IX. Qualifications of Personnel with Key Leadership Assignments

QEP Co-Chairs

The QEP is co-chaired by three members of the college community who have earned the respect of their peers and possess the ability and influence necessary to drive the implementation of the QEP. Their complete resumes may be found in Appendix D.

Abby Wallace Ms. Wallace is Professor of English, a member of the OCTC Administrative Council, and serves as faculty representative to and vice chair of the OCTC Board of Directors. She has taught writing and literature classes at Owensboro Community College and Owensboro Community and Technical College since 1991. She was vice chair of the faculty in 1999-2000, received the Great Teacher Award in 1997, and in 2003 was selected as recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) and attended the International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence in Austin, Texas. She was nominated for Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers in 2004 and 2005. From 2002-2004, Professor Wallace served as OCTC Senator-at-Large at the KCTCS System level. She was on the OCTC Bylaws Revision Committee and the Humanities Division Title III Grant Committee. She was an innovator in beginning OCTC’s on-line classes-being one of the first in the KCTCS System to offer American literature and business writing classes through the Internet. She also served on the English Curriculum Workgroup which set up the English 100 Workshop to accompany English 101.

Peggy Howard Ms. Howard is Associate Professor of Surgical Technology, Program Director of Surgical Technology, and Division Chair for the Allied Health Division. She was co-chair of the By-laws committee which created the College Assembly and is in her second term as the Chair of that Assembly. She is a member of the Administrative Council and the program curriculum committee. She began teaching as a part-time Microbiology instructor, then full-time as the Surgical Technology faculty in 1997, pre-KCTCS. She was a member of the original Technical Senate and co-chaired the system Promotion and Tenure Workgroup. Ms. Howard teaches all courses in the Surgical Technology program and remains a current staff member at Owensboro Medical Health System Surgical Services in order to maintain her own competency within the field. She is certified as a perioperative nurse by the Association of periOperative Nurses (AORN). Her program recently received an award from the Liaison Council on Certification for Surgical Technology (LCC-ST) based on student success on the national certification examination. As Division Chair, she has led the nursing faculty through their own consolidation, bringing together the Associate Degree and Practical Nursing programs as one entity with one coordinator. She has expanded the offerings within the division, adding a Surgical Technology Bridge Program for Nursing and a Pharmacy Technician Assistant program.

Kevin Beardmore Mr. Beardmore is the Dean of Enrollment Management and Planning, a member of the OCTC Leadership Team, and serves on the OCTC Administrative Council. He assumed his current role in July 2002, taking responsibility for the supervision of registration, advising/counseling, and financial aid and coordinating the consolidation of these services across the three campuses of the college. He led the pilot of online registration for KCTCS, including the design of the web portal used for access to online student services, developed the EARLI System, an retention/intervention tracking database, and created “Advising Central” and “Enroll at OCTC,” two web-based advising resources for faculty/staff advisors and students. He led the development of the college’s Title III grant proposal, which was funded in 2003, and the college’s Kentucky Quality Award application, which resulted in the receipt of the Kentucky Quality Award at the Quality Achievement level in 2002, the highest ever received by a institution of higher education in the state. Mr. Beardmore also coordinates the college planning process and tracks planning performance indicators as a part of the Office of Planning, Research, and Effectiveness. Previously, he served as the Director of Research, Planning, and Effectiveness for Owensboro Community College, where he led the creation of the first joint Owensboro Technical College and Owensboro Community College Strategic Plan and coordinated the writing of the Substantive Change Prospectus to consolidate the two colleges.

In addition, four other key staff members with the leadership skills and necessary experience are coordinating specific areas of the plan. Their complete resumes may be found in Appendix D.

Lantana Bray Ms. Bray is the Dean of Admissions, a member of the OCTC Leadership Team, and serves on the OCTC Administrative Council. Ms. Bray was previously Dean of Campus Services for Owensboro Technical College. She is a part-time GE 100 instructor and co-chair of the Scholarship Committee. In addition, she has coordinated numerous student groups and volunteer activities throughout her career.

Stacy Edds-Ellis Ms. Edds-Ellis is the Activity Director/Supplemental Instruction Facilitator for the Title III Strengthening Institutions grant, a part time communications instructor, and serves as the Professional and Organizational Development Coordinator for the college. She oversees all aspects of the Title III grant and coordinates the implementation of the grant’s objectives throughout the college. Her primary responsibilities include working closely with faculty and staff to increase student success and retention in remedial courses and providing faculty and staff with professional development opportunities to better meet the needs of students. Prior to her work with Title III, she worked as the program facilitator for Discover College, a collaborative program between twelve area high schools and Owensboro Community and Technical College. This innovative program provides various avenues for students to earn college credit while enrolled in high school.

David Powers Mr. Powers is the Teaching Learning Specialist and Title III Program Facilitator. He coordinates the academic needs assessment of incoming students, provides technical and study skills support to students in the Teaching and Learning Center, and he organizes workshops faculty in the area of curriculum development and techniques used to teach at-risk, underprepared students. He coordinated the development of the Teaching and Learning Center web page. In addition to his responsibilities and experience at the college, he has worked with underserved youth and intervention programs.

Chris Vaught Mr. Vaught is the Retention/Intervention Coordinator, supported by Title III grant funding. He has responsibility for tracking students’ progress from the point of application to goal completion, with a primary focus on intake and the first semester. Making hundreds of phone calls a month, he provides the personal connection to OCTC students who may be in jeopardy of withdrawing or stopping out. Mr. Vaught coordinated the revision of GE 100 in 2004-05, serves as a part-time GE 100 instructor, and developed the student planner distributed to all GE 100 students in Fall 2004. In addition, he established the “octc.info” e-mail account, serving as the first point of contact for any student questions in regard to student e-mail or online services.