“Accolade” inspires charitable contributions in support of Cochise College by raising awareness about competitive advantages of the college and the activities of the Cochise College Foundation. Board Officers Yolanda Anderson, President Jan Guy, Vice President Cindy Hayostek, Secretary Mark Battaglia, J.D., Treasurer Board Members Chuck Chambers Shirley Gregory Karen L. Justice Gene Manring Dan Rehurek, Ph.D. Bob Strain Ruben Teran, J.D. Gail Zamar Board Member Emeritus Linda Staneart Ex-Officio Members J.D. Rottweiler, Ph.D. (ex-officio) Honorary Members Marsha Arzberger Cochise College Foundation Staff Denise Merkel, Executive Director Sheila Selby, Foundation Coordinator Rose Berumen, Administrative Assistant Carmen Moreno, Student Aide “Accolade” is published by the Cochise College Foundation, 4190 W. Highway 80, Douglas, AZ 85607. (520) 417-4100 Editorial Contributors Denise Merkel Liz Manring Design Rick Whipple Photography Liz Manring Denise Merkel Printing/Mailing Keith Ringey Carol Riggs The Cochise College Foundation promotes student success through scholarships, facilities development, and program support. By supporting Cochise College, the Foundation endeavors to increase the college's accessibility to our diverse and changing communities.
FROM THE COCHISE COLLEGE PRESIDENT Cochise College recently celebrated its 47th graduating class. We hosted commencement on the Sierra Vista Campus for the first time in school history, drawing more than 325 from the graduating class of nearly 1,000. Next year, graduation will be back at Douglas, just two years shy of our golden anniversary. That 50-year milestone is quickly approaching, along with opportunities to celebrate. With that in mind, Cochise College is polishing up on its strategic priorities: competitive advantages, excellence, everything speaks, and completion. We have enhanced two of our flagship programs, nursing and aviation. The nursing program has expanded to accommodate more students, and a respiratory therapy program will start this fall. The college also will take advantage of a trend toward unmanned aircraft by launching a UAS training program in a renovated aviation building on the Douglas Campus. We anticipate beginning work to improve athletic facilities for the thousands of students and visitors who use them each year, and healthy enrollments in the Douglas Campus art program are driving our plans to put on a better face for visitors to that department by moving it into a new building. In addition, we now offer the Cochise Combo and Cochise Combo Plus housing rates so that more students can take advantage of the opportunities provided by living on campus. Although our efforts to enhance completion, a national priority, are just getting started, we believe we are already making progress in that area. Last fall, Cochise College and many other institutions experienced significant enrollment decreases. But what’s interesting to us is that fewer students have dropped classes than in the past, meaning that those who enrolled have persevered. We believe this can be attributed in part to modifications in the handling of federal financial aid. Preliminary end-of-semester enrollments show we may not have experienced a true enrollment decline. This trend toward retention and completion will be interesting to watch in coming years as we work to identify and resolve challenges to student goal attainment. Despite anticipating a $2.2 million reduction in state support, Cochise College is moving forward by looking at ways to improve both efficiencies and service to students. We want you to know that we take pride in our programs and that, as our supporters, you should too. As always, we value your feedback and sincerely thank you for all that you do.
J.D. Rottweiler, Ph.D. President Cochise College jdr@cochise.edu
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