WC board holds May meeting

The Weatherford College Board of Trustees heard a preliminary 2021-22 budget report, approved depository bank services and moved forward in seeking approval for several new programs in their regular monthly meeting Thursday.

Dr. Andra Cantrell, executive vice president of financial and administrative services, told the board that the preliminary budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year is currently estimated at $64.7 million. Depending on funding from the Texas legislature and additional federal COVID-19 assistance, the proposed total could change before the board is asked to approve the budget in August.

WC will seek approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to offer another bachelor’s degree, the Bachelor’s in Applied Technology in Medical and Health Services Management Program. If approved, the program would begin in the Fall 2022 semester. The college is also seeking approval for certificates and an associate of applied science degree in cybersecurity. The board approved moving the proposals on to the THECB.

Prosperity Bank was approved to continue serving as WC’s depository bank. Prosperity has been in that capacity for the college for the last eight years.

Erin Davidson, director of food services, gave a report to the board on the services her department offers to students and the community. The board thanked Davidson and her staff for their hard work amid difficult circumstances during the pandemic.

In his monthly report, President Tod Allen Farmer:

• Recognized Health and Human Science Dean Kathy Boswell for her life-saving actions as a good Samaritan at a recent volleyball game in Mineral Wells, where she and a group of first responders stabilized a young girl whose heart stopped beating.
• Thanked Upward Bound students who recently joined forces with Kids Against Hunger Parker County and Grace First Presbyterian Church to assemble more than 11,000 meals for children in an orphanage in Mexico. 
• Recognized retired art professor Myrlan Coleman who recently earned the title of professor emerita after serving WC students for 51 years.
• Welcomed Alexandra Leatu, WC’s new women’s tennis coach. Leatu played tennis at Vanderbilt University and Baylor University and comes to WC after serving as head coach at Georgia State University.
• Congratulated the Coyote baseball team, which is currently ranked 19th in the nation and is headed to the Region V Tournament in Big Spring, and the WC softball team, which advanced to the semifinals of the Region V-North Tournament with a 27-22 overall record.
• Recognized the women’s rodeo team for winning the college’s first-ever team Southwest Region title. Seven WC rodeo athletes will compete at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper Wyoming in June.
• Notified the board that Charles “Lee” Butler, executive director of institutional research, retired from the college as of April 30.
• Gave an enrollment update, as both summer semesters and the Fall 2021 semester enrollments are higher than in the previous year as compared to the same time frame in 2020.