Paul E. Hayden, center, was honored by officials at Tusculum College on Saturday when the newly dedicated educational wetland was named the Paul E. Hayden Educational Wetland. Left of Hayden is Dr. Kenneth A. Bowman, chair of the Tusculum College Board of Trustees. At right is Dr. Nancy B. Moody, president of the college.
The Tusculum College Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, students and community members participated in a dedication ceremony for the Paul E. Hayden Educational Wetland on Saturday, May 18.
“In the active learning environment provided by the faculty at Tusculum College, this Wetland Project will provide science students with an outdoor classroom and experiment center, while tending to the environment that supports campus life,” said Dr. Kenneth A. Bowman, chair of the Board of Trustees and 1970 graduate of Tusculum College.
“The wetland project will provide an invaluable resource to the environment, as well as support educational experiences for the science program. In addition to our students, this wetland will be a community resource in which the college can work with the Greeneville City and Greene County school systems to provide an environment for research ranging from elementary education to college senior projects.”
The wetland was named in honor of Paul E. Hayden because of his commitment and dedication to seeing the project through to completion.
“Paul Hayden has from the beginning been completely dedicated to seeing this project become a reality,” said Bowman. “He has embodied the life, energy and vitality of these special habitats and provided the vision and leadership through which this educational wetland was first conceived.”
The dedication was held in conjunction with the May meeting of the Board of Trustees, which was held on Friday and Saturday, May 17-18.
In other business, the Board approved the 2013-14 operating budget and approved faculty promotions.
The Board gave preliminary approval to a $31 million budget for 2013-14, representing a 5.46 percent increase over the past academic year.
According to Dr. Moody, the proposed budget is based on 955 total students in the residential college program and 1,160 in the adult program and 780 students living on campus. The proposed budget includes a 2.5 percent wage and salary pool increase, and all requested faculty positions would be filled, including several new faculty positions.
Of the new funds in the 2012-13 budget, $190,000 has been allocated for technology.
The Board also approved the allocation of a projected 2013 end-of-year surplus to go toward academic and educational needs at the discretion of the president, but also to support new initiatives. According to Dr. Moody, this will be the third year in a row the college has ended the year with a surplus, indicating financial health and the success of strict budget management measures put in place over the past few years.
Five faculty members were approved for promotion by the Board of Trustees. Dr. Deborah Bryan, who joined the college in 2007, was promoted to associate professor of art. Dr. Bryan serves as the program coordinator for the art and design program and has personally participated in over 48 juried exhibitions and eight solo exhibitions. She is the recipient of numerous Lantern Awards from graduating seniors and is the 2012 recipient of the National Living Teacher Award from the Tusculum College Alumni Association.
Dr. William Garris, who joined the college in 2008, was promoted to associate professor of psychology. Dr. Garris serves as Tusculum College’s director of the Quality Enhancement Program and faculty sponsor for Psi Chi, the national psychology honor society and the advisor to the Psychology Club. In 2010 he was awarded the Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership award, while in 2012 he was recognized by students with the Outstanding Service to Students award.
In addition to teaching at Tusculum, Dr. Garris has also participated several years on the instructional staff of the Appalachian College Association Teaching and Learning Institute. His research interests lie with epistemological development, that is, how it is adolescents and adults conceptualize truth and how this understanding changes across time.
Dr. Angela Keaton, who joined the college in 2006, was promoted to associate professor of history and commons. While at Tusculum, she has served in a variety of faculty leadership positions and on a variety of college committees. In 2008-2009, she received the Tusculum College Excellence in Teaching and Campus Leadership Award.
Dr. Keaton recently published an article, entitled “Backyard Desperadoes: American Attitudes Concerning Toy Guns in the Cold War Era” in the “Journal of American Culture.” The publication earned the 2011 Carl Bode Award for the best article published in the “Journal of American Culture” in 2010.
Dr. Sheila Morton, who joined the college in 2006, was promoted to associate professor of English. Dr. Morton has served as director of the Composition Program for the last three years and has served as a member of several committees. In her scholarship pursuits, she is interested in a variety of topics from composition pedagogy to literary theory.
Dr. Michelle Freeman, who joined the College in 2002, was promoted to professor of business administration. Dr. Freeman has served in a number of leadership roles including as department chair of the business administration program, as faculty moderator, as director of the Teaching and Learning Initiative and as member of numerous college committees.
She has twice been the recipient of the Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award as voted by her peers. Dr. Freeman has recently published three articles with her most recent being “Teaching Circles: A Low-Cost, High-Benefit Way to Engage Faculty,” which was published in the February 2011 issue of “The Teaching Professor.”
The next meeting of the Tusculum College Board of Trustees is September 26-27, in conjunction with the Homecoming 2013 festivities.