Star of the Month:Melinda Jensen — Maturity Has Its Benefits

Whatever the reason, going back to school can be as re-warding as it is challenging for a mature student. Just ask Lone Star College-Tomball Star of the Month Melinda Jensen.

“The learning experience for someone like me, who’s been out of school for close to 40 years, has been extremely chal-lenging. However, the oppor-tunity to learn and be taught by dedicated faculty is truly a privilege,” said Melinda.

The Navasota resident start-ed classes at LSC-Tomball in spring 2011 with the goal of becoming a registered dietician (RD).

“I’m hoping to transfer to Tex-as A&M University, get a B.S. degree in food and nutrition sciences, and then get an RD certification,” said Melinda.

Melinda’s husband, Dr. David Jensen, taught human anatomy and physiology at LSC-Tomball for over 20 years, and passed away unexpectedly in September 2010 due to hypoglycemia — a constant danger with juvenile (type 1) diabetes (JD). Already fairly knowl-edgeable about nutrition and diabetes management, she wants to expand her knowledge beyond personal experience so she can better connect with young people facing a new JD diagnosis or someone learning to manage an existing JD condition.

What advice does the mother of three (all LSC-Tomball alumni) and grand-mother of two have for college-bound students? “For those who have no family obligations, make your studies your highest priority; it will never be easier to ap-ply yourself to your education. For those who are married and/or have children, don’t be discouraged; it’s never too late … maturity has its benefits.”

January 2014An Update from Dr. Susan Karr, President

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Mission

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Lone Star College System provides comprehensive educational opportunities and programs to enrich lives.

Student Success ...... P. 1

Star of the Month.... P. 1

Accolades ............. P. 3

Spotlights.............. P. 4

New Faces............ P. 5

Recent Events......... P. 6

Community

Partnerships ......... P. 7

In this Update

Student Success & Engagement

10th Annual Vocational Nursing Pinning Ceremony

On December 5, the Lone Star College-Tomball vo-cational nursing class of 2013 held its pinning cer-emony in the Perform-ing Arts Center. The 14-member class listened to the words of fellow classmates Ana Forset-ieri, Claire Jackson and Amber Burroughs before being presented with cer-

emonial pins and student awards from Nursing Programs Director Catherine Gray, associate professor John Vancamp, assistant professor Cynthia Reese and adjunct professor Alana Gale. Top academic honors went to Tracee Mireles, and Spirit of Nursing honors went to Tiffany Walker, who also led the class in the recitation of the Nightingale Pledge during the candlelight ceremony.

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LSC-Tomball Student Earns $7,500 in

Tuition at Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway

Lone Star College-Tomball stu-dent Eduardo Zavala recently won $7,500 in tuition money from the Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway. Eduardo had to com-pete in a social networking and online video competition which earned him a position in the pre-liminary round of the final event. While he didn’t make it past the preliminary, his inspiring story and engaging video “My Wish Is to Help Others with My Educa-tion” made him a tuition winner nonetheless, not to mention his winning attitude about his edu-cational goals. “I'm happy be-cause I'm healthy. But as a Span-ish medical interpreter, I have had the opportunity to work with many patients that do not share the same blessing. This has inspired me … to pursue a career in health care, specifically in the field of genetics,” he said.

Honors Presentation Day

Several of Lone Star College-Tomball’s best and brightest gathered together on December 6, 2013, to show their fellow students what honors classes are all about as they presented their honors projects. “Honors Presentation Day is one of my favorite days of the semes-ter. It is especially gratifying to see a student who was terribly shy and un-certain at the beginning of the semes-ter, blossom into a confident public speaker. I also really enjoy seeing the creative ways students present the re-sults of their hard work,” said Dr. Steve Prewitt, Honors College director.

The variety of presentations — “An Analysis of Lucifer’s Devolution in Paradise Lost: The Transformation of a Byronic Hero,” “Economic Impact of State High-way 249 and the Grand Parkway,” “Why So Serious: Rhetoric, Discourses and Alan Moore’s Classic Tale,” to name just a few — was as diverse as the students who presented them:

Rebecca AdamsElizabeth BaileyAngelique Ann BarberBlake BarnettErick BroussardJohn ColvinLauren ElliottAbby GorsulowskySarah HerbertChris Jung

Nathanael McCalebMadeleine McQuillingSarah PiercyKaitlyn ReadyAndrew RobinsonJovanni RuizMegan SivilJorge TorresTrina Weaver

John Colvin presents his comparison of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Silmarillion" and the Old Testament.

Cisco Networking Academy Graduate Secures Lucrative Midstream Energy Company Position

It was a long and arduous journey, but Lone Star College-Tomball Cisco Networking Academy graduate Richard Horn finally found the job of his dreams. It all began in 2008 when Richard enrolled in LSC-Tom-ball’s Cisco Career Certification program and ended in November 2013 when he se-cured a lucrative position as a cyber security network engineer with Enterprise Products, a provider of midstream energy services. Supporting cyber security at plants and fa-cilities throughout Texas, Louisiana, Okla-homa and New Mexico, Richard’s new job is a perfect fit for his work experience and new skills. “The position is very hands-on and requires traveling to the remote plant sites to resolve issues. I enjoy getting out of

the office and into the field where I can ‘get my hands dirty,’" he said. Richard is quick to add that his success was in no small part due to his Cisco Networking Academy education and his professor, Willie May. “He was very interactive; he made you feel like part of the team.” Richard is currently working towards his Cisco Certified Network Professional Security certification and hopes to sit for the firewall exam portion in February.

Farewell to Three Dedicated Employees

Lone Star College-Tomball bid farewell to three of its faculty — Dave Bary, Dr. Cheryl Bates and Dr. Mary Pat Trenkle — at a reception held December 4 in N-103. Dave, professor of geology, began teaching at Lone Star College System in 1994 and joined LSC-Tomball in 2001; from 2008 - 2011, he served as natural sciences department chair and from 2011 served as chemistry, phys-ics, geology and environment lead faculty. Cheryl, music program coordinator and professor, joined LSC-Tomball in 2000; over her 13-year career she taught music theory, sight-singing/ear-training, music appreciation and fundamentals, piano and choir, and directed the annual high school choral festival. Mary Pat began her Tomball experience in 1996 as associate dean of humanities before becoming professor of French and Spanish in 2002; additionally, she served as Le French Club faculty advisor.

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Two LSC-TomballEmployees Named to

2014 LeadershipAcademy

Congratulations to Benjamin Leung, campus technology ser-vices executive director, and Dr. Jackie Thomas Jr., assistant pro-fessor of education, who were named 2014 Fellows to the Lone Star College System Leader-ship Academy and presented to the LSCS Board of Trustees at its December 5, 2013, meeting. Committed to growing, support-ing and celebrating Lone Star College System’s current and emerging leaders, the Academy provides a relevant and engaging curriculum; strategic mentoring and coaching; meaningful op-portunities for self-discovery, re-flection and application; and en-riching networking experiences aimed at developing the talent found within LSCS.

Accolades

Ben Leung

Dr. Jackie Thomas

Four LSC-Tomball Employees among2013 LSCS Academy Graduating Class

Continuing a tradition of excellence and involvement, Dr. Janie Filoteo, sociol-ogy professor; Shannon Marino, student life program manager; Robbie Richard Rogers, extended learning center academic support services program coordina-

tor; and Tracie Wood, nurs-ing professor, represented Lone Star College-Tomball at the December 6, 2013, Lone Star College System Academy graduation cer-emony. Held at the LSC-System Office Star of Texas Ballroom, the event recog-nized the 30-member class of 2013 and featured words by LSCS Senior Vice Chan-cellor, Chief Operating Offi-cer Rand Key, college presi-dents, and other dignitaries.

Margaret Jelinek Lewis – Sabbatical Focuses onService-Learning

Margaret Jelinek Lewis, psychology professor at Lone Star College-Tomball, spent her fall 2013 sabbatical conducting research on class-room technology and adult learning theory in order to redesign her courses and infuse them with real-world connections. Her goal was to develop materials that help students feel con-nected to the community and to be “connect-ed” via technology to current events and new information. She created goal-setting and ser-vice learning projects as well as course-port-folio projects which emphasize real-world ap-plications. She made community connections with the University of Texas Prevention Re-

search Center, the Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, and a clinical psychologist with whom her students can do service projects. She also continues to work with and hopes to grow the Undies for Everyone project. Margaret is al-ready incorporating what she learned. She has completely redesigned her spring 2014 courses and developed a new distance learning course.

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Earl Staley — Italy Sabbatical a Success

During his fall 2013 semester sabbatical, Earl Staley, Lone Star College-Tomball art professor, spent eight weeks in Italy, six of them in Rome at the American Academy Rome, with additional trips to Florence, Orvieto, Siena, Naples and Venice. The goal of Earl’s sabbatical was to bring back to LSC-Tomball a trove of photographs and documentation of art in situ (in position) in each church, museum and palazzo in all of the cities visited so that the photo documentation and information can be incorporated into class presentations during the semesters to come. He feels that students need to see how a fresco, sculpture or architecture looks within the space for which it was originally created to fully appreciate its beauty, grandeur and function. “One can lecture about the great Renaissance art produced for churches, public buildings and private palazzos in Italy, but it is difficult, if not im-possible, to imagine the size and scale of the work or these edifices without some visual references,” explained Earl.

Spotlights

Kimberly Carter — Pursuing Her Passion

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Obviously, Kimberly Carter, Lone Star College-Tomball professor and English/humanities chair, took this adage to heart when she pursued a career in teaching.

Left to right: 2013 LSCS Academy graduates Dr. Janie Filoteo, Robbie Richard Rogers, Tracie Wood and Shannon Marino.

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Deborah Houston — Fixing Things andCounting Heads

If you want something done, ask this month’s Staff Spotlight, Deborah Houston, Lone Star College-Tomball records and transcripts de-partment supervisor.

To say that Deborah is busy is an understate-ment. She authenticates student status for state reporting, corrects student records, veri-fies residency, manages student documenta-tion, supervises the graduation process, and works one on one with LSC-Tomball division operations managers and instructors as need-ed to correct classes, move students or enter grades.

The native Houstonian (fifth generation) has worked at LSC-Tomball since Janu-ary 2000, and takes pride in what she and her staff have accomplished. “I love that we have a reputation that you will be greeted, assisted and leave the office

New Faces

Angela BayerFaculty

Pharmacy Technology

Dr. Tessie BradfordProgram CoordinatorStudent Orientation

Kimberly BrueStaff Assistant II

DSELM

Donna FitzpatrickStaff Assistant II

ABBSSS

As a child, Kimberly liked English and liked helping people learn, so her father predicted she was going to be a teacher. “The first time I formally taught, I was a graduate assistant and I just loved it. I thought it was the most wonderful thing,” she said.

After teaching in Louisiana for several years, Kimberly began teaching at LSC-Tomball as an adjunct in 2004 and transitioned to full time in 2006. Her love for teaching stems from knowing that she’s positively impacting people’s lives. “It’s about teaching people not

‘what’ to think but ‘how’ to think,” she said passionately.

Kimberly likes being involved. In addition to her teaching and departmental re-sponsibilities, she’s finishing her term as LSC-Tomball Faculty Senate vice presi-dent, as well as having served on the instructional council and curriculum team, and chaired the LSC-Tomball 25th Anniversary door decorating committee.

Off campus, Kimberly is heavily involved in the Leonberger dog rescue group LeoPALS, as well as being an avid sport climbing enthusiast along with her fam-ily (husband, three sons and daughter), and is the USA Climbing Texas/Louisi-ana scorekeeper as well as a doctoral student at Texas A&M in Higher Education Administration.

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New Faces

C-TAC Grants—Better Learning through Technology

One of the responsibilities of the Campus Technology Advisory Council (C-TAC)—a partnership between LSC-Tomball and the Office of Technology Ser-vices (OTS)—is to identify innovative ideas that OTS can fund to benefit the college. This academic year, C-TAC identified two proposals for funding:

Computer Information Technology and Center for Organizational Teaching and Excellence, Lindell Chapman and Janet Moore — Enhance student under-standing of PC operating system Windows 8 and HTML by incorporating touch screens and Windows 8 into Introduction to Computers classes for hands-on student learning experiences.

Developmental Studies, English, Languages and Mathematics Division, Kim

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National Council on Black AmericanAffairs-Annual Meeting

The National Council on Black American Affairs (NCBAA) held their annual meeting at Lone Star College-Tomball January 24-26. The council, one of the oldest af-filiate members of the Ameri-can Association of Commu-nity Colleges (AACC), is a collaborative voice designed to promote the academic suc-cess of African American students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Ann Johnson,

vice president of student success at LSC-Tomball, is a board member and vice president of membership for the organization and Dr. Susan Karr, president of LSC-Tomball, is a member of the organization. Dr. Karr also gave the welcome to the group on January 24.

Left to right: LSC-Tomball Vice President of Student Success Ann Johnson, LSC-Tomball President Dr. Susan Karr, and NCBAA President Dr. Bill Crawford.

Recent Events

with an answer or someone walking you to where the answer is located. We also have a reputation that if you’re hungry, come to records and transcripts. I believe in thanking my staff and peers for what they do, so I cook and bake,” Deborah said with pride.

When not attending an LSC-Tomball function, the grandmother to six and great-grandmother to two can be found reading, fishing, socializing or volunteering in the community.

Diane MontagnaFaculty

Surgical Technology

Jeffrey PenoClient Technology Technician II

OTS

Jennifer SheetsStaff Assistant II

ROaDI

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Tomball Regional Arts Council

Finalizes Endowment Scholarship

The Tomball Regional Arts Council (TRAC) presented Dr. Susan Karr, LSC-Tomball presi-dent, with the final check to complete their $15,000 endow-ment scholarship through the Lone Star College Foundation. The scholarship provides assis-tance for a student who is at-tending LSC-Tomball and study-ing arts. TRAC’s chairwoman, Paula Whitaker, delivered the final installment. “We are leav-ing a legacy for art and educa-tion,” said Whitaker “Education changes lives.” For the past 26 years, TRAC has been support-ing arts within the Tomball area including LSC-Tomball’s fine, visual and performing arts and the building of the LSC-Tomball Performing Arts Center.

Spring 2014 Students Welcomed with LSC-Tomball 25th Anniversary Celebration

On January 13, the Student Life de-partment hosted an LSC-Tomball 25th Anniversary Celebration for the students. The event, held in the Commons and N-103, featured food, goodie bags, games, prizes and the op-portunity to have a picture taken with Trevor, Lone Star College-Tomball‘s Timberwolf.

Carter and Melinda Coleman — Increase academic resources for students by purchasing iPads, stylus’ and education applications that allow instructors to record their exercises and lessons using the iPad (for video, writing, etc.) so that students can review them to further their understanding of the material covered in class.

Two LSC-Tomball Employees onLocal Chamber Boards

Congratulations to two Lone Star College-Tomball employees for serving on local chamber of commerce boards of trustees on behalf of the college. Sha-ron Jones, continuing education director, is serving another term on the Greater Tomball Area Chamber of Commerce (GTACC) board. She was installed at the January GTACC First Friday networking luncheon held in LSC-Tomball’s Beckendorf Conference Center. Lynda Bancroft, division operations manager for Health, Kinesiology, Natural Sciences and Technology, became a member of the Greater Magnolia Chamber of Commerce board.

Another Successful Holiday Fest

Chilly cold weather could not damper the spirit at Lone Star College-Tomball during the college’s annual Holiday Fest celebration. The event, held in-side this year on December 6, featured decorations, children’s games, movies, crafts, performances, special guests, food, and free photos with everyone’s favorite guest, Santa Claus.

Community Partnerships

30555 Tomball Pkwy.Tomball, TX 77375

Phone (281) 351-3300LoneStar.edu/Tomball

Transformations

Upcoming Events

COTE Lecture Series: Janie FiloteoFebruary 18

2:00 – 3:00 p.m.Room E-100

“The Runner Stumbles” playFebruary 20 – 22

7:30 p.m.Performing Arts Center

Registration for Mini-Mester, Summer I & IIbegins March 5

To see the most current events, visit LoneStar.edu/Calendars