President’s Letter

Welcome to the Spring 2020 edition of Northwest Link, our biannual newsletter. As our campus responds to the COVID-19 situation, it is important to note that the work of the College goes on. Even during times of hardship, our faculty, staff and students remain engaged in the pursuit of educational achievement.

In this edition of Northwest Link, you will find stories about our efforts to encourage and celebrate milestones in our students’ educations. Our Don’t Wait, Graduate! campaign encourages students who are nearing completion of a TCC credential to register for the classes they need to graduate. It is a collaboration between our advisors, our faculty and the Transfer Center. We also have a wonderful photo essay from last year’s completion ceremony for students who completed programs in Aviation Maintenance, Professional Pilot and Logistics and Supply Chain Management at our Center of Excellence in Aviation, Transportation and Logistics.

The newsletter this semester also features stories that highlight faculty excellence, like the profile of our Chancellor’s Exemplary Award winner for teaching, Professor Jaye Simpson. Professor Simpson’s work, both in the classroom and outside of it, helps her students to become world-ready. This is also true of the work of Professors Laura Wood, Tony Roberts and Alejandro Garza, who engage their students in global learning activities, also inside and outside of the classroom. Their efforts to highlight how we are all connected are particularly relevant given our current global context. In addition to that story on global learning, we also have a story about a trip Professor Garza and Professor Mayra Fuentes took with our Marine Creek Collegiate High School students to Southern Methodist University. This trip exposed our early college high school students to the university environment as well as art and cultural artifacts in the Meadows Museum on SMU’s campus.

This is an unprecedented time for our community. As the community’s college, it is incumbent upon us to continue on with our work, providing the best possible experience for our students. Thank you, as always, for your continued support of TCC Northwest.

Warm Regards,

Zarina Blankenbaker, Ph.D.