (September 2005, 31: 1273-1285) by Roese and Summerville.  The article titled What we Regret Most . . . and Why examines 11 previously published studies and conducts two additional studies exploring people’s biggest regrets and what affects the degree of regret.   Their conclusion was that “Americans’ biggest regrets fall into the following life domains (in descending order of frequency): education, career, romance, parenting, self-improvement, and leisure.”  Thirty-two percent of Americans have a significant regret regarding education.  That is 10 points higher than the second regretful area of career.

The authors also posit that, “Opportunity breeds regret.  Feelings of dissatisfaction and disappointment are strongest where the chances for corrective reaction are clearest.”  Because education is so readily available in America, it is never too late to correct a past mistake.  Not taking advantage of the current opportunity compounds the regret for past action.

I don’t remember exactly who it was, but I distinctly remember a conversation I had when I was trying to make the decision to leave a very good job in order to return to finish my bachelor’s degree.  I’ve often repeat this exchange with potential adult students.  It goes something like this:

           
Counselor:  How long will it take you to finish your degree?

Me:  About two years.

Counselor:  And how old will you be when you finish your degree?

Me: Thirty –two.

Counselor:  And how old will you be in two years if you don’t pursue a degree?

Me:  Thirty-two.

Counselor:  And so you will be thirty-two and without a degree.

According to the hypothesis of the authors, I would be two years older and have twice as much regret.

Roese and Summerville conclude by offering three distinct stages at which opportunity affects regret.  “The three stages are action, outcome, and recall.”  In the action stage individuals engage in behaviors designed to achieve the desired outcome.  Regret is highest when it is clear that those actions have been freely chosen.  When the outcome is achieved, certainly positive outcomes rarely lead to regret but negative outcomes from freely chosen actions will evoke regret.  How the action and outcome is recalled also affects regret.

For our students, studying for a test is an action.  If the outcome of the test is good, they will recall the positive result and have little regret.  Too often what happens is if the outcome is negative, they try to shift the blame to indicate they did not have a freely chosen action.  (I had to work so I couldn’t study.)  And of course their recall of a situation is often skewed to try to assuage their regret.

We also need to keep these ideas in mind when counseling returning non-traditional students.  We should emphasize that their past action to not pursue education or to stop out doesn’t preclude them from correcting the action and having a positive outcome in the very near future.

So while career, and love life, and leisure may be areas of regret, education is one place where it is possible to correct the past and reduce regret.

-Dr. Jerry Faulkner

Vol State in the News

Channel 5 picked up on the TN Promise retention rate story. The gist is that TN promise students have a better retention rate at Vol State, and many other community colleges, than the general student population. Here is the story.

Healthier Workplace

Vol State has been renewed as a Healthier Tennessee Workplace by the Governor's Foundation for Health and Wellness. That's the result of the health initiatives we have had on campus this past year. Walk Across Sumner is the big one right now. We'll have more coming up!

Remembering Budd Bishop

There are many words that come to mind to describe a champion.  Advocate, winner, leader, passionate, supportive, success, and dedicated are a few.  Budd Bishop was all of these and so much more. He was a champion for Volunteer State Community College at Livingston.

Budd Bishop, an accomplished artist, museum director, educator, author, community activist, and education advocate passed away on October 23, 2016.

Budd and his wife Julia were familiar faces at Vol State Livingston.  Immediately upon entering the building, a prominently displayed plaque that reads Budd Harris Bishop and Julia Crowder Bishop Lobby pays homage to the Bishops’ leadership and financial contributions to Vol State Livingston.

Budd’s love for education and Vol State Livingston goes back to 2004 when he and Julia became very involved with the campus.  The college had started a capital campaign to raise funds for a two-part building expansion, and Budd and Julia went to work.  They worked tirelessly raising funds, in addition to providing financial support from the start of the campaign to the completion of the second phase.

“I met Budd and Julia when I served as President of Vol State and visited the Livingston Campus,” said Warren Nichols, vice chancellor for community colleges for the Tennessee Board of Regents.  “Budd and Julia not only expressed a passion for helping students attend college but wanted the college to help promote a higher quality of life for the entire Livingston community.  Budd and Julia were not only among the first in the community to donate a significant amount of funds to support the expansion of the Livingston campus but became the primary organizers for soliciting community and individual supporters for Vol State.”

Both Bishops served on Vol State Livingston’s President’s Advisory Board since its inception.  “Budd’s caliber of leadership was on a national level,” Michael Powell, director of Vol State Livingston stated. 

Budd and Julia wanted to make education attainable for all and have been active in Vol State’s Foundation. They established the Budd and Julia Bishop Scholarships that annually award full tuition for two students to attend Vol State Livingston.  Budd delighted in hearing about the academic success of the scholarship recipients. 

Budd and Julia are members of the Hal R. Ramer Society for the Volunteer State College Foundation.  Because of their generous gifts, they have attained the Trustee Level.

“One of Budd’s great joys in life was his commitment for education,” said Greg McDonald, director of the Livingston-Overton County Chamber of Commerce.   “He was compassionate about helping under-served children obtain an education.  Budd and I were attending a reception when he approached me with his vision of developing a fund raising campaign to provide scholarships for local students to attend Vol State, and that discussion resulted in Vol E Ball.  Budd always displayed a high quality of excellence in his work as was evident at the Vol E Ball galas, which were outstanding.”

Vol E Ball became an annual gala that brought the community together in support of scholarships for Overton County residents to attend Vol State.  Budd led the committee’s fundraising efforts in securing individual and corporate sponsorships and contributions as well as selling tickets to the gala. Since the first Vol E Ball in 2011, net income of $120,000 has been deposited with the Vol State College Foundation, which administers the scholarships.

Further, Budd and Julia recognized the value of having a community college in Overton County and wanted to raise awareness and promote the college as the first college choice for students. Upon learning that eligible Livingston Academy (LA) High School students were unable to take Vol State Dual Enrollment classes due to a lack of funds, Budd and the Vol E Ball committee decided to allocate Vol E Ball scholarships to LA Dual Enrollment students in an initiative named Vol State First.  More than 200 students have received Vol State First scholarships.

“Budd was a kind, unassuming, personable, soft-spoken gentleman who knew how to get things done.”  Nichols added, “It was apparent from our conversations, and most importantly, from his actions, that Budd delivered on his promises.  The initiative and dedication he and Julia demonstrated by their many contributions, and the Vol E Ball event they produced that raised a substantial amount of scholarship dollars for Vol State will forever keep them in my fondest and grateful prayers.”

Budd was also civic minded and active in the community.  Praise of his contributions is echoed by many throughout Overton County.

“Budd and his wife Julia were the epitome of class.  When they ate out in town, they were always impeccably dressed, which I felt exemplified the respect that they had for each other and the community,” McDonald said.  “Budd was not from this area, but he loved this city.  One of his favorite hobbies was community involvement, and his donation of time and expertise to the community was remarkable.  Budd was working with the Downtown Revitalization Committee (DRC) on various projects including the new Central Park that is under construction.  He always put service before self and he was humble.  The committee wanted to name the new park the Bishop Park but Budd would not allow it.  He insisted that the park be named Central Park.”

Millard Oakley shared, “Budd Bishop was a valued friend and citizen of Livingston.  He was certainly civic minded and was the father of the Vol State event, Vol E Ball.  He devoted countless hours to Vol State and other endeavors locally.  A new park has been approved largely through the efforts of Budd and Julia Bishop.  He will be missed.”

Powell expressed his eternal gratitude for Budd’s great love for humanity, which extended to the farthest reaches. The highest praise he could offer is to say that Budd was a true friend.

Vol State President Jerry Faulkner summed it up, “Budd Bishop was a great supporter of Vol State and a great friend.  He recognized the value of education and wanted every citizen of Overton County to be able to take advantage of what Vol State offered in Livingston.  He was one of the most positive persons I have ever met.  He will be greatly missed.”  

Vol State Livingston has lost a champion and a best friend in Budd Bishop.  He will be forever remembered.

-Sherry Gabelman, Vol State Livingston