211 ‘DISTINGUISHED’ FIRST BOARD OF VISITORS FOR UNIVERSITY HONORS COLLEGE WILL PROVIDE LEADERSHIP, DIRECTION

Release date: Dec. 6, 2007


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
University Honors College contact: Dr. Phil Mathis, 615-898-2152


‘DISTINGUISHED’ FIRST BOARD OF VISITORS FOR UNIVERSITY
HONORS COLLEGE WILL PROVIDE LEADERSHIP, DIRECTION
Inaugural meeting takes place Dec. 7 at MTSU in Martin Honors Building


(MURFREESBORO) — The inaugural meeting of the University Honors College Board of Visitors Friday, Dec. 7, at the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors Building will bring together a “distinguished” group whose mission “is to provide leadership in promoting sustained program quality and positive change in the University Honors College.”
The first-time Board of Visitors will meet from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Honors College Dean Phil Mathis said in order for the board to achieve its mission, it would:
• Assist the college in realizing and maintaining a distinctive niche within the domain of higher education;
• Provide consultation to the dean concerning the perceived needs of students and society in a changing world;
• Promote public and student awareness of the academic programs of the
University Honors College; and
• Enhance academic quality through assistance in identifying and securing funding sources.
In addition to its mission, the Board of Visitors role is expanded so that the “broad intent is to support the aspirations and mission of the Honors College. In fulfilling its role, the board is expected to facilitate fund raising through personal giving in support of selected programs and projects; to provide advice and planning support to help the Honors College marshal resources through alumni, friends and foundations; and to provide guidance and support that will promote awareness and respect for Honors College programs to the college dean.”
“It’s truly a distinguished board,” said Mathis, who added that the group will include Board Chairman John F. “Jeff” Whorley, retired executive vice president for debt management with the Sallie Mae Corp. (a student loan company); Murfreesboro’s Don R. Ash, circuit court judge for the 16th judicial district in Tennessee; James H. Bailey III, AIA, Johnson & Bailey Architects, PC, in Murfreesboro; Albert Cauz, headmaster at The Webb School in Bell Buckle; Emily P. Ellis, vice president for STAR Culture with Gaylord Entertainment in Nashville; Mark A. Hall, Turnage Professor of Law at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Emil Hassan, retired senior vice president for Nissan North America in Smyrna; Murfreesboro’s Debra H. Hopkins, Southeast regional director for National Geographic School Publishing and Hampton-Brown;
H. Lee Martin, chairman of Abunga.com LLC in Knoxville; Paul W. Martin Jr., chief managing member of Clarity Resources LLC in Knoxville; Chasity Wilson Nicoll, partner in the law office of Nicoll & Nicoll in Manchester; Utpal P. Patel, physician with the Murfreesboro Medical Clinic and SurgiCenter; Byron Smith, retired chief marketing officer with Asurion Corp. in Nashville; Holly Thompson, morning co-anchor for WSMV-TV in Nashville; Nashville’s James A. Thorpe, vice president and general manager for the Kentucky/Tennessee region for AT&T; Shelbyville’s Jim Tracy, Tennessee state senator from the 16th congressional district; and Nashville’s Vincent Windrow, vice president of Zycron Computers, with offices in Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga and Dallas.
Eight board members — Ash, Ellis, Hall, Hopkins, Paul W. Martin Jr., Smith, Thompson and Windrow — are MTSU alumni.
Distinguished Members of the board include alumnus James M. Buchanan, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, professor emeritus in economics at both George Mason University and Virginia Tech, and June Hall McCash, founding director of the MTSU Honors Program and professor emeritus in foreign languages and literatures at MTSU.
The meeting agenda will include PowerPoint presentations on the history and role of the honors college by Mathis; panel presentations/discussion with students; tours of the Martin Honors Building and Monahan Hall (future home for Honors College students), MTSU’s development and marketing vision shared Joe Bales, vice president for the Office of Development and University Relations and an ex-officio board member along with Mathis; a mid-afternoon business meeting led by Whorley; and the signing of the “Book of Town and Gown.”
For more information, call the Honors College at 615-898-2152.
For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.