The Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) Board of Regents approved Dr. Gail R. Henson as chair for a one-year term beginning July 1 during their quarterly meeting today at Jefferson Community and Technical College.
Dr. Henson lives in Louisville and is retired from Bellarmine University. She served as a professor and past chair of the Department of Communication, which she founded in 1987. She also directed the Brown Scholars and Senior Interdisciplinary Program.
Dr. Henson has extensive leadership, public service, and community service experience for which she has received several awards, including the Louisville Bell Award, the Bellarmine Miles Award and the Metroversity Award for Service Related to Adult Learning. She is a past at-large member of the Kentucky Board of Education and chair of the Kentucky P-16 State Council and was an elected member of the Jefferson County Public Schools Board of Education.
The board also approved Lisa V. Demaris, director of Information Technology for Kenton County, as vice chair and Mary R. Kinney, coordinator of academic affairs and an adjunct psychology faculty member for Owensboro Community and Technical College, as secretary.
Additionally, the board approved a one-time payment of $1,000 in fiscal year 2019-20 for full-time faculty and staff who fully meet their performance requirements in the 2018-19 fiscal year. KCTCS was recently recognized as the eighth most productive community college system in the nation in the number of credentials awarded and second in the nation in the number of credentials awarded per capita for the 2017-18 academic year. This one-time payment is in recognition of the dedication and hard work of faculty and staff who made this possible.
In other business, the board:
•Adopted the 2019-20 KCTCS budget totaling $846,512,100.
•Approved an associate in applied science in marine technology for Ashland Community and Technical College.
•Approved an associate in applied science in manufacturing engineering technology and in unmanned systems for Hazard Community and Technical College.
•Ratified 33 certificate programs.
•Approved 16,469 academic credential requests between January 10, 2019 – April 10, 2019 (associate degrees, diplomas and certificates). These credentials include:
--10,276 candidates for certificates;
--1,073 candidates for diplomas; and
--5,120 candidates for associate degrees.
The next meeting of the KCTCS Board of Regents is scheduled for September 20 at Big Sandy Community and Technical College in Pikeville.
(provided by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System)
