The Northeast Texas Community College Board of Trustees met for its regular March meeting on Tuesday, March 26th. The meeting started off with a special presentation as the board approved naming Dr. Paula Wilhite as Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Board Chairman Chuck Johns read the proclamation and Dr. Ron Clinton, NTCC President, presented Wilhite with a special medallion to commemorate the honor.
Distinguished Professor Emeritus is the highest honor bestowed upon retired NTCC faculty. Past recipients include Dr. Jim Archer, Dr. Shirley Clay, Dr. Mary Hearron, Doug Hoppock, Dr. Winston McCowan and Dr. Ollie Theisen. Wilhite was a member of the inaugural NTCC faculty in 1985 and she retired in 2023.
“We are so pleased to add Dr. Wilhite to the ranks of our Distinguished Professors Emeriti. She positively impacted the lives of so many students and colleagues during her tenure at NTCC and this honor is very well deserved,” Clinton said.
In the president’s report, Clinton announced that is has been a busy spring semester filled with exciting news. He said that NTCC students have received several prestigious scholarships and three have been named semi-finalists for the Jack Kent
Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Neida Perez, Maddie Smith and Michelle Calderon are all in the running for the highly selective scholarship that covers up to $55,000 per year at any accredited four-year undergraduate institution. Winners will be announced later in the semester.
Clinton also highlighted NTCC’s renewed Memorandum of Understanding with Texas A&M University-Texarkana. In addition to strengthening transfer pathways for NTCC students, A&M-Texarkana is also offering a special scholarship for NTCC employees.
He called on Dr. Kevin Rose, NTCC Senior Vice President for Student Success, to give the board an update on NTCC’s implementation of HubSpot customer relationship management software. He said that this project, which was funded by Title V grants, is designed to improve student retention by making it easier for College Navigators and other staff to monitor student progress and provide extra services when needed.
“We are very excited about the HubSpot project and how it will transform student success. We have worked with an integrator company to customize the software to meet our needs and interface with our student information system. We anticipate that HubSpot will be live by this summer and fully implemented by fall,” Rose said.
In action items, the board approved the Consent Agenda and Proposed Course Fees. They also approved the Establishment of an NTCC Police Department. Dr. Clinton explained that it is necessary for the board to take this step as the college moves forward in the process of achieving TCOLE certification.
In personnel action, they approved releasing one employee from their contract and hired Hazel Espinoza as a new Assistant Soccer Coach/Assistant Housing Director. The meeting was then adjourned after a brief discussion of the outcomes of the annual board evaluation.
