Faculty, Staff Celebrate Start of New Academic Year

By Marketing and Communications Staff 

Dr. Tracy D. Hall welcomes faculty and staff to the
start of a new academic year during fall convocation. 

Southwest Tennessee Community College President Dr. Tracy D. Hall kicked off this year’s fall convocation with a reminder of the deeper responsibilities that come with working at the college.

“Understand that when you signed up to work at Southwest, we can’t just be what our job title says. We are much, much more,” said Southwest Tennessee Community College President, Dr. Tracy D. Hall. “We’re counselors, mentors and sometimes even parents to our students. That’s what we are called to do. And we do it!”

That message was emphasized and interwoven into the College’s annual fall convocation on Aug. 19 at the Macon Cove Campus, where faculty and staff gathered to celebrate the start of a new academic year, learn of division updates and hear guest speaker, Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis, Memphis Police Department’s interim chief of police.  

This year marks Dr. Hall’s tenth year as president of Southwest and the culmination of nearly a decade of her work at the College focusing on building institutional capacity as part of the Achieve the Dream initiative. 

“That’s the journey we’ve been on since 2016. To build and create a student-centered culture,” she said. “That has been our north star since the beginning. We need to make sure our students have a clear understanding of their path. Of how to get to Point A to Point B. And we’ve done that. We’re fine-tuning it and closing the gaps.”

To do this, Hall introduced attendees to Asha, a fictitious student who matches the typical demographics of a Southwest student: female, under the age of 20, African-American, attending school part-time and lives in an underserved neighborhood. Data that helped to create the profile is now readily available to assist the College in creating profiles and determining the services students need. “When you know your data, you know part of the story,” Hall said, encouraging faculty and staff to remember the College’s mission statement. 

Additional data was shared, highlighting the College’s gradual surge of students returning after COVID left the school with a $10 million deficit and a 30 percent decreased enrollment. 

“Students will and are coming back,” Hall said. “And I want to point out that Southwest has no debt, a healthy revenue, and a progressive budget, allowing no layoffs and a hold on positions as growth continues. This is all thanks to our strategic plan.” 

Guest speaker and Memphis Police Department
Interim Chief of Police C. J. Davis 

Guest speaker C.J. Davis spoke about the importance of the College to the city’s police force as many students are recruited to the Memphis Police Department.

“This college is a vital and critical institution to our city, as this school is the first step to a lot of our officers’ careers in law enforcement,” said C. J. Davis. She underscored the critical role that Southwest plays in launching the careers of many Memphis Police Department officers, noting that the journey for numerous police service technicians begins at Southwest through the Blue Path program. 

Davis expressed gratitude to Southwest and educators for their commitment to facilitating lifelong learning experiences for students, whose needs and ambitions are continually evolving. She credited the passion of faculty, mentors, and staff who supported her pursuit of higher education, which enabled her to finish both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Davis also drew parallels between the College’s mission and the objectives of the Memphis Police Department, which centers on reducing crime, enhancing the quality of life, empowering the community, boosting organizational effectiveness, and investing in capital improvements. “The work we do at the MPD mirrors the outcomes you strive for at Southwest,” Davis remarked. “Just as you rely on your mission statement, vision, and values to guide your efforts, we too are driven by these principles to improve outcomes both within our department and throughout the wider community.”

Rounding out the Convocation were the following divisional updates. To view the presentation by Dr. Hall and senior leadership, click here: 

Cybersecurity Update: The school is recovering from the July Cyber Incident and continues to work with Federal, state, and local officials. Those using a Southwest email to access College accounts and resources must reset their passwords and continue to follow security protocols.

SACSCOC Accreditation and QEP: Southwest is preparing for the Oct. 1-3 on-campus visit by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) officials, and some employees may be part of a mock interview to prepare for the visit. Once granted, the reaffirmation is for 10 years. As part of the accreditation, the school is launching a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) in math and English with rubrics in note-taking, time management, test preparation, and communication. Student focus groups may be used to obtain feedback. 

Academic Affairs and Workforce Development: A Southwest Assess Committee has been created. It is tasked with identifying and implementing an effective, efficient, systematic assessment process for course, program, and institutional learning outcomes, general education essential skills, alignment with programmatic and institutional accreditors, and transfer/workforce demands.

Dr. Carol Ash, vice president of academic affairs and workforce development, announced a $1,000 professional development funding for each full-time faculty member to allow for continued learning and conference attendance. Funds cannot be rolled over to upcoming academic years and expenses for asks above the granted amount will require approval.

Student Affairs: Through a joint venture between Academic and Student Affairs, funds available from the Reimagining Community College (RCC) grant have allowed for five success coaches who work closely with students on academic probation. 

tnAchieves: Since the launch of Tennessee Promise in 2015, more than 12,000 high school students have enrolled in Southwest using the TN Promise scholarship. Since launching the Completion Grant program statewide, Southwest students have received more than $250,000 in additional support. The grant provides assistance to Pell Grant-eligible TN Promise students to alleviate financial barriers that impact student success. The top three areas of need have been identified as transportation, food insecurity and computer access. In addition to the Summer Bridge program, over 199 students have participated in the Summer Institute program with a 96% completion rate, allowing them to earn 9 college credit hours.