Feb 28th, 2013
Jackson State Community Colleges Director of Registration & Orientation, Countance Anderson, will be entering the new class of Maxine Smith Fellows through the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR). Ten other Fellows from various TBR institutions will join Anderson in this endeavor.
The Maxine Smith Fellows Program was originally created as a TBR central office Geier initiative designed to provide opportunities for African-American TBR employees to participate in a working and learning environment that would enhance work experience and career development. The TBR central office remains committed to the program as a tool for enhancing opportunities and as a means to increase the diversity of ideas, thoughts and experiences that ultimately enhance the educational environment at our institutions.
The objectives of the program are: to increase the academic and professional credentials of the Fellows; to allow Fellows to observe and participate in decision-making situations; to provide Fellows the opportunity to experience how policy is made at the institution, senior administrative and governing board levels; and to help increase the number of qualified applicants from underrepresented groups for senior level administrative positions at TBR institutions.
It is expected that this program will enhance the marketability and employment potential of all Fellows who successfully complete the program.
Only individuals nominated by the president of each TBR institution are considered. The nominations are reviewed by the TBR central office staff and recommendations are forwarded to the Chancellor for final selection.
I am excited about the professional development experience of observing and participating in decision-making situations and experiencing how policy is made at the institution, senior administrative and governing board levels. In turn, I will be able to share ideas, thoughts and experiences with our administration at our institution, said Anderson.
Each Fellow is paired with a mentor and assigned a special project. Through this experience, I hope to gain additional lifelong professional relationships while expanding my knowledge of TBR policy, she continued.
Anderson has been at Jackson State since January 2011, serving as Retention Specialist until May 2012, then being appointed as Director of Registration and Orientation.
She has a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Southern Illinois University, located in Carbondale, Illinois, and a Master of Arts in Education from Bethel University, in McKenzie, Tennessee.
The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) system consists of 46 institutions with a combined annual enrollment of over 200,000 students, making it the nation's sixth largest system of public higher education. TBR's six state universities, 13 community colleges, and 27 technology centers offer classes in 90 of Tennessee's 95 counties. The TBR system is a $2.2 billion per year enterprise.
The mission of the Tennessee Board of Regents system is to educate more Tennesseans in order to provide Tennessee with the workforce it needs for sound economic development. Our technology centers are exclusively focused on workforce development, which is also a major emphasis in our community colleges. The latter also provide degrees designed for transfer to a university. At our universities, the priorities are student preparation and research, with five of our six universities granting doctoral degrees.