May 14, 2008
East Arkansas Community College-Forrest City
Press Release-Photo Attached

The East Arkansas Community College Foundation Board recently participated in a two-day retreat at the EACC Lanier-Dews House.  Diann Gathright served as the guest speaker/facilitator for the event.

Gathright is currently serving as the Project Coordinator-Special Projects Consortium for the Dawson, Southwest, and Western Arkansas Education Cooperatives and as Director of Educational Leadership at Henderson State University. Her other recent positions included serving as the Vice President of Advancement at Rich Mountain Community College in Mena, Arkansas, as a teacher at various educational levels and as Associate Director/Teacher Center Coordinator for the DeQueen-Mena Educational Cooperative.  Gathright will become the Superintendent of Mena Public Schools in July 2008.

“With Diann’s experience in fundraising at all levels, our board learned about the responsibilities of being on a foundation board and how to make and attain goals for its future,” said Carla Nimocks, EACC Director of Development.

During the meeting, the board approved a new mission statement for the Foundation. “This new statement will help the board to view the “big picture” while allowing the Foundation to hone in on details that will help us become more focused and to make positive progress.” 

“We talked about the fact that the Board’s primary goal is not just on fundraising, but also “friend-raising,” said Nimocks.  “Through a positive working board, we hope to get the word out that EACC is here to help provide a quality education for the people in its service area in an environment that is student and learning focused.”

The EACC Foundation Board members are: Carla Nimocks-Chair, Buddy Billingsley-Vice Chair, Ann Claire Vaccaro-Secretary, Tippe McCollum-Treasurer, Elise Barry, Margy Cannon, Gail Carey, Jon Carroll, Carol Dillahunty, Cyndi Doepel, Rita Harris, Suzy Keasler, Mike Lawyer, Dale Morris, Sonya Poe, Glenn Tyler, Chris Quinn and Marshall Wright. Ex-officio members are: Dr. Coy Grace, Ann Hudson, Oral Edwards and John Stipe. Also in attendance at the retreat were Morris Boydstun, Lee Griffith and Elizabeth Loeb, all from EACC.

Photo: Diann Gathright speaks to EACC Foundation Board members Carla Nimocks, Ann Claire Vaccaro, and Buddy Billingsley.