Texan Mosaic

by SARA MARSHALL//Editor-in-Chief

The college enrollment for the fall semester and increases in scholarship endowments were among topics discussed during the December meeting of the South Plains College Board of Regents. 

Steven John, vice president of institutional advancement, discussed SPC enrollment for the Fall 2016 semester.

The college enrollment statistics are comprised of both college level and dual credit. Of those students, 55.8 percent are women and 44.2 percent are men. The majority of students enrolled are young students, with 64.5 percent being under 22 years of age. Of both types of students, 95.1 percent are Texas residents.

“The fall headcount is 9,459 students, which is about a 1 percent increase over that of Fall of 2015,” John said.

Keith Downs, CPA at Pate, Downs & Pinkerton, L.L.P., certified public accountants, presented the Board with the Annual Financial Report.

“The report this year hasn’t really changed that much over the past couple years,” Downs said. “I want to express, for Russ and I and our firm, the appreciation for being able to do the audit for the college this past year. Very top-notch organization.”

As the Board heard the account of the report, John discussed the current standing of the SPC Foundation with regard to scholarship endowment.

According to John, the SPC Foundation focuses its actions on growing scholarship endowments for current and future SPC students. The Foundation recorded a 5.6 percent increase in net assets during the prior period, thanks to an estimated 6 percent return on investments for the fiscal year.

“Investment markets have been pretty volatile, going up and down and up and down,” John said. “We just happen to end the year on a good note at this particular point in time with a good return on investments. We had five new scholarship endowments, totaling $259,000, that were chartered during the year.”

The Foundation’s long-term investment goal is to provide enduring growth of fund assets with preservation of capital and purchasing power, and to provide sufficient income to support the activities of the Foundation, according to John.

The Foundation funded $503,939 of the total scholarship disbursement in 2016 from the permanent endowment fund. John said non-permanent funds and contributions from donors funded the remaining $310,548 of total scholarships.

Cathy Mitchell, vice president for student affairs, introduced the newly-appointed dean of students, Dr. Stan DeMerritt, formerly from Wayland Baptist University.

“Cathy was really very patient with this hire,” said Dr. Robin Satterwhite, president of SPC. “We wanted to make sure we got the right hire. And she has had a lot of applications that came in over the months, and that’s kind of hard when Cathy’s filling in the gap. She and Katherine Perez just did a remarkable job at filling in this gap that we’ve had for a long time. And [Cathy] kept saying no to the wrong people, which is exactly what we needed her to say. So finally we found the right person.”

As the Fall 2016 semester comes to a close, Dr. Satterwhite recognized those retiring later this month, after years of service at SPC. Those who’ve served SPC for under 20 years include: Daniel Villegas, campus police officer (11 years); Randy Robertson, Chairperson of Professional Services and Associate Professor of Law Enforcement Technology (16 years); and Sophia Lightner, instructor in Vocational Nursing (16 years).

Those who’ve served SPC more than 20 years include: Deborrah Caddell, coordinator of Testing and Learning Center – Reese Center (22 years); Nanette Blair, director of Business Office (23 years); Emily Rider, remediation coach (26 years); and Joe Tubb, director of Athletics (33 years).