Page 3 - May 5, 2017

THE COMMUNITY NEWS
Weatherford College Place 6
May 5, 2017 3A Weatherford College Place 7
Sue Coody
Sue Coody has lived in Parker County for 54 years and retired from teaching at Weatherford College. Coody aslo taught in the public school system for 10 years, in the elds of English, writing and reading.
What is your previous association and experi- ence with Weatherford College?
Frank Martin
Frank Martin has lived in Parker County for 39 years and is retired after 26 years at Lockheed Martin. He currently serves as the president of the Weatherford College Board of Trustees in Place 6.
What is your previous association and experi- ence with Weatherford College?
Dr. Richard Bowers
Dr. Richard Bowers has lived in Parker County for 47 years and is retired from Weatherford College.
What is your previous association and experi- ence with Weatherford College?
I rst joined
Weatherford College as a
physics instructor in 1969,
and eventually became
the department chair before becoming Dean
of Math and Science. When I retired, I had been Vice President of Instruction and Student Services for ve years.
I have seen so much change that’s taken place in those 47 years and it’s all been positive. When I rst came to Weatherford College we had less than 1,000 students. Now we have over 5,500. I think growth is probably the rst thing that comes to my mind when I think about my time with the college.
Why are you running for the board?
My main concern, after I retired Sept. 1, was what can I do for Weatherford College. Now that I’ve had all that experience and leadership, being both an instructor and administrator, what could I bring to the board that would give them a different insight on the daily overall operations of Weatherford College? I think I could help bring a good viewpoint to the rest of the board.
What values and priorities would guide your decision making as a trustee?
First things is what can I do for the col- lege and the students and the employees at Weatherford College, as well as the community. My top priority I think would be to see that the faculty, the staff and the adjuncts can anticipate a substantial increase in salaries. Right now we have a really low adjunct pay schedule and I’d like to see that raised so we can compete with say, Tarrant County.
They have a higher tax base over there so they can afford a higher pay. We have a lot
of loyal full-time instructors at Weatherford College who have been there for many, many years, and I think they deserve a substantial increase in their salary structure. They have been underpaid for many, many years simply because we are in rural Parker County. We don’t just have the tax base that will afford us the extra income that would be available.
Turn to BOWERS, page A5
Lela Morris
Lela Morris has lived in Parker County for 65 years and retired from Weatherford College after 34 years of service in 2016.
What is your previous association and experi- ence with Weatherford College?
The biggest thing is my
experience with the college is I’ve been there for so long. I know it and love it from all angles. As a beginning employee, I loved that we are a family, I love the location, I love going out to teach in Decatur and Brock and up in Jacksboro. I think it’s basically I know Weatherford College. I know the leaders, I know how it works, I’ve served on practically every committee, I’ve chaired a bunch of them,
One of the main things I did over the years is serve as chair on our accreditation process three times. That was a huge job that required everybody to be a part of it and it always came out well.
Why are you running for the board?
When I retired, we had planned that my hus- band would run. He had experience and was a strong leader. And his health declined, and when he passed away, I just said, I’m going to do it. I didn’t do it because of Bill. I’m doing it because living with him gave me the bene t of watching him lead. I’m a leader too. I thought, I can bring my leadership to Weatherford College.
What values and priorities would guide your decision making as a trustee?
One is coming prepared, by becoming aware of all of the information that pertains to this decision. I think that’s the most important thing. I think people who know me will tell you that I’m a good listener, my students tell me that. I think listening is part of the decision making process.
I bring that to the position. I’m a listener, I’m de nitely reasonable and I’m capable of changing my mind. If I receive information I didn’t have before and put it together, I’ll use that in my decision.
What do you believe Weatherford College is doing well, and where do you see the most room for improvement?
What we’re doing well is serving our students of all kinds. I’ve taught the baby kids coming from high school in dual credit class to Caroline
Turn to COODY, page A4
I’ve been on the board now for eight years. This will be my third term. First term was two years and then a six-year term. My wife, all three of my daughters, and all three of my son’s daugh- ters went to Weatherford College. Hopefully my oldest grandson will be the third generation.
Why are you running for the board?
I would like to see us keep going in the direction we are. I would like to see the Wise County thing resolved so that we can keep things moving up there. I think if it doesn’t get resolved, there’s going to have to be some changes.
We are working very closely now with Granbury, they have offered us some prop- erty down there. I think we will be able to implement some new programs there at a very affordable cost and they want us down there. They really like us and we like them.
I’ve also got a couple of ideas in the work- force area, and have been having some discus- sions with local communities and the economic development area, we want to help provide the workers that new companies would be looking for coming in here. And those are going to be high-tech type things. I believe we’ve got the wherewithal to do that.
We have our 150th anniversary coming up. I want to see the college keep doing what it’s been doing, which is mainly to provide an affordable education to those who want it.
What values and priorities would guide your decision making as a trustee?
It has to be the welfare and opportunities we can provide the students balanced with the taxpayers dollars. And not just the taxpayers dollars, but the students pay tuition too, and we want to give them good value for their money.
What do you believe Weatherford College is doing well, and where do you see the most room for improvement?
Our allied health programs are doing fan-
Turn to MARTIN, page A4
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Coody
Martin
I started as a secre-
tary in student service in
1983. I took on leadership
roles, I’ve always had a
leadership quality. I didn’t go to school right after high school, until I started to work at the college. I completed an associate in Applied Science at Weatherford and then I went on to Texas Wesleyan, where I completed a bachelor of Science in Psychology. I then completed a mas- ter’s degree at Tarleton State University in educa- tional administration.
After I completed my degree they gave me the charge of establishing the rst testing center at Weatherford College. There wasn’t one prior to then. At rst I did the computers, I did GED testing and maybe one or two CLEP tests a year. So I hunted for business. But the testing centers just grew and grew with the popularity of online classes. As students are enrolled in online class- es, according to one of the recommendations from a SACS (Southern Association of College and Schools) visit, they recommended we have at least two in-person tests for students every semester. That fell to the testing center, it was basically midterms and nals. That led to me being promoted to Director of Testing and that’s how I left the college.
They let me work with the architect when we got the new facility. It has three testing rooms, four special accommodations facilities, which is a growing area, and 59 computers for student and community use. One of the very last things that I did was partner with Pearson to expand and do their whole suite of certi cation exams. We do a lot of testing for community members for Microsoft and things like that. In 2016 we administered a little over 22,000 exams.
Why are you running for the board?
I wanted to give back to a place that has given so much to me. I’ve been there for 34 years and it was time for me to retire but I still want to be involved and still continue to serve the college if I can.
What values and priorities would guide your decision making as a trustee?
Always it’s going to be in this order – what’s in the best interest of students, faculty and staff, and community. Everybody wants their taxes to
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