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Community Magazine is a publication of Tulsa Community College

CONTENTS SPRING 2021

Tulsa Community College 6111 E. Skelly Drive, Suite 400 Tulsa, OK 74135 Leigh B. Goodson, PhD. President & CEO

TCC Board of Regents: Wesley G. Mitchell, Chairman Caron Lawhorn, Vice Chairman William R. McKamey, Secretary James H. Beavers, Member Samuel Combs III, Member Paul H. Cornell, Member Ronald S. Looney, Member

Community Magazine is published each Fall and Spring semester

The Whole College Group Project

Coping in the Time of Covid-19

The Whole College Group Project

Five Things with John Thao

Alumni Story

50 Notable Alumni

Not a Risky Proposition

“Mr. Aviation” and His Vision for the College

Meaningful Messages

Fall 2020 Graduation

Donor List

Bodies in Stop-Motion

All According to the Plan

TULSA COMMUNITY COLLEGE HISTORIC TIMELINE 02

1969

Tulsa Junior College was established and Dr. Alfred M. Philips was appointed as TJC’s founding president.

1970

TJC’s opened to its first class of 2,796 students on three floors of leased space in the Sinclair Oil Building.

A Letter From TCC President Leigh B. Goodson

Since March 2020, we have all been forced to respond and pivot in an ever-changing situation as the pandemic has impacted every employer and industry. With so many considerations to every decision, education has been presented with a crushing workload amidst a precarious situation. However, education remains the backbone of industry, and businesses will continue to need a strong pipeline of potential employees. To help ensure that is possible, now and for the future, here are some important points related to education. Students entering college over the next few years will arrive having experienced high school differently. Tulsa Community College will, as we always have, be prepared to meet students where they are. But some emerging numbers show students are not continuing their education after high school. Nationally, the number of freshmen students entering college was down this fall from previous years. TCC even saw a decrease in the number of students utilizing Tulsa Achieves to pay for their first two years of college. Not coming to college directly from high school lowers the likelihood they will complete a bachelor’s degree by 30 percent for those who waited a year after high school graduation. The pandemic has also disproportionately affected people of color and those with lower socioeconomic status, and we are seeing the same trends in education. Citing fears over contracting COVID-19 and not being able to afford college due to the economic disruption, 16 million Americans canceled their college plans this Fall. According

1971

to National College Attainment Network analysis of Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) data through last August, students from families earning less than $75,000 a year were more than twice as likely to have abandoned their college plans. That coupled with 100,000 fewer FAFSAs completed through October, means fewer individuals even tried to qualify for financial aid. In addition to encouraging high school students to continue their education, it is important to urge those already in the workforce to take their skills to the next level. Higher education’s response to COVID gave rise to additional course delivery methods such as online live and more robust online offerings. Working adults have more flexibility whether a short-term certificate or specific classes to develop a skillset. TCC is here to help find the most efficient path to earn a degree. We must work together to erase the educational losses we are seeing due to the pandemic. Employers, students, and the community depend on it. To provide everyone the opportunity to make a family sustaining wage, we must practice flexibility and encourage individuals to opt-in to education. Our community thrives, and we collectively improve lives, when students are educated and employed. Leigh B. Goodson, Ph.D. Tulsa Community College President & CEO

TJC’s first graduation awarded degrees to 11 students on May 28, 1971. The TJC student newspaper published its first edition on Oct. 19, 1971. In addition, TJC’s original student government organization received official status in 1971.

COPING IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

TCC students find themselves stressed out, but succeeding in spite of the pandemic Today’s college students face challenges unthinkable even just two years ago. The pandemic has its fingers in everything, causing stress where there was none, and elevating it to new levels where it already existed.

had a traumatic experience during the pandemic. In the past year, his family has lost 15 members, 13 to COVID-19, which made attending school more stressful than usual.

Courses haven’t become more difficult; life has.

“Being an older student, you’re worried about your school work. You’re worried about COVID. You’re worried about how to pay the electricity bill or the gas bill,” says Gonzalez. “I’m trying to focus on one of my dreams, so I can go on to a better life for my family.”

TCC’s students are coping, and staying on track, but again, it isn’t … easy. The educational environment has changed, and change requires adjustment. For Tia Tafla, a Business/Biology major, first-generation student, and first-semester freshman, the lack of social interaction weighed heavily. It inhibited the formation of study groups and new personal relationships with her fellow students. “I’m used to being super involved with clubs, and that all came to a halt,” says Tafla. “And a lot of that plays into academics. There aren’t study groups. I’ve had to learn to be more independent, academically.” And her impression of in-person classes was not necessarily better. “It’s very impersonal,” she says. “You no longer have that connection with anyone, including your professor. It’s been weird making the transition. Last semester, I struggled a lot to figure out where to put my time. “But I made it out alive. My grades weren’t bad. And I actually miss going to class, which we took for granted. It’s made me grateful for the things we used to have.” Michael Gonzalez, who graduated from TCC in December with his Associate in Enterprise Development 29 years after finishing high school, has

1972

Last summer didn’t bother Gonzalez much, as he’d taken the majority of his TCC courses online. “By Fall, the full force of the stress of what was going on completely hit,” says Gonzalez. But Gonzalez found positives in his school experience. He found his professors accessible and understanding. “I’m no one special in any of this, because there are many people being affected,” says Gonzalez. “They worked with me. They said, ‘You let us know if there’s something you need. We’ll help you in any way we can.” Like Tafla, Gonzalez too felt the pandemic’s socially isolating effects. For him, it highlighted the need for more intrapersonal communication options between students. “That’s an issue we hear about on the news with young kids. Even as adults, we still rely on that social interaction. In the spring, many of us would go to Starbucks and study together and help each other understand a lesson. We can’t do that now.”

TJC’s first nursing class Capping Ceremony was held. The program has since grown to provide more than 100 new registered nurses for the Tulsa area each year. Special Programs non-credit classes were added to TJC’s academic programming in spring 1972. Fifty classes were offered and filled immediately with 1,175 enrollments.

A Computer Programming major, calling Gonzalez tech savvy probably doesn’t cover it. He found a free tech solution for study groups. “For each of my courses, I created a Discord server so all of us can get together and still study,” he says. “That’s what many of us have turned to. We can no longer go to the library and help each other out, so we’ve come up with ways to adapt. Discord is a great option.” He’s been a fan of Zoom “online live” courses as well. “It makes it more personal. It goes back to that inclass interaction. You can ask questions immediately and actually discuss it with the professor and all the students. It helps so much to have that communication.” Gonzalez plans to continue toward his bachelor’s in cyber security from Northeastern State University. Caroline Whitney has designs on becoming a nurse. Last spring, she took distance learning concurrent classes while still in high school, so her adjustment to Fall 2020 was not extreme. She started Fall with 33 hours completed, and a clear plan to achieve her goals. “Because of my concurrent classes, I knew what TCC was about,” says Whitney, who’s taking advantage of the College’s Tulsa Achieves program. Still, the time has been strange. Like every other graduating high school senior in the country, she laments the loss of all the trappings of your last year of high school. No prom. No normal graduation. “I didn’t get any end-of-the-year high school things,” she says. “I just had to take it in stride. I’ve had to think about the things I’m thankful for. There are people out there really struggling.”

1973

Like Gonzalez and Tafla, she’s noticed the social isolation, but she’s used the time to focus on her studies. “I talk and text with friends, but I’ve taken this time to really just focus on school,” says Whitney. “Even though it’s been tough socially, it’s kind of been easier. You don’t have to worry about anything but academics because you’re not going anywhere. No reason not to get A’s. I’m very excited. Getting into nursing school is tough. There are so many requirements. You want to get as many A’s as possible. When I do get to go back into the world, I’ll have a place in it as an adult.” She’s enjoyed her time at TCC. Classes have gone well. Textbook purchasing and returning went smoothly. She’s felt safe. “I’ve had a great experience at TCC so far,” she says. “I think TCC’s handled this very well in terms of transition and safety. I’ve actually, surprisingly, enjoyed virtual classes. It makes things easier in some ways. It takes away the drive time. As long as you have a good internet connection, I think virtual is a great choice as long as it’s not a lab.” Showing wisdom perhaps beyond her years, she focuses on trying to stay positive. “Pandemic aside, there are days when things are going to be tough, and there are going to be good days,” says Whitney. “I think people need to treasure the good days. We’re still a ways a way from getting through this. “Try to think about things to be thankful for. That’s always helped me.”

The College acquired 80 acres of land at the corner of Harvard and Apache to develop the second element of the multi-campus master plan. This would later become the home to the Northeast Campus in 1979.

1974

The College purchased the Sinclair Oil Building and adjacent property to service as a permanent location for the Metro Campus. The entire six-floor structure was completely remodeled over the next two years.

FIVE THINGS WITH

JOHN THAO

Five reasons why John Thao loves fishing

Reason 1: I love spending time with my father on fishing trips. While driving to and from the water, we talk and share about life from cultural traditions to politics. While fishing, we let our worries go and be present with our rod and reel hoping to catch that one big fish. I remember sitting with my father on the huge rocks at Keystone Dam learning how to fish when I was young. We made countless memories during our fishing trips. The most valuable lesson I learned from my father is captured in this quote by Lao Tsu: “If you give a hungry man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” Thank you, dad! Reason 2: I love being out on the water and fishing. Fishing at bodies of water like ponds, lakes, and rivers has been therapeutic. It is quite spiritual for me. Fishing in the water soothes my soul and reenergizes my body from stress especially during this COVID-19 pandemic. I feel as if Mother Nature is healing me. Reason 3: I love the emotional rollercoaster I experience when catching a fish. When I feel and see the line on my rod pull with such strength, it’s “fish on!” My heart starts pounding. I have no clue what I caught, and the anticipation builds. My hand sweats as I turn my reel and adjusting the drag to make sure my line does not break. Hearing the satisfying drag clicks as the fish pulls my lure, I watch my rod flex and my mind rushes with so many thoughts. Yes! Fish on! Fish on! Come on! Come on! Don’t break my line! Don’t break my line! I battle it out and as the fish slowly gives in, I land it on shore. Heck yes! Let’s go! And as I like to think, “When you catch one, you are hooked!” Not literally in the fishing sense, though.

eater. Just made that term up. I love to catch and eat fish. I scale, gut, and fillet fish, so I am not afraid to get my hands a little dirty. Some of my favorite fish dishes are Thai-style steamed-lemon fish and fish burritos. There is nothing more satisfying than knowing you caught, cleaned and cooked your own fish. And it’s always a joy to share fresh fish from the river with my family at the dinner table. Yummy! Reason 5: I have fallen crazy in love with learning everything there is to fishing. I have learned how to make and tie my own lures, scout where good fishing spots are, understand the type of fish I am targeting and what lures to use to catch them, along with cooking different fish recipes. If you walked into my bedroom, there’s a designated desk with all my fishing crafts. It’s a mess. And there’s the thousands of hours of fishing videos on YouTube I’ve watched just to learn how to tie certain jigs and catch different fish species throughout the year. Currently, I am watching how to rig and catch trout. When I retire, don’t ask me where I am. You should know. I’ll be out fishing somewhere. Big smile! John Thao serves as a TRIO/Educational Opportunity Center Academic Counselor at TCC. He has supported more than 1,000 nontraditional, first-generation, and low-income individuals on how to navigate the pre-college process. John is currently President of the Oklahoma Division of Student Assistance. A former Fulbright English Teaching Assistant, John was part of the first cohort to teach at the National University of Laos. He’s also a big fan of Batman.

Reason 4: I love catching fish, but more so cleaning and cooking them. I am not a sport angler; I am an angle-

1975

07 Enrollment at TJC more than doubled from the Fall 1970 opening – from 2,796 to 6,169 students.

50 NOTABLE

ALUMNI

In celebration of 50 years of Tulsa Community College, we highlighted 50 distinguished alumni/former students, once a week. Visit TCC50.com to learn more about the 50 Notables, explore our historical timeline, and experience how the College has spent 50 years making our community stronger. Anna America Park and Recreation Department Director, City of Tulsa

John Bobb-Semple Community Program Manager, Blue Zones Project – Pottawatomie County

Moises Echeverria, M.H.R. President & CEO, The Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice

Pam Ballard, M.H.R. CEO, Community Service Council of Tulsa

Pat Bruner Investor

Dallas Elleman Robotics/sUAS Product Development Engineer - XWorks Technologies

Tim Bart, M.Ed. Principal, Burlington Public Schools Chris Benge Executive Director, Rural and Tribal Health Policy, OSU Center for Health Sciences Hannah Berrett, Ph.D. Medical Student

Tiffani Bruton Director of Public Affairs, Cox Communications Carlos Chappelle, J.D. Awarded Posthumously Glenna K. Cooper, M.A. Assistant Professor & Dept Faculty Chair, Tulsa Community College

Byron Bighorse CEO, Osage Casinos

Drew Diamond Executive Director, Jewish Federation of Tulsa

Sharon Bishop-Baldwin Writer and editor

Joseph Digges, D.D.S. Retired Dentist

Debbi Guilfoyle, Ed.D. Executive Director, Crosstown Learning Center, Inc. Michelle Harris Community Liaison/Program Developer, Eau Claire Area Hmong Association Robin Heim, R.N. Registered Nurse, Saint Francis Hospital Tammi Holden, M.A.A.L. Chief Nursing Office, Innovage

Tim Jackson Owner, Jackson Technical

Jeannie McDaniel Retired Legislator

Elli Johannsson Principal Structural Engineer, 360 Engineering Group

Dani Moore Retired Drilling Engineer

Carol Johnson, M.A., M.F.A. Associate Professor of English, Tulsa Community College Ernie Jones, M.Ed. Social Studies Teacher and Coach, Cascia Hall Preparatory James E. Jones, Pharm.D. Market Health & Wellness Director, Walmart Jackie Kouri Retired, Senior Director of Information Technology, MCI WorldCom Gary Lorenz, M.S.C.S. Vice President of Enterprise Risk and Compliance, USAA Rose Lynch Consultant Tim Lyons CEO, TTCU Paula Marshall, Ph.D. CEO, The Bama Companies

Jeremy Moore, M.P.A. Fire Chief, Broken Arrow

Matt Stiner, M.P.A. Chief Growth Officer, MO Studio Chris Sutterfield, M.D. General Surgeon, Surgical Associates, Inc.

Emeka Nnaka, M.H.R. Motivational Speaker

Clifton Taulbert President & CEO, The Freemount Corporation & Roots Java Coffee

Jolie Olson, M.S.C.S. Software Engineer and Writer

Jean Thornbrugh, Ph.D. Retired Educator

Jim Presley Commercial Real Estate Appraiser

Patti Tremonti Training and Development Manager, Nelson Auto Group; Leadership Coach, The John Maxwell Team

Suzanne Reese, D.P.T. Retired Associate Professor and Physical Therapist, Tulsa Community College Trudy Rigney Awarded Posthumously Lisa Riley CEO and Owner, Pinot’s Palette – Tulsa Area Studios

Gayle VanTrease, M.A. Professor, McLennan Community College; Adjunct Instructor, Baylor University Nate Waters Awarded Posthumously Michael Willis, M.P.A. Tulsa County Clerk

Isaac Rocha Regional Business Development & Inclusion Matthew Youngblood, M.S.C.E. Officer, The Bama Companies Project Manager and Principal, Garver, LLC – Tulsa Office Linda Valliere Siegmann, M.B.A. Staff Accountant, , Hood & Associates, CPAs

1976

In just five years, the graduating class grew to 444 students. To streamline student services, the College added computer-assisted career counseling and instructional programs to provide students with help outside the classroom.

1977

Fully committed to accessible higher education for all, the College opened what would become known as the Education Access Center.

MR. AVIATION

AND HIS VISION FOR THE COLLEGE Visionary leaders wonder what is possible. When backed by creative, forward-thinking people, they ask questions leading to fundamental changes. A single question asked in the early days of then Tulsa Junior College, now Tulsa Community College, shaped our city’s direction. That question sparked an initiative that would not only boost enrollment at the College but the local economy as well. Dean VanTrease, who in 1970 was TJC’s executive vice president and later became the College’s second president, remembers that pivotal question coming from George Warde, one of the original TJC regents. Named “Mr. Aviation” by the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, Warde is credited with moving the American Airlines’ SABRE Reservation System from New York to Tulsa. However, the airline struggled with hiring employees who were equipped to handle the new computer system. VanTrease explained Warde asked the board, “Do you think our College could provide people with training in these data processing machines and help them learn to fix those systems?” From there, the College worked with Robert Melott, TJC vice president of Information Services, to begin offering Computer Programming classes to train a workforce on the new reservation system. In the coming years, the College had so many Computer Programming courses that American Airlines dubbed TJC as the “MIT of the Sunbelt.” Thanks to Warde’s vision, the College plugged into the computer age throughout the 1970s with telecourses and a broad curriculum in Computer Science. Fast forward to 2021 where Computer Science classes are a main stay of the School of Business and Information Technology and strong partnerships with local universities help students start and finish their fouryear degrees in Tulsa. Looking to the future, the School is also exploring opportunities in the cybersecurity and data analytics space.

1979

Former TCC president Tom McKean and George Warde tour the TCC Aviation Center (2011).

For more than five decades, program innovation has been a standard for the College. Most recently when COVID-19 cases surged thrusting TCC into an online learning environment, faculty and staff pulled together to offer students flexible and safe learning modes as well as even some physical resources and operational assistance. When Warde passed away in 2012, Tom McKeon, TCC’s third president, praised Warde as “an early advocate for the role junior colleges could play in ensuring the success of employers and employees in the Tulsa area” and added that Warde’s commitment to that mission is part of his legacy. Warde’s legacy continues In September 2020 the TCC Foundation was a recipient of $30,000 from Warde’s estate to be used for aeronautical engineering scholarships. The funds will help students enrolled in Air Traffic Control, Aviation Sciences (Professional Pilot) and Computer Engineering degree programs, as well as Aerospace Drafting, Aircraft Dispatch Electronics (Industrial Maintenance), and Drafting & Design ENGT certificate programs.

The Northeast Campus opened its doors to approximately 500 students in January. TJC also added telecourses to supplement on-campus instructional programs as enrollment exceeded 9,000.

1981

TJC became the third largest institution of higher education in the state, behind only Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma.

GRADUATION 2020 1982

Continuing its commitment to provide college access for all students, TJC developed what would become the Resource Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

1984

The Southeast Campus opened off of Highway 169 and 81st Street. TJC’s total enrollment stood at an all-time high of 15,756.

BODIES IN

STOP-MOTION Leann Fiore makes stop-motion dissection videos. Her YouTube channel, PopUpBiology, has more than 670 subscribers and her 15 videos have captured more than 54,000 views. There’s a series on pig dissection. There’s one of a heart. And a brain. Her stop-motion story begins like so many good stories: with a heist. Okay, not a real heist, but in the opening days of the pandemic, the College advised faculty to go to campus and get whatever they needed because it was closing. In Leann’s case, as an assistant professor in Biology, that involved absconding with some anatomy models and … pigs for dissecting, which she then had to store in her fridge. In December 2019, Leann attended a conference with a session on stop-motion for students. Stop-motion is a type of animation where the subject is photographed and then moved slightly, then photographed again. Played sequentially, it gives the illusion of being animated. Upon her return, she requested materials for her students to do stop-motion projects, and planned to have it on her syllabus for Spring 2020. Cue the pandemic. In the rapid planning to account for COVID-19 the latter half of the Spring 2020 semester, Leann knew she would need video resources for her students, and they needed to be free. A major component of her classes is dissection, after all. She checked the internet, looked on YouTube, but couldn’t find what she wanted. “It’s not that they were bad, but they weren’t what I was looking for,” says Leann. “The quality wasn’t there, or if it was, the attention wasn’t on the specimen, it was on the instructor.”

1986

The best innovations seem to come from problems in need of creative solutions. “I wanted it to just be the student with the specimen,” she says. She had the thought, I wonder if I can make the animal move itself through stop-motion. She took one of the pigs from her fridge and set about snapping pictures with her phone, then formatting the photos into a video. She says she was surprised by how well it turned out, and how well it worked for her purpose. “Since every frame is its own photo, and the object is not actually moving, when you pause it, it’s a clear image. That’s a huge benefit.” She made a YouTube channel, then shared the videos with her students, and also with Julie Porterfield, TCC’s Dean of the School of Science, who in turn shared it with others. “It took off from there,” says Leann. “It’s not something that was really planned. But there was a need. High school teachers are using them. A lot of the subscribers are teachers, and a lot of the views come from teachers assigning the videos. “If I stay on track, I think the channel will hit monetization this summer, and then I’ll need to have a conversation about how to reinvest that money back into the channel.” More videos are in the pipeline, and Leann has begun collaborating with colleagues. “We do it all via Zoom. I share my screen and we edit together,” she says. “I just ask what they need and help them accomplish their vision.”

TCC established the International Language Center with instruction in 14 languages, including English as a Second Language and American Sign Language.

She credits her department and the College for the success of the videos and the awards she’s received. Back in April, TCC President and CEO Leigh Goodson presented Leann with a Goody Award for her work on the videos, and in January, she received a Great Ideas for Teaching (GIFT) award from the Oklahoma Association of Community Colleges. “TCC has been so supportive,” says Leann. “The College has been completely supportive, letting me do my thing, and trusting that I know what I’m doing.”

1989

After 20 years, TJC’s founding president, Dr. Alfred M. Philips retired. Dr. Dean P. VanTrease was named president.

THE WHOLE COLLEGE GROUP PROJECT A year ago, COVID-19 was imminent. In response, the College planned to shut down for an additional week after Spring Break, regroup, and get on with the business of providing education to our students. “When we decided to go remote, more than half of the faculty didn’t have any kind of formal online development experience or training,” says Dr. Angela Sivadon, TCC senior vice president and chief academic officer. “And we were taking everyone online.” Pieces of the puzzle were already in place. The College offers Teaching at TCC, a workshop that helps faculty develop strategies to be successful in the classroom, focusing on teaching, syllabus development, and course planning. Prior to COVID-19, the College pushed that class to adjuncts. Full-time faculty could opt to take an Online Course Developer course to help them design curriculum for online instruction.

amounts of collaboration, innovation and communication between TCC faculty, staff and administration. “We wanted to make sure our students still received that excellent education we promised,” said Sivadon. “We wanted to make sure we were still delivering.” For the Summer, TCC enacted 100 percent online courses. There would be no physical classes on any TCC campus. “We required anyone teaching online to obtain at least Online Instructor Certification and we encouraged everyone teaching to take Online Teaching Fundamentals,” says Sivadon. Lessons learned in the Spring and Summer carried forward, with revisions, into the Fall semester. And it all worked. But it wasn’t easy.

College leadership spent that entire week after Spring Break prepping faculty for online instruction with a newly developed course: Online Teaching Fundamentals, a 40-hour curriculum that enables faculty to design online courses with the assistance of their peers. To date, more than 400 TCC faculty members have completed the course.

Faculty Deliver Dr. Jennifer Campbell is the College’s Faculty Coordinator for Online Learning. As such, she found herself at the center of the faculty pandemic pivot. The picture she paints of Spring 2020 isn’t one of panic, but measured upscaling to meet the needs of the moment. Each step of the journey created new resources.

Faculty were paired, so that for every course, instructors backed each other up. Sivadon called it “peer mentoring.”

“The first thing we did was quite a bit of communicating with faculty,” says Campbell. “We offered resources. Daily Tool Tips sessions had record numbers of attendees. Each session highlighted a technical tool that could help the classroom instructor shift to remote instruction. We normally have a steady interest throughout the year, but the participation in these sessions was up to 800 percent higher than normal. People were all of a sudden really interested.”

“It was great to see the collaboration among faculty as they ventured into this new learning environment together,” says Sivadon. The rapid course development happened in response to demands of the situation, and required enormous

1990

The College announced its first endowed chair, the Natalie O. Warren Chair of Nursing, funded by the Saint Francis Auxiliary with a matching grant from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. The Alfred M. Philips Health Sciences Center was dedicated at Metro Campus.

The College has been offering courses online for more than 20 years. The experienced faculty were of great support to those who were new. The pandemic lead to fasterthan-usual adoption of testing tools, Zoom, and a new lecture capture system. New and experienced faculty stepped up and learned to use these tools quickly. That course we mentioned earlier? Implementing it required a total reconceptualization. “Our online teaching fundamentals course? We were charged with getting a lot of people onboarded with online instruction really quickly,” says Campbell. “We knew an instructional design team of three was not going to be able to handle the enormous task. We had to reconceptualize the whole training program. We shifted from being the people who facilitated training to the people who put it together and coordinated everything.” Fourteen faculty coaches were recruited to run the one-to-two-week sessions. “We provided Zoom sessions in the morning, and then technologists would do a Zoom session in the afternoon. Each coach had eight to 10 faculty members assigned to them. Librarians made themselves available. Everyone was very busy. It was an entirely different training model. “Normally, about 15 people completed our online developer certification a year,” she says. “Over the summer, we got about 450 people through the training. That was a huge thing. The support level needs were very high. We were fortunate Tim DeGreer, Mark Roylance and Kenny Loveland joined our division.” Pieces of what was needed already existed. Back in 2018, the College created the

1991

eCore, which put together teams of faculty members, librarians and instructional designers to build courses that could be used by any full or adjunct faculty member in the discipline. “eCore classes are great for faculty who don’t have the time to put together a whole online class. The eCore class provides the structure and the instructor has time to focus on teaching,” says Campbell. “The more we do this, the more we realize how long it takes to put together a good online course. If you have the content prepared for you, but you can still customize, but it makes it a lot easier. Instructors are still using their professional subject matter expertise. It’s a lot to do well.” Demand for eCore classes exploded during the pandemic. The faculty were trained, prepped and ready. Time to … Zoom? Zooming Forward If TCC has an expert on Zoom, it would be Mary Sirkel, director of Employee and Organizational Development. She didn’t plan to be the College’s go-to Zoom trainer. It happened serendipitously. About the same time the pandemic increased in severity, Sirkel happened to be taking some courses in Zoom from The Persimmon Group. Sirkel had a lot of prior experience delivering training in virtual environments, such as via WebEx, and was adding to her toolset with the Zoom courses. It was a small step to begin offering Zoom Tips and Tricks sessions to

The Alfred M. Philips Health Sciences Center opened on the Metro Campus and provided more space for programs such as Nursing and the open-to-the-public Dental Hygiene Clinic.

College faculty and staff through TCC’s internal training system. “All of a sudden, faculty started attending, and asking, ‘What do I do with students?’” says Sirkel. “It was not intended for that; it was just to get people used to doing virtual meetings.” She reached out to Jennifer Campbell in Online Learning, and Cindy Shanks in Engaged Learning, and then to Mary Cantrell and Heather Wilburn, both in the School of Liberal Arts & Communications. “We just started collaborating on what we could do,” says Sirkel. By Fall, she had offered five different topics in 20 sessions to more than 560 participants. “I had one faculty member who attended every session I offered, even when it was the same session she’d already attended. She wanted to get comfortable with the technology. She was so excited about how she was able to use Zoom and its tools to bring her course alive for students.” The focus was on encouraging students to be active learners. “If people learn how to use the interactive tools, virtual learning can be fun,” says Sirkel. “By utilizing those interactive capabilities, while it’s not the same as the classroom, it can be very interactive and engaging for students. They can even like it.” Librarians Make It Happen Librarians at TCC are knowledge experts. They’re technology experts. To borrow a term from crime novels and movies: they’re fixers. Whatever you need, they can get.

1992

The College had faculty and courses ready, but there were also tons of logistical issues to address. Many of TCC’s students have no internet access. No computers. The Library coordinated with Student Affairs on a technology survey and discovered 28 percent of students did not have the technology they needed to successfully participate in classes. “As of that technology survey, we realized that for Fall, we were going to have to connect students to devices,” says Paula Settoon, TCC Dean of Libraries and Knowledge Management. So, the Library bought hotspots students could check out. Working with TCC’s Finance department and the TCC Foundation, they procured funding to purchase 350 laptops, which, again, can be checked out by students. The College also augmented this by adding Wi-Fi access to many parking lots on all four campuses. “Students can be remote if they need to be remote,” says Settoon. “Some of them can’t afford a cell bill. Some of our students live in rural areas where they don’t have access to dependable internet.” They augmented their online collections to get more streaming rights to films used by faculty for courses. They added more e-books than paper books. “We know our students like physical books, but we can’t do that right now,” says Settoon. Librarians did a lot of work supporting faculty. They provided copious

TJC graduate Carol Johnson became the College’s first Academic All-American Scholar, a recognition awarded by Phi Theta Kappa and USA Today.

amounts of resources for faculty and students. They worked hand-in-hand with the eCore and two library employees are still “on loan” to the Online Learning department. “The librarians have been doing this for a long time,” says Settoon. “They have been heavily involved in eCore and they already knew how to do a lot of this, but they went from doing this at a good speed to warp speed. It was difficult and exhausting, and we worked a lot of hours. But we have found and implemented solutions, and we’ve learned a lot. “Distance, online learning, is going to get better and better as we continue. We’re still struggling a bit with adapting what we’re doing right now, but it is going to evolve. And now that we’ve done all these things, they are not going to go away. They will continue. We really have to solve that connectivity problem for our students. It affects traditionally underserved students the most.” Things May Never Be the Same As daunting as the challenge has been, to serve the same quality education and opportunities to its students, the College reacted swiftly, decisively, and in the process, created change that may last beyond the end of the pandemic. Its capability to offer education has been expanded and refined. “I think we’ll see some shifts because of this. People have been forced to try new things. We’re going to see a lot more openness to considering formats we would not have prior to the pandemic,” says Campbell. “There will be more flexibility in how we deliver content. We are opening doors to teach in the way that makes sense for the instructor.”

“COVID-19 has pushed what’s important in student learning,” says Campbell. “What is education now, and how important are those traditional elements. I think a lot of people are moving toward other types of assessment, but it’s a big shift.” Sivadon lauds everyone who came up with innovations and solutions to new challenges. “Everyone had to figure out how to do things differently,” says Sivadon. “It was more challenging for some than others. I was really proud of the out-of-thebox thinking. Faculty really stepped up. They became more innovative than I’ve ever seen. They strategically delivered course content to help students achieve their goals.” “Things have gone very well. The decisions we made were good. It was such an asset to have Matt Sharpe (TCC director risk management, occupational health and safety), who has a Master’s in Public Health. And we’ve been very transparent. We had meetings up front. We’ve had open forums. We’ve let faculty ask questions. You can’t think of everything. I always go back to Cindy Hess (former TCC senior vice president and chief academic officer). She always used to say, ‘One of us is not as smart as all of us.’” Sivadon believes the challenges brought about by the pandemic have better prepared the College for the future. “I think we’ve positioned ourselves well to deliver to students in all modalities,” says Sivadon. “Forcing us to think outside the norm has created great opportunities for faculty and students in the higher education environment.”

She mentions science as an area where online learning, previously, had not been embraced. She doesn’t believe face-to-face instruction will ever go away, but is excited about the possibilities of the future, even if there are still many hurdles ahead, such as with testing and assessment.

1993

19 TJC and Tulsa Technology Center jointly purchased the Skyline East building for use as a conference center and administrative offices.

IMPACT ON TULSA:

BLACK TECH STREET FOUNDER & TCC GRADUATE Tyrance Billingsley is focused on building Black Tech Street, a hub for technological innovation led by the black community and what he calls his vision as the spiritual successor of Black Wall Street. “Building off the foundation laid by the economic pioneers of Black Wall Street, Black Tech Street will be a self-sustaining ecosystem of black talent, businesses, and technological advances that will improve every facet of our economy,” says Billingsley. Black Tech Street has a primary objective to facilitate $1 billion of investments for seeding a black innovation culture in Tulsa. He says this will be done through grants, community development, entrepreneurial development, education, culture and attraction, and workforce development over 10 years. “Tulsa will move closer to the idea of ‘what could have been’ that lives in the minds of all who are heirs to the legacy of the original Greenwood community,” he says. As an African American male who grew up in Tulsa, this is personal to Billingsley. “This is about establishing a new moniker for Tulsa and at the same time creating something that 100 years from now my descendants and sons and daughters of Greenwood can trace back and celebrate as a beginning.” When it came time for the Booker T. Washington High School graduate to go to college, Tyrance made an intentional choice to stay in Tulsa. He attended and graduated from Tulsa Community College. “I saw how Tulsa has a cocktail of different people and opportunities,” he says. “I felt like I could capitalize on the wave of development by staying here and not going to Stillwater or Norman.”

1996

Tyrance took advantage of opportunities at TCC serving as President of the Student Government Association and becoming the first community college student to be elected Chair of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Student Advisory Board. “Being at TCC was extremely helpful and allowed me to mature and grow. I was able to work on my leadership skills and thrive in the environment created to help students succeed.” He understood the value of building relationships at an early age and was interested in the political arena after his experience working on former Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor’s election campaign in 2013. But another passion became more visible. “Entrepreneurship has always been a part of who I was. It isn’t politics or business but rather business and politics. Was I going to build ecosystems and businesses and then run for office or the other way around?” His path moved toward building ecosystems after interning for Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and an entrepreneurship fellowship with George Kaiser Family Foundation. Now Billingsley works with venture capitalist and partners from across the country to make his vision for Tulsa’s future real. A civic innovator using his relationships to help build Tulsa into the global hub it once was — for all its citizens. “In 1921, a thriving economic hub of innovation and entrepreneurship was stolen from the descendants of all Oklahomans. I believe we can solve our 21st century problems through innovation, collaboration and creativity. I think tech is the oil, and I think Tulsa is the perfect hub.”

Tulsa Junior College changed its name to Tulsa Community College. The College unveiled the new Performing Arts Center for Education and the TCC West Campus opened.

1997

More than 1,600 student completed requirements for graduation.

1999

Responding to area needs for qualified veterinarian technicians, TCC created the Veterinary Technology program.

RISKY PROPOSITION NOT A

TCC’s newest Regent knows a thing or two about risk management

TCC Regent Jim Beavers began his term in the middle of a pandemic, which by virtue of its nature, is a time of risk management, something the new regent knows a thing or two about. With more than 40 years in the insurance and risk management industries, the Broken Arrow businessman adds experience and a distinct perspective. “I hope to lend that expertise to the Board and the College to help them avoid risk as much as possible,” says Beavers. Appointed to the Board by Oklahoma Governor J. Kevin Stitt, Beavers explored the position with the shrewd eye of someone in insurance and risk management. While he found he had a lot to learn, he also saw tremendous opportunity, particularly in enhancing the College’s role in workforce development. “Right now, we have such a shortage of well-qualified people,” says Beavers. “You hear from employers. There are not enough people to fill all the jobs they have. That was before COVID-19, but it’s coming back. We’re seeing an increase in need. They can’t find people who want to work and have the necessary skillset.” Beavers believes in the role of higher education to fulfill this need, and is onboard with the changes the College has made to streamline the process of going from high school to college to the workforce.

2001

“Heretofore, a lot of students just went straight to college because it was the thing to do, but didn’t really understand what the job market needed them to have,” says Beavers. “We’re breaking that down, and giving them a better focus on what’s available out there and what skills they really need. “If a young person is interested in furthering their education, they have enough drive to make a good employee.” Ensuring there’s a job at the end of the degree-seeking experience is a form of riskmanagement, after all. “I’ve always been active in our community and in economic development,” says Beavers. “This is a great opportunity to prepare our students for the jobs that are available. My business passion has always been helping others. Serving as a Regent will allow me to continue to do this in a different way. Helping students in a college setting is not something I’ve done before.” Beavers will serve a six-year term and was sworn in at the August 2020 meeting of the TCC Board of Regents. He joined TCC Board of Regents Chair Wesley G. Mitchell, Vice Chair Caron Lawhorn, Secretary William R. McKamey, as well as Samuel Combs III, Paul H. Cornell, and Ronald S. Looney.

Oklahoma Sinfonia became the professional orchestra-in-residence for the College. The name was changed to Signature Symphony at TCC.

2004

President Dean P. VanTrease announced his retirement and TCC selected Dr. Thomas K. McKeon to replace him. TCC announced Attend College Early free tuition program for up to 1,000 high school students who concurrently enroll at TCC.

MEANINGFUL MESSAGES As part of the College’s 50th anniversary exhibit at the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum, visitors had the opportunity to share their own TCC story. Blank, vintage luggage tags were available for guests to write messages of “what TCC means to me.” The completed tags were then displayed on wall hooks. From heartfelt thanks to memories of fun times, the messages included:

“Giving Tulsans opportunity – Empowering them to improve their lives and our city.”

“TCC gave opportunities to many in 1970 who previously didn’t have any.” “TCC is sometimes such as established part of our community that we take it for granted. However, I know that our workforce is stronger, our citizens have better opportunity, and nurses and firefighters are better educated because of this College. Thank you to all who have made this place possible.”

2007

“...I am so thankful of the people with the intelligence enough to see the College grow. Enormous amount of effort went into seeing TCC (TJC) grow.”

“I remember taking disco lessons there in the late ‘70s, and my son graduated from Nursing school in 2018.”

The Health Sciences and Biotechnology Learning Center at Southeast Campus opened and was one of the first completed Vision 2025 projects. TCC announced the Tulsa Achieves program to provide up to 40 hours of college credit for Tulsa County graduating seniors at no cost. In addition, TCC opened the Educational Outreach Center in east Tulsa.

The Tulsa Community College Foundation provides support to Tulsa Community College and its mission by developing key relationships and financial resources.

2021 TCC FOUNDATION BOARD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR: TIM LYONS, President & CEO, TTCU Federal Credit Union VICE CHAIR: ANDREW KINSLOW, President, retired, KKT Architects, Inc. SECRETARY/TREASURER: JACKIE PRICE JOHANNSEN, President, Price Family Properties PAST CHAIR: DAVID STRATTON, Executive Vice President, Tulsa Commercial Banking, Bank of Oklahoma

TRUSTEES Leeland Alexander, Associate Vice President, OU-Tulsa Schusterman Center Scott Asbjornson, Vice President of Finance & CFO, AAON Billie T. Barnett, Community Volunteer Konnie Boulter, Program Director, The Oxley Foundation Jeff Brooks, Chief Information Officer, Muscogee Creek Nation Casinos – River Spirit Teresa Meinders Burkett, Partner, Conner & Winters, LLP Lisette Coston, Executive Director of Support Services, Saint Francis Health System Laura Creekmur, President, The Williams Companies Foundation. Vice President, Communications & Corporate Social Responsibility, The Williams Companies Sharon King Davis, Partner, King Investments Jim Dunn, Chairman, Mill Creek Lumber & Supply Co. J. Ed Fariss, retired Kevin Gross, President & CEO, Hillcrest HealthCare System Jesse Guardiola, President, Guardiola Outreach Development, LLC Sarah Hansel, Attorney/Director, Hall Estill Attorneys at Law Susan E. Harris, Tulsa Regional Chamber, retired Kirk Hays, President & CEO, Arvest Bank M. Ted Haynes, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma, retired John Hewitt, President & CEO, Matrix Service Company Alana Hughes, Director of Tulsa Grantmaking, Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies Molly Jarvis, Senior Vice President, Marketing Communications and Cultural Tourism, Cherokee Nation Businesses

Jennifer Jezek, President, York Electronic Systems, Inc. David Kollman, President, Central Region, Flintco LLC Sean Kouplen, Chairman and CEO, Regent Bank Jim Langdon, Publisher, Langdon Publishing Company Phil Lakin, Jr., Chief Executive Officer, Tulsa Community Foundation William Lissau, Oklahoma Market President, Bank of America Robert Martinovich, Executive Vice President and CAO, ONEOK Karl Neumaier, COO, Hilti North America Susan B. Neal, Executive Director, Gilcrease Museum and the Helmerich Center for American Research. Vice President for Public Affairs, The University of Tulsa Pierce Norton, II, President & CEO, ONE Gas Dr. Eleanor Payne, retired educator Roger Ramseyer, Vice President & Tulsa Market Leader, Cox Communications Lou Reynolds, Senior Partner, Eller & Detrich John Rupe, Jr, CEO, Rupe Helmer Group E. Paul Samuels, Senior VP, Wealth Management, Morgan Stanley M. Susan Savage, CEO, Morton Comprehensive Health Services, Inc. Melinda Stinnett, Managing Director, Stinnett & Associates, LLC Steve Turnbo, Chairman Emeritus, Schnake Turnbo Frank

STAFF Leigh B. Goodson, Ph.D., President & CEO, Tulsa Community College Kari Shults, VP of Advancement and President of the TCC Foundation Mark McMullen, CFO, Tulsa Community College Megan Korn, Development Officer Isaac Sheets, Development Officer Bethany Weaver, Assistant Controller, TCC Foundation Ali Abdelkhaleq, General Ledger Accountant, TCC Foundation

TULSA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION 6111 East Skelly Drive, Suite 605, Tulsa, OK 74135-6198 Phone (918) 595-7836 | tccfoundation@tulsacc.edu

2009

Approved by the FAA, the TCC Air Traffic Control Program opened at the R.L. Jones, Jr. Riverside Airport. The Center for Creativity at Metro Campus opened.

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR DO Individual Donors

Teresa and Robert Burkett

Rick and Susan Neal

Lisette and Brad Coston

Reflects donors from 7/1/2019

Tim and K Caldwell

Pierce and Debbie Norton

Steven Cox

through 6/30/2020

Ed Cizek

Thomas and Susan Oare

Dawn Davidson

Roger and Patti Clapp

Tom and Jennifer Palmer

John and Sara Fariss

Jim and Marilyn Connor

Joan and Jerry Parkhurst

Ruth Ann Fate

Don Crall

Eleanor and Larry Payne

Jenny Fields

Robin Ballenger

Ramona Curtis

Delia Pierson

Mike Hamilton

William S. Smith

Peggy Dyer

Diane and Jeff Potts

Karen Harmon-Miletello

William and Daryl Eaton

Jane and Henry Primeaux III

Susan Kamphaus

Irving and Dixie Frank

Andrew and Hannah Ralston

Lyn Kent

Terence Golla

Alicia and Richard Ranne

Jeanette and Terry Kern

Joan and Thomas Atkinson

John and Sarah Graves

Suzanne Reese and Fred Taylor

Megan Korn

Jim and Janet* Cameron

Susan and Jim Harris

Marcy and Bernard Robinowitz

Tim and Carol Lyons

Samuel and Rita Combs

M. Ted and Shiela Haynes

Geordie and Kristine Robinson

Martin Newman

Linda Lyons-Coyle and Daniel Coyle

Cynthia K. Hess

Dick and Alma Schmitz

Justin and Julie Porterfield

Julie and James Higgins

Paula Settoon

R. Lou Reynolds

Sandy and Shawn Cooper

Jerry and Catherine Hoopert

Elaine and James M. Shirley

Cindy Shanks

Marge and John Gaberino

Alana Hughes

Kari and Matt Shults

Eunice Tarver

Leigh and Mark Goodson

Jennifer and Rob Jezek

Angela D. Sivadon

Lindsay and Travis White

Myra and Ronald Jeffris

Katie and David Johnson

John and Lesa Smaligo

Mackenzie E. Murphy-Wilfong

Cindy M. Lyons

Sharon King Davis

Weldon and Belynda Spitzer

Joseph P and Darcey Moran

Ken and Judi Klein

Dawne and Robert Stafford

Frank and Diane Murphy

George and Aldean Krumme

Greg Stone

Ruth K. Nelson

Kim and Travis Kunnemann

Lee and Carol Swarthout

Jacki Adair

Jody Parker

Carol and Ken Lackey

Michael Tate and Aubrey Cain

Ashley Adams

Cheryl and David Poth

Phil and Adriane Lakin

Kathy Taylor and Bill Lobeck

David Adams

Linda and Stuart Price

Jim Langdon and Juley Roffers

Diane Trimble

Claudia Ainette

Jill and Bob Thomas

Caron and Shawn Lawhorn

Dean and Vesta VanTrease

Michael Bagby

Robert Warmack

Robert and Mary Lengacher

David and Rachel Wagner

Beverly Bailey

Ron and Sue Looney

Scott Webb

Bettenia Baker

Mina and John Lotti

Steve and Nancy Wells

Cynthia Ballard

Lisa Malone and Jody Tidwell

Jacqueline Wilson

Tracy Ballinger

Leeland and Diana Alexander

Tammie and David Maloney

Roy and Rebekah Wood

Catherine Bankston

Alison Anthony Billie and Howard Barnett

Leslie Brier-Maltby and Phil Maltby

Shelby Beil

Shannon Matthews

Chris and Allison Benge

Joe and Carol McGraw

Terri Alonso

Hani Bashour

Harold Bockelken

Bill and Pat McKamey

Loren Arnoff

Deborah Batson

Eric and Jan Bohne

Jim and Ann McKellar

Pamela Ballard

Jennifer Beatie

Montie and Betty Box

Tom and Stacey McKeon

Xan Black

Melinda Bellatti

Lauren and Robert Brookey

David and Barbara Merrill

Jason Blankenship

Brena Bellovich

Jeff and Jessica Brooks

Sanjay Meshri

Gwendolyn Caldwell

Joy Betz

Marcia and Dan Brueggenjohann

Wes and Yolanda Mitchell

Brett and Jennifer Campbell

Mark Bielefeld

John and Mary Ann Bumgarner

David S. Morse

Monica Champ

Elizabeth Binger

Randy Bunn

Edwin D. Morse

David and Stacy Cole

George Black

$50,000 or more

$10,000 - $49,999

$1,000 - $9,999

2010

$1 - $499

Joshua Barnes $500 - $999

Cindy Barton Julie Basden

Leaders from TCC, Tulsa Tech, Oklahoma State University-Tulsa, University of Oklahoma-Tulsa, Oral Roberts University and The University of Tulsa formed the Tulsa Alliance for Engineering, which later became the Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance. TCC launched its first dual-enrollment classes.

ONORS Amanda Blackman

Ravin Crawford

Shelby Go

David Johnson

Jeanne Blackwell

Allen Culpepper

Marilyn Goff

Gary Johnson

Elizabeth Brandon

Miguel Da Corte

James Goodwin

Robyn Johnson

Michaela Branen

Kathy Daily

Ginelle Gordon

Scott Johnson

Timothy Brawdy

Deborah Damato

Zachary Grant

Lauri Jones

Adam Brennan

Monica Daniels

Beverly Green

Vicki Jones

Deleise Brewer

Kelly David

Julie Green

Matt Jostes

Kenneth Brewer

Rebecca Davis

Delisa Griffin

Linda Joyce

Tamara Britton

Sloan Davis

Bryan Groves

Pam Kannady

Angela Browning

Suzanne Davis

Melissa Gruver

Melissa Kash

Denise Burden

Kei Deatherage

Lisa Haldeman

Katherine Kemp

Nicole Burgin

Tim Degeer

Rebecca Hankins

Aaron Kennedy

Susan Burlew Looper

Debbie Deibert

Charlene Hanlon

Denesa Klockenkemper

Marjorie Bush

Jose Dela Cruz

Kayla Harding

Jennifer Kneafsey

Catherine Campbell

Chelsea Denizot

Randii Harrald

Lori P. Knight

Donnell Campbell

Daniele Dennison

Ty Harrell

Hilary Koppel

Jennifer Campbell

Jessica Dillard

Diane Harris

Kodi Kumpula

Mary Cantrell

Susan Dittrich

Margaret Harrison

Nathan Kuntz

Thomas Carlson

Michelle Dixon

Geba Hawkins

Amy Lagers

Christie Carr

Elaine Dodson

Jessica Heavin

Regina Lary

Anita Carwile

Randy Dominguez

Traci Heck

Timothy Lawson

Cindi Cathey

Angela Dotson

Melanie Heffington

Mark LeHouiller

Daniel Chaboya

David Drosdoff

Jon Herring

Cheryl Lindle

Jennifer Champion

Harriette Dudley

Phillip Hill

Mollie Lloyd

David Chandler

Jennifer Dunaway

Jenny Hodges

Lee Longhorn

Ta Chang

Sherry Duvall-Coday

Susan Hoggard

Melinda Lucas

Amber Chase

Mona Easterling

Robert Holleman

Julie Luscomb

Puneet Chehal

Shirley Elliott

Jamie Holmes

Dianah Mahannah

Cory Cheney

Kaye Ellis

Jeff Holt

John and Lee Major

Betty Clark

Stephen Ellison

Robert Holzmann

Scott Mannas

Melissa Cloud

Tiffany Engel

Lori Hopkins

Anna Markowitz

Glen and June Cockrell

Molly Farley

Hannah Hudspeth

Susan Martin

Cindy Coker

Patricia Farrell

Carole Huff-Hicks

Melissa Masse

Jessica Coker

Timothy Fernandez

Sherrie Hull

Lori Mayberry

Ronald and Janice Coleman

Lindsay Fields

Rachel and Dean Hutchings

Margaret McKee

Lyndel Colglazier

Anne Fischer

Sarah Hutchinson-Lytle

Pamela McKissick

Annina Collier

Stephanie Forrest

Patrick Idwasi

William McLaughlin

Victoria Conrad

Sara Foster

Patricia Ingram

Mark McMullen

Patti Conroy

Dan Fox

Jennifer Ivie

Nash McQuarters

Kristopher Copeland

Estella and Patrick Franken

Bill Ivy and Eileen Kenney

Lizette Merchan

Michael Cortez

Susan Fryer

John Jenkins

Stephanie Merritt

Linda Cotner

Anna Gambill

Janine Jensen

Carol Messer

Laura Cowan

Kari Gary

Jarrett Jobe

Chad Mikell

Jayme Cox

Juanita Gearing

Amanda Johnson

Gina Miller

Suzanne Cox

Lisa Gerow

Carol Johnson

Julie Mills

2013

The TCC Owasso Community Campus opened in the newly completed Tulsa Tech Owasso Campus.

2014

President Thomas K. McKeon announced his retirement and TCC named Dr. Leigh B. Goodson as his replacement. The Nate Waters Physical Therapy Clinic opened on the Metro Campus.

$25,000 - $249,999

Sally Mondragon

Emily Schneider

Charlie Transue

Katherine Moore

Joseph Schnetzer

Christopher Tsotsoros

Sheila Moore

Jona Schweinberg

Tammy Upshaw

Arvest Foundation

Adrienne Morecraft

Pete and Ellie Selden

Danielle Vance-McMullen

Barnett Family Foundation

Amy Morris

Kevin Shank

Jane Varmecky

Coretz Family Foundation

Emily Morrison

Karla Shannon

Norma Vaughn

Cox Communications

Qi Moss

Isaac Sheets

Mai-Anh Vu

Founders of Doctors’ Hospital Inc

Matt Mounger

Jen Shen

Sarah Wagner

Melvin Murdock

Rod Sherwin

Thomas Wallis

H.A. and Mary K. Chapman Charitable Trust

Dean Muse

Ying Shi

Erin and David Wambold

Hardesty Family Foundation

Marianne Myers

Michael Siftar

Salli Wandke

Stacy Nobles

Cynthia Simmons-Taylor

Cindy Ward

Maxine and Jack Zarrow Foundation

Amy Norman

Mary Sirkel

Barbara Waxman

Vonetta O’Brien-Schiffman

Tracy Skopek

Courtney Wayland

Anthony O’Connor

Amber Smith

Erin Webb

Kristi O’Donnell

Dylan Smith

Joyce Webb

Patrick Ohakwe

Jaime Smith

Sean Weins

Tim O’Keefe

Linda Smith

Patricia Welch

Susan Oliver

Lucy Sorensen

Tanita White

Susan O’Neal

Amanda Southard

James Whitmer

Sally Osburn

Kimberly Spencer

Elizabeth Wild

Rachel Ostberg

Jill Spradlin

April Williams

David Paige

William Sprung

Sharon Williams

Crystalmoney Parker

Serena Staires

Michael Willis

Andrea Peverley

Cheryl Stanley

Paula Willyard

Gay Phillips

Melissa Steadley

Clarice Wilson

Susanne Pickering

Philip Steedman

Corinice Wilson

Jaclyn Pingatore

Kassey Steele

Yolanda Wilson

Michael Poindexter

Barbara Stephens

James Wyckoff

Douglas Price

Christina Stephens

Thesha Zeigler

Kathryn Purser

Leslie Steyer

Rhonda Zimmerman

Jonathan Quitl

Kathy Stotts

Alec Raimond

Bradley Sullivan

Keely Record

Rhiannon Sullivan

Sherree Richey

Susan Sullivan

Lynn Richmond

Jacalyn Swicegood

Mikayla Robin

Elyssa Szkirpan

Janice Robinson

Bob Tally

Vickie Robison

Denise Tanner

Individual recognition levels may include soft credit

Organizations

ONE Gas, Inc ONEOK Inc TTCU Federal Credit Union Williams $10,000 - $24,999 AAON Inc Cherokee Nation Businesses Hille Foundation Nadel and Gussman, Inc Pepsi Beverages Company Price Family Properties The Oxley Foundation Tulsa Community Foundation WPX Energy, Inc $5,000 - $9,999 Bank of Oklahoma Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma Consulate of Mexico in Little Rock Hillcrest HealthCare System Jim Norton Toyota

$250,000 or more

Muscogee (Creek) Nation Casinos OSU Foundation

The Anne & Henry Zarrow Foundation

QuikTrip Corporation

Cat Rockholt

Sydney Teel

Pamela Rogers

Beth Tenney

Lawrence Rosenborough

Anna Thao

Thomas Rowe

Julie Thompson

Public Service Company of Oklahoma

Amy Rubottom

Kendra Thompson

Herman Kaiser Foundation

TD Williamson

Michelle Sanchez

Melissa Thurston

Helmerich Trust

Tulsa World

Eric Saulnier

Emily Tichenor

George Kaiser Family Foundation

Gina Schmitz

Erin Toney

Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies

Women’s Foundation of Oklahoma

2015

AEP Foundation

Schnake Turnbo Frank Security Bank Stinnett & Associates

The Tulsa Fire Safety Training Center opened at the Northeast Campus. The College was selected as one of 30 community colleges nationwide to join Pathways, an initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and led by the American Association of Community Colleges.

$1,000 - $4,999

Up to $999

American Waste Control Inc

ABM Janitorial Services

Anchor Stone Company

AmazonSmile Foundation

Bama Companies

ARVEST Bank & Trust

Bank of America

Benevity

Cancer Treatment Centers of America

Bigglesworth Family Foundation

2020-2021 President’s Society

Ed and Sara Fariss

Reflects donors as of March 1, 2021

Sarah E. Hansel

Presidential Level

Marge and John Gaberino, Jr. Susan and Jim Harris Alana Hughes Jennifer Jezek/York Electronic Systems

Bixby Metro Chamber of Commerce

AAON

Jacqueline Price Johannsen

Burton Oil & Gas Properties

Bank of Oklahoma

Sharon King Davis

Commerce Bank

College Staff Council

Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies

George and Aldean Krumme

Clifford Power Systems Inc

Charitable Adult Rides & Services

Creek County EMS

EdPolicyWorks at UVA

Crossland Construction

GH2 Architects

Cyntergy AEC LLC

Heartland Dental

Dewberry

Hispanic Student Association

The Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation

Eller & Detrich

Joshi Technologies International

The Oxley Foundation

Pierce and Debbie Norton

Flintco, LLC

Kimberly-Clark Corporation

TTCU Federal Credit Union

Dr. Eleanor C. Payne

Greater Tulsa Reporter Newspapers

LUXA Enterprises

Williams

David and Cheryl Poth

Helmerich & Payne Inc

The Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice

Champ & Associates, Inc Children’s Medical Charities Association Inc

Cherokee Nation Businesses Hardesty Family Foundation Ruth K. Nelson

Network for Good

JPMorgan Chase K.S. Adams Foundation

Jim Langdon and Juley Roffers Ron and Susie Looney Meshri Family Carol Messer Rick and Susan Neal James C. Norton

Henry and Jane Primeaux Executive Corporate Level

Roger and Terri Ramseyer Michael and Cathryn Render

KKT Architects

Oklahoma Governor’s International Team

Bank of America

R. Lou Reynolds

Knight Automotive Group

St Matthew’s Episcopal Church

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma

Bernard and Marcy Robinowitz

Madalene Church

Synergy Marketing Solutions TCC Faculty Association

Hillcrest HealthCare System

John and Stephanie Rupe

Matrix Service Company

TCC Professional Staff Council

Schnake Turnbo Frank

Paul and Patricia Samuels

Mill Creek Lumber

Todd Architecture Group

USA BMX

Kari and Matt Shults

Minari LLC Nabholz Construction Corporation

Tulsa Garden Center World Travel Services

Osage Casino Premier Solution Partners Redeemer Lutheran Church Rogers State University Foundation, Inc

Melinda and Joel Stinnett Platinum Level

David and Cassie Stratton Steve and Norma Turnbo

Ted and Shiela Haynes Jay Helm

Lifetime Members

Andy Kinslow Russ Kirkpatrick/KKT

Robin Ballenger

TCC Student Investment Club

Tim and Carole Lyons

Howard and Billie Barnett

Tulsa County Veterinary Medical

Karl Neumaier

Konnie Boulter

Jody Parker

The Honorable Terry and Jeannette Kern

Tulsa Regional Chamber Tulsa Wealth Advisors, Raymond James

Gold Level

University Village Retirement Community

Leeland and Diana Alexander

Webco Industries

Alison and Mark Anthony

Workspace Resource, Inc

Jeff and Jessica Brooks Forrest and Sharon Cameron

Caron and Shawn Lawhorn Bill and Pat McKamey Dr. Frank and Mary Baker Shaw Jana Shoulders State Farm Insurance Company

Sam and Rita Combs Sandy Cooper Paul and Tabitha Cornell

Note: Lifetime memberships are no longer available

Lisette and Brad Coston JW and Mollie Craft Dr. Peggy Dyer

2016

29 The Riverside Community Campus and Aviation Center opened at R.L. Jones, Jr. Riverside Airport.

ALL ACCORDING TO

THE PLAN Five years ago, the College set an ambitious strategic plan focused on building success through education for its students and the community. In that time, we have improved across the board in our key performance indicators (KPIs) in student success outcomes. Most notable are increases in degree and certificate attainment, three-year graduation rate, and three-year success rates. Additionally, the average credits earned by students completing degrees has also improved. TCC is one of only 30 community colleges from across the nation participating in the American Association of Community Colleges Pathway Project. Our KPIs align with Pathways’ essential practices, which provide guidance for our 10-year journey to revolutionize our student success outcomes.

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We’re using our past successes as a baseline and launching pad for our next five-year strategic plan, which also contains ambitious, attainable goals focused on equity and student and community success. If you’d like to know more about our plans and our future, visit: https:// www.tulsacc.edu/about-us/strategicplanning.

2017

Corrections Education had record enrollments with TCC’s participation in a Pell Grant pilot program by the U.S. Department of Education to support incarcerated individuals as part of TCC’s Second Chance program.

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Major Accomplishments from the Past Five Years

2018

TCC, along with regional partners Langston University, Northeastern State University, Oklahoma State University, Rogers State University, The University of Oklahoma, and The University of Tulsa joined forces for the Tulsa Transfer Project to help improve success of transferring from TCC to any of these four-year institutions without losing credit hours.

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID TULSA, OK PERMIT NO. 428

6111 E. Skelly Dr. Tulsa, OK 74135 www.tulsacc.edu

OUR MISSION

OUR VISION

Building success through education

An educated, employed, and thriving community

O U R B E L I E F S & VA L U E S

YOU BELONG HERE

EVERYONE CAN LEARN

COMMUNITY IS OUR MIDDLE NAME

QUALITY EDUCATION IS AFFORDABLE

EXCELLENCE IS OUR CULTURE

We foster a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion that welcomes and respects everyone for who they are and who they will become.

We meet people where they are by creating a safe and supportive learning and working environment leading to success.

We build community, inside and out, through collaboration, service, sustainability, and social and financial responsibility.

We create a rigorous and engaging learning experience that provides exceptional value.

We live out excellence at every level by embracing change, always improving, and persisting to reach our full potential.

Notice of Non-Discrimination: Tulsa Community College is committed to establishing an environment for its students and employees that fosters inclusion, values equity and diversity, embraces and respects the dignity of people, and provides equal educational and employment opportunity. In compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations the College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable discrimination law in its policies, practices, or procedures. This includes, but is not limited to admissions, employment, financial aid and educational programs, activities, or services. The Civil Rights Compliance Administrator, 3727 E. Apache Room AB218, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Phone 918-595- 8487; email: TCCnondiscrimination@tulsacc.edu has been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies. The Title IX Coordinator, 909 S. Boston Ave, Room 505, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Phone 918-595-7842; email: TCCTitleIX@tulsacc.edu has been designated to handle inquiries regarding sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, pregnancy, domestic violence, and stalking. This publication, printed by Meeks, is issued by Tulsa Community College as authorized by Title 70 O.S. 4413. 1200 copies have been prepared and distributed at a cost of $4,225.37 ($3.52 per copy). This publication is issued by Tulsa Community College authorized by Title 70 O.S. 4413 and is located at the following website(s): TulsaCC.edu/CommunityMagazine.