Ann Parker Westervelt ’71 named new College trustee

Tusculum College has named a new member to the Board of Trustees, granted a former faculty member emeritus status and approved the promotion of four professors after approval by the Board of Trustees at their May meeting on Saturday, May 22.

In addition, officials discussed continued growth on the residential campus in Greeneville and approved a preliminary budget for 2010-2011.

awesterfeltAnn E. Parker Westervelt, a 1971 graduate of Tusculum College, was elected to the college’s Board of Trustees. Westervelt is a resident of Ticonderoga, N.Y. and has her master’s of education for the deaf from Smith College in Massachusetts.

Prior to her retirement, Westervelt spent a career in education working with the deaf and hearing impaired. She has also continued to be civically engaged, serving on various committees at the First United Methodist Church in Ticonderoga, serving as a Girl Scout leader and participating in the Carillon Garden Club and the Friends of Black Watch Library organization.

“We were very pleased when Ann accepted our invitation to join the Board of Trustees,” said Chair of the Board Kenneth A. Bowman, who is a 1970 graduate of the college. “Ann has been a supporter of arts programs throughout her life and a strong believer in service to the community. She brings great perspective to our board, and all of us look forward to working with her.”

Westervelt will attend her first meeting in October.

The Tusculum College Board of Trustees approved the designation of faculty emeritus for Wess duBrisk at the recommendation of the Faculty Affairs Committee, the provost and the president. Having come to Tusculum College in 1984, duBrisk chaired the Mass Media Department (now the Film and Broadcasting Department) for 22 years before his retirement in 2005. As director of a one-person program, he taught a wide variety of courses, including “Television/Video Production,” “Art of Photography,” “Introduction to Mass Media,” “Radio Production” and “Photojournalism,” to name a few.

As an educator, duBrisk exposed his students to many real-life situations, including taking his class to a CNN broadcast of ‘TalkBack Live.” Recently duBrisk was the recipient of the National Living Faculty Award given by the Tusculum College Alumni Association (2005).  Both inside and outside the classroom, he took to heart the civic arts mission of Tusculum College and was awarded a grant through the Learn and Serve America Higher Education.  Besides serving as chair of the Mass Media Department, he also chaired the Tusculum College Faculty Affairs Committee.

In other board action, four professors were approved for promotion in the 2010-2011 academic year. They include Dr. Ian VanLare who was promoted to professor. Dr. VanLare joined the faculty of Tusculum College in 1999 and holds a doctorate in biology from Virginia Polytechnic and State University.

VanLare recently published a peer reviewed article in the “Journal of Canadian Microbiology” and has an additional article under consideration for publication. He served as co-author of a grant through the Appalachian Colleges Association on assessment in the sciences. He has served as a member of the Faculty Affairs Committee, which he chaired in 2008-2009. He has also served as chair of the Biology Department for nine years and led a faculty study trip to Costa Rica in 2009.

Also promoted were Dr. Tom Harlow to associate professor of psychology, Dr. Elizabeth Loveday to associate professor of education and Dr. Rhonda Fawbush Smith to associate professor of management.

Harlow has been with the college since 2006 and is very active in student-faculty research, mentoring dozens of students as they developed poster presentations for the Southeastern Psychological Association.

Loveday came to Tusculum in 2007 from Carson-Newman College and is a well-known consultant for schools in Athens, Alcoa and Sullivan counties where she conducted teacher training in reading pedagogy.

Smith holds a law degree and a master’s of accountancy from the University of Tennessee and serves as director of the college’s School of Business. She initiated a vigorous annual assessment process, which for the past several years has been the strongest institutional effectiveness program at Tusculum.

The Board of Trustees also received a report from the Student and Religious Life Committee regarding growth in the demand for residential housing due to an anticipated increase in the number of incoming students and increased retention of students in the Residential College. These infrastructure concerns are being addressed to accommodate the anticipated growth on the Greeneville campus.

In the past year, housing space on campus has been at or near 100 percent capacity and it is expected that additional housing options will need to be considered for Fall 2010. Options under consideration include the opening of new residential houses and reorganization of existing residence halls in order to accommodate the additional students.  None of the residence halls will be adjusted over the designated capacity.

It was reported that parking and green space on campus are sufficient to accommodate the increased number of residents and housekeeping schedules can be adjusted to handle the increase as well.

Discussion of new residence hall construction will be continued at future committee meetings.

The Board approved a preliminary budget for 2010-2011 at the recommendation of the College Cabinet, comprised of the president and the senior administration for all areas of the college.

Additional revenue will be allocated to new and replacement positions, physical plant renovation and expenses and initiatives identified in the 2009-2014 Strategic Plan to meet strategic and programmatic needs.

Also at the meeting, President Moody recognized those who are retiring prior to the next academic year. Those recognized and invited to participate in a Board of Trustees luncheon on Friday, May 21, were George Collins, director of museum program and studies; Carolyn Gregg, associate professor of education and assessment coordinator and certification officer for the Education Department; Tony Narkawicz, director of institutional research; and Dr. Jim Reid, professor of political science.

The Tusculum College Board of Trustees will next meet on October 6-7.