February 3, 2025 – The Paris Junior College Board of Regents tackled an extensive agenda at a meeting held Monday, January 27, 2025. Among the items were acceptance of the annual audit, support of legislative issues, review of a facility assessment report, an overview of PJC’s nursing program, and good news on spring enrollment.
“You have a clean opinion on these financial statements,” said Teffany A. Kavanaugh, CPA with McClanahan Holmes, L.L.P., Certified Public Accounts, as she presented the 2023-2024 independent auditor’s report.
Next the regents passed a resolution supporting legislative priorities of the Texas Association of Community Colleges and the Community College Association of Texas Trustees. Those include continuing outcomes-based funding established by HB 8, supplemental appropriations for FY 2024-2025, FY 2026-2027 funding recommendations made by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and including students who transfer to private universities in the college funding formula.
Regents then heard a Facilities Assessment Report overview presented by Amy Holzle, AIA, with Stantec Architecture Inc. Developed through a combination of personnel interviews, facility walk-throughs and building system analysis, the report provides an inventory of PJC’s facilities, general building and grounds condition, and a condition index to allow creation of timely system-wide maintenance schedules.
“You’ve got a great campus here,” said Holzle. “Sometimes it’s about figuring out where the puzzle pieces go and making sure your buildings are efficient.”
“As we continue with strategic planning, we will work with Stantec to develop a facilities master plan,” said Dr. Stephen Benson, Paris Junior College president.
Vice President of Workforce Education Dr. Michael Erny gave an overview of the nursing program at PJC. The federal government projects about 54,000 annual openings for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses and 194,500.
“To address the projected shortage of registered nurses in Texas,” said Erny, “it’s important to provide licensed vocational nurses with opportunities to advance to RN status. This shortage is expected to grow from 29,000 fulltime RNs in 2020 to 57,012 or 16.3% of the workforce by 2032.”
PJC offers a one-year licensed vocational nursing program, and students may transition to the LVN to RN program in their second year for an associate degree in nursing. Texas is one of five states with the highest rate of employment for vocational and registered nurses. Vocational nurses average $56,490 and registered nurses earn $90,210 per year.
“Through grant and foundation funds,” Erny said, “we’ve been able to upgrade equipment, remodel spaces, and offer more in-house simulation experiences for the students. Part of the new testing for the next generation of nursing students is less about memorization, and more about applying knowledge to live situations and making decisions.”
As part of his President’s Report, Benson gave an update on spring enrollment. Head count is up 3.4 percent from a year ago. Registration is on-going for the second 8-week term that begins on March 17.
“We are already starting to see an increase in enrollment,” said Benson, “and the new Reboot Program, Dragon Promise and Presidential Scholarship programs will continue to make us accessible to student. The PJC Memorial Foundation is providing the funding and it is available right now, so we’re rolling these programs out.”
In other business, the Regents:
- Approved a consent agenda that included adding Vice President Keitha Carlton as an authorized representative of TexPool and as a signatory on the Alliance Bank and Guaranty Bank & Trust accounts; acceptance of TASB Policy Updates CAK (Local), CDE (Local), DHB (Local), FAA (Local); approval of a three-year contract with Modern Campus for website redesign and CMA implementation, interlocal agreement with Harris County Department of Education for purchasing products and services under the HCDE bidding umbrella, and of a Communications System Agreement Resolution with the City of Greenville allowing the PJC-Greenville Center police officer to communicate with the City’s emergency services.
- Gave the annually required review and approval of the Investment Policy CAK (Local).
