WC board approves residence hall CMAR, appoints Carney as vice chair

The Weatherford College Board of Trustees selected Imperial Construction of Weatherford as the construction manager-at-risk for its new residence hall project in the board’s monthly meeting Thursday.

Dr. Andra Cantrell, executive vice president for financial and administrative affairs, made the recommendation after a committee reviewed six proposals.

The new facility will be constructed at the corner of College Park Drive and East Park Avenue, across the street from the current Coyote Village facility. The new residence hall is slated to open in 2024.

After Secretary/Treasurer Lela Morris nominated Dan Carney as the board’s new vice chair, members voted unanimously to appoint him to the officer role. Carney steps into the position previously held by Sue Coody, who tendered her resignation from the board recently.

Carney, a Weatherford-based attorney and WC alumnus, was appointed to the board in September of 2020 and ran unopposed in the May 2021 election.

The board approved a trustee appointment process to fill Coody’s seat and other future board member vacancies. General Counsel Dan Curlee presented the current vacancy’s timeline, which includes a May 12 application deadline, interviews with candidates, deliberation and a vote on or around June 9, and a called meeting on or around June 23 to swear in a new trustee. An application and other information will be available on the college’s website on April 18 or soon thereafter.

Janetta Kruse, dean of workforce and technical education, gave a report on the development of the new Emerging Technologies and Workforce Building and the instructional programs therein. Kruse outlined the process of developing the 70,000-square-foot facility, including the initial contact from Workforce Solutions for North Central Texas, a groundbreaking in 2020 and the painstaking process of completing the construction and outfitting the building with equipment for a myriad of programs.

Kruse said that in the last eight months alone, her department has secured approximately $1.38 million in grants for equipment, curriculum and program development.

“I want to acknowledge the exceptional effort of Dean Kruse and her team,” said WC President Tod Allen Farmer. “This was nothing less than a Herculean effort.”

In other business, the board:

• Approved the minutes of the March 10 board meeting.
• Approved the financial reports ending March 31.
• Approved a transfer from unrestricted reserves for the purchase and start-up costs for KMQX, WC’s upcoming community radio station.
• Received an academic and student services update outlining new articulation agreements with Tarleton State University and Devry University, the relocation of the Coyote Clinic to the first floor of the Liberal Arts Building and the relocation of the Center for Research and Writing to the Student Services Building. The report also said WC’s chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society has 535 current members with 84 new members inducted in the fall and 98 in the spring. WC’s chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success has 451 current members, 187 new members inducted in the fall and 264 in the spring. The College Honors Program, in its first year of operation, had 27 students participating in the fall and 33 in the spring.

In his President’s Report, Dr. Tod Allen Farmer:

• Recognized 24 WC student-athletes named Academic All-Conference by the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference.
• Congratulated Dr. Scott Tarnowieckyi and his “army of volunteers and presenters” on the successful completion of the fourth annual Weatherford College Interdisciplinary Academic Conference April 7-8.
• Acknowledged Vance Christie and his team in the hosting of more than 3,000 high school students during a recent agricultural conference on the Weatherford campus.
• Congratulated the women’s tennis team for qualifying for the NJCAA national tournament in their first year of competition after WC’s 20-year hiatus from the sport, and the rodeo team for again qualifying students for the College National Finals Rodeo.
• Announced the resignations of Latonya Hines, assistant director of admissions; Debra Riley, student services clerk; and Mary Graber, testing assistant; as well as the retirements of Kenneth Logan, information technology instructor; and Shirley Brown, mathematics instructor and department chair.