Two years ago some of the world’s most celebrated combat photographers decided to pool their work for “Conflict Zone,” a collection of images from the front lines of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Pellissippi State Community College hosts this acclaimed exhibit May 23-31 in recognition of Memorial Day, which is May 28. The photographs will be on display in the Bagwell Center for Media and Art gallery, and there is no charge.

“Conflict Zone” is a project of the Independence Fund, founded by Steve Danyluk, a U.S. combat veteran and Marine. The all-volunteer Independence Fund is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “provide the tools, therapies and guidance that those severely injured in the War on Terror were otherwise not receiving.” The exhibit first opened at the Chicago Cultural Center on May 7, 2011.

“Conflict Zone” was inspired by Joao Silva, a New York Times photographer who lost both legs after stepping on a land mine in October 2010 in Afghanistan. The images he took in the seconds after stepping on the mine are included in the collection.

The display is dedicated to Chris Hondros, a Getty Images photographer who died on assignment in Libya in April 2011. Hondros’ iconic image of a 5-year-old girl at an Iraqi checkpoint after her parents were shot by U.S. soldiers is included in “Conflict Zone,” along with Ayman Oghanna’s photograph of the girl six years later, done for The New York Times and published in May 2011.

The Bagwell Center is on the Hardin Valley Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road. Exhibit hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays or by appointment.

For additional information, call (865) 694-6400. To request accommodations for a disability, contact the executive director of Human Resources and Affirmative Action at (865) 694-6607 or humanresources@pstcc.edu.

For photos and multimedia of this exhibit please visit:

www.conflictzone.org

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j48b25xeT2A

Tom Gaddis, who coordinates Hospitality at Pellissippi State, was recently bestowed the Idahlynn Karre International Exemplary Leadership Award.

Tom Gaddis, who coordinates the Hospitality concentration at Pellissippi State Community College, has been named a 2012 recipient of the Idahlynn Karre International Exemplary Leadership Award.

The award, presented by the Chair Academy, recognizes leaders in post-secondary institutions worldwide who have modeled “best practices” in advancing academic and administrative leadership development.

Gaddis, who has served in his current role at Pellissippi State since 1997, is highly regarded within the hospitality industry. He was recognized in 2003 and 2008 as the Hospitality Educator of the Year by the Tennessee Hotel and Lodging Association as part of their Stars of the Industry award program.

Also a professor at the college, Gaddis has been instrumental in the development and implementation of Pellissippi State’s concentration in Culinary Arts. Like Hospitality, Culinary Arts culminates in an Associate of Applied Science in the Business Administration degree program.

The Culinary Arts concentration was first offered at Pellissippi State in 2010 and represents a collaboration with the Culinary Institute at the University of Tennessee. Students enrolled in the culinary classes learn hands-on skills in a state-of-the-art laboratory/kitchen at UT’s Culinary Institute on Neyland Drive. They take classroom courses at Pellissippi State’s Division Street Campus, two miles away.

Gaddis joins educational professionals from around the world as a recipient of the Chair Academy’s Idahlynn Karre International Exemplary Leadership Award. The Chair Academy, founded in 1992, offers leadership development for college and university leaders. This year’s award recipients were honored during the organization’s 21^st Annual International Conference, which took place in March in Atlanta.

For more information about the Hospitality and Culinary Arts concentrations at Pellissippi State, call (865) 694-6400 or visit www.pstcc.edu.

Registration is currently under way for the fall semester. Classes begin August 25.

“She brings experience to the position in both education and business,” said Pellissippi State President Anthony Wise. “We are fortunate to have someone of her caliber to lead the Division Street Campus.”

Dyer was most recently the associate dean of Knoxville’s ITT Technical Institute. A native of Morgan County, she earned a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Tennessee and a master’s in organization development from Central Washington University.

Her experience as an educator includes teaching at virtually every academic level, elementary through college, as well as managing day-to-day operations in a postsecondary school setting. From the business perspective, she has significant experience in process improvement facilitation, conflict resolution, management coaching, strategic planning and team skills training.

Dyer says she looks forward to working with the employees of the Division Street Campus.

“I find the faculty and staff at Division Street to be family- and team-oriented and, specifically, focused on caring for and supporting the students in their various endeavors,” she said. “I want to be an integral part of maintaining that learning atmosphere and contributing to the ongoing growth at the campus.”

The Division Street Campus was home to 1,700 students fall 2011 semester. Pellissippi State also has four other campuses: Hardin Valley, Blount County, Magnolia Avenue and Strawberry Plains.

Learn more about Pellissippi State by visiting www.pstcc.edu or calling (865) 694-6400.

Pellissippi State Engineering Technology students Jeff Station (left) and Anthony Hudson install solar panels on the Hardin Valley Campus’ McWherter Building as a class project earlier this semester.

As Ken Swayne’s students tightened the screws on the new solar panels, they also strengthened Pellissippi State Community College’s investment in alternative energy education.

Swayne, a professor of Electrical Engineering in the Engineering Technology degree program, pooled the talents of two of his classes this semester in order to install the first-ever solar panel array at Pellissippi State.

His Applied Electricity class wired the six panels to an inverter located in a classroom in the McWherter Building on the Hardin Valley Campus. Then the Photovoltaics Alternative Energy class installed brackets and the solar panels on the roof of the building. The panels are expected to produce 324 watts of electrical energy under peak sun conditions.

Both classes then worked in a frigid wind on the rooftop to put the finishing touches on installing the solar panel array.

“The system will be a great learning tool for our technology students,” said Swayne. “I am very grateful to the college for supporting this project. I believe any contribution toward green energy production and training is a plus for Pellissippi State and the Knoxville community.”

Last year the college installed electric vehicle charging stations on its Hardin Valley and Blount County campuses. Pellissippi State earned the 2010 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award for its collegewide sustainability and environmental efforts.

William Draney, a 28-year-old Electrical Engineering student at Pellissippi State, says he was first drawn to the idea of solar energy during Swayne’s campuswide lecture on photovoltaics last year.

“I wanted to know how to put solar panels on my own house,” he said. “Plus, I had been an electrician for five years and wanted to see if solar panel installation would be a good thing to get into on the side.”

Pellissippi State offers many green courses, both in the classroom and online. Among them are Photovoltaic System Design and Installation, Green Building for Contractors, and classes for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

For more information, contact the college’s Business and Community Services Division at (865) 539-7167. To learn more about Pellissippi State’s Engineering Technology programs, visit www.pstcc.edu or call (865) 694-6400.

Tyra Barrett - Excellence in Teaching Award

Pellissippi State Community College recently hosted its annual recognition of employees for outstanding service, longevity and retirement.

At this year’s ceremony, the Excellence in Teaching Award went to Tyra Barrett, an associate professor in the Business and Computer Technology Department and the program coordinator for Business Administration. The award recognizes innovative teaching techniques and the positive impact they’ve had on students.

Barrett, who first came to Pellissippi State in 1988 as an adjunct faculty member in Economics and has served as an associate professor since 1994, was recognized by the college in 2006 with the Outstanding Full-time Faculty Award. She was also the 2007 recipient of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development’s Excellence Award for outstanding contributions to teaching, leadership and learning.

Anita Maddox and Donn King - Innovations Award

The Innovations Award was bestowed upon Donn King and Anita Maddox. This award is given in recognition of a project that demonstrates success of creative and original instructional and learning support activities.

King and Maddox each serves as an associate professor of Speech in the Liberal Arts Department. Maddox is also the program coordinator for Speech. King was the 1999 recipient of Pellissippi State’s Excellence in Teaching Award, as well as the 2000 recipient of NISOD’s Excellence Award.

The two collaborated on “Flipping the Speech Class,” in which students enrolled in selected sections of SPCH 2100 were able to access classroom lectures via audio podcasts rather than only attending traditional lectures during class time. The strategy of “flipping” how the students spent their instructional time gave them the opportunity to use classroom hours for engaging in group work, delivering speeches and receiving feedback from fellow students and professors.

Martha Merrill and Regina Buckley - Gene Joyce Visionary Award

Regina Buckley and Martha Merrill were honored at the ceremony with the Gene Joyce Visionary Award, which recognizes external outreach projects that have an impact on the community. Buckley serves as an associate professor in the Business and Computer Technology Department and as the program coordinator of Administrative Professional Technology. Merrill is a professor in and the program coordinator of Web Technology in the Engineering and Media Technologies Department.

Buckley and Merrill served as co-instructors of a class that incorporated “service-learning” in the curriculum. Service-learning provides an opportunity through the curriculum for students to volunteer in the community.

Pellissippi State students who enrolled in ADMN 2450 Communications Media worked with a local nonprofit organization, Therapeutic Riding Academy of Knoxville, to increase community awareness of, involvement in and support for the organization.

Thanks to the efforts of Buckley and Merrill, Pellissippi State students enrolling in a summer Web design course and a fall advertising course also will incorporate real-world service-learning for the riding academy in their studies.

The Excellence in Teaching, Innovations and Gene Joyce Visionary awards carried with them monetary recognition ranging from $1,000 to $1,500. Funding for all awards was provided by the Pellissippi State Foundation. Recipients of the three awards also received a plaque and a medallion.

Pellissippi State also recognized employees who had reached five-year increments of employment, as well as council presidents and retiring employees. Retirees received a clock in recognition of their service. Retirees included Bill Chapman, Luanne Dagley, Cathalin Folks, Sydney Gingrow, Milton Grimes, Hudson Jeter, Phyllis Pace, Terry Sisk, Anne Swartzlander and Greg Walters.

Part of this year’s ceremony was set aside to honor two Pellissippi State employees, Brenda Ammons and Mike Hudson. Ammons, associate professor of Math, was recognized for her 20 years of work with the Faculty Senate Book Sale. Since its inception three decades ago, the event has raised more than $101,000.

Event proceeds go to the Pellissippi State Foundation, which supports students by providing scholarships, new technology and equipment. Funds from the book sale are earmarked for the Faculty Senate Scholarship. The scholarship provides tuition and fees for full-time students who maintain a cumulative 3.0 GPA and meet additional scholarship criteria.

Mike Hudson, who passed away in December 2011, served for many years as the college’s director of Certificate Programs. At the time of his death, he was director of special projects.

Hudson was the 2011 recipient of the college’s Innovations Award. As one of the employee award winners, he was to be recognized with a certificate and a medallion at the 2012 NISOD conference in Texas later this month. The certificate and medallion were given instead at the Pellissippi State awards ceremony. L. Anthony Wise Jr., president of the college, presented the special recognition to Hudson’s family at the event.

Additional award recipients—each of whom received $100, a plaque and a medallion—included the following: Outstanding Adjunct Faculty, Jack Heck; Outstanding Administrator, Spencer Joy; Outstanding Contract Worker, Chris Niesen; Outstanding Support Professional, Ann Burgess; Outstanding Technical/Service/Maintenance Employee, Travis Whitson; and Outstanding Full-time Faculty, Bill Brewer.

Jack Heck - Outstanding Adjunct Faculty

Spencer Joy - Outstanding Administrator

Chris Niesen - Outstanding Contract Worker

Ann Burgess - Outstanding Support Professional

Travis Whitson - Outstanding Technical/Service/Maintenance Employee

Bill Brewer - Outstanding Full-time Faculty

As this year’s winner of the Outstanding Full-time Faculty Award, Brewer will carry the college’s mace at the 37^th Annual Commencement Ceremony on May 4. The event takes place at the University of Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena, beginning at 7 p.m.

For additional information about Pellissippi State, call (865) 694-6400 or visit www.pstcc.edu.

Kyndall Leach

Lee Garrand, a Pellissippi State Community College Culinary Arts student who is scheduled to graduate this Friday, May 4, has just landed a culinary job at the prestigious Blackberry Farm. The position wasn’t handed to him on a silver platter—he earned it, through hard work and an intense but successful hands-on “interview.”

The 30-year-old student is one of 28 in the first graduating class of Culinary Arts, a collaborative venture between Pellissippi State and the University of Tennessee’s Culinary Arts Institute.

Garrand says he had some stiff competition when he vied for the position at Blackberry Farm. Some applicants came from other states and two had gone to the most prestigious culinary schools in the country, he says. Yet, it was the student from Pellissippi State who apparently impressed those conducting the interview most.

“I had a ‘working interview’ with Josh Feathers, the corporate chef at Blackberry Farm,” Garrand said. The 4,200-acre luxury resort in the Smokies attracts visitors from around the world.

Garrand was tasked with designing an entrée that would appeal to the eye and wow the discriminating palate of Feathers and sous chef Steve Ledbetter.

“There was a time limit, just like the show ‘Chopped,’” Garrand said. “It was 8:40 in the morning, and [Feathers] said he wanted to see a platter by 9:30.”

So the former Marine and law enforcement officer foraged through the restaurant’s walk-in cooler for available ingredients.

“I made a pepper-spiced wild rice and a bone-in poussin [baby chicken] breast with blanched asparagus and a raspberry cream beurre rouge [red butter sauce],” Garrand said. “He loved it.”

Garrand has been at Blackerry Farm since March.

“It’s very busy,” he said. “It’s of the highest quality and highest standards one could expect from a professional five-star restaurant.”

The soon-to-be graduate speaks highly of what he learned at Pellissippi State: “The Culinary Arts program is a great technical experience. It’s extremely informative and absolutely hands-on in preparing you for the professional culinary field.”

Garrand and his classmates spent the last two years sharpening both their kitchen and their business administration skills. Culinary Arts has a “cohort”-style format, so the students went through all the courses together, start to finish. They learned everything from ice carving to pastry, and they each interned at local restaurants and bakeries.

The class graduates with an Associate of Applied Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Culinary Arts. The ceremony is at 7 p.m. at UT’s Thompson-Boling Arena.

Garrand, Kyndall Leach and Tammy Jo Johnson were named the top students.

Leach was a 16-year-old home-schooled high school graduate when she started in Culinary Arts. Now 18, she graduates Friday with a concentration in not only Culinary Arts but also Hospitality. Similar to the joint effort by classmates and sisters Tiffany Haynes and Stephanie Criswell, who just opened Emma Lou Bakery in Oak Ridge, Leach wants to open her own catering business, she hopes with a couple of her fellow students.

“I loved working in the kitchen,” Leach said of her experience. “It was always loud—that’s for sure. We had a good time. It’s like doing something with your friends that everybody loves, creating something together.”

Johnson, 46, already has a position as a hot appetizer chef at The Orangery, an upscale restaurant in Knoxville.

Students who enter Culinary Arts pursue their classroom instruction at the Pellissippi State’s Division Street Campus. Tom Gaddis coordinates Culinary Arts (as well as Hospitality). A two-time graduate of UT’s Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism program, he has a doctorate in human ecology with a concentration in hotel and restaurant administration.

Gaddis received the Tennessee Hospitality Association Award in 2003 and 2008 and the Greater Knoxville Tourism Alliance’s Pauly Award in 2008. He recently was awarded the national Exemplary Leadership in Higher Education Award from the Chair Academy.

Students also spend four hours a day, three days a week, honing their skills in the state-of-the-art laboratory kitchen at UT’s Culinary Institute on Neyland Drive, just two miles away. They are taught by local chefs with American Culinary Federation certifications.

Graduates are certified through the National Restaurant Association in food production and sanitation and can apply to the ACF for certification as Certified Culinarians, the first step toward professional chef certification.

For additional information on Culinary Arts, contact Gaddis at (865) 971-5246 or tfgaddis@pstcc.edu.

Registration is now under way for fall semester. To learn more, call (865) 694-6400 or visit www.pstcc.edu.

Pellissippi State student Brandy Robinson will graduate with honors when she receives an associate’s degree in Teacher Education in May. She takes a moment to pose with her husband, Daniel, and the children. Front row (l-r): Samantha, William, Jacob, D.J. and Emma. Back row: Eli, Brandy, Daniel and Nick.

Two years ago, when Brandy Robinson made up her mind to enroll at Pellissippi State Community College, she knew she would have her work cut out for her.

Certainly, pursuing an education would require late-night studying, test-taking and plenty of focus and perseverance. But those weren’t the half of her concern: at the time, she had two children in elementary school, plus five younger ones who were at home with her every day.

Yet enroll Robinson did. And on May 4, when she walks across the stage at Pellissippi State’s Commencement ceremony, she’ll take away an associate’s degree in Teacher Education and cum laude honors for earning a 3.6 cumulative grade point average.

“I want my kids to know they can do anything they set their minds to,” said Robinson. “If I can do this—go back to school and even be on the dean’s list—then anybody can do it.”

Attending the graduation ceremony will be Robinson’s husband, Daniel, and children Nick, 12; Eli, 8; Samantha, 6; Emma, 3; and quadruplets D.J., Will, and Jake, 5. (The fourth of the quadruplets, Gabriel Noah, died in utero at 20 weeks.)

Robinson, who previously had had an unsatisfactory experience with college, says that as her children grew, so too did her desire to return to school.

Initially, she took online courses at Pellissippi State. Later, she attended classes at the Hardin Valley and Blount County campuses.

“I began classes as my younger children started into preschool and were getting close to school age,” she said. “I tried to time it so that when I finished all the online classes I could, most of my kids would be in school.

“I did most of my studying at night. I learned that sleep was way overrated and coffee was my best friend!”

Robinson recalls how she made the decision of what career she wanted to pursue.

“I didn’t want to just ‘find a job,’” she said. “I wanted a career I could start into and hopefully retire from. I love kids, and being a schoolteacher seems to be the perfect fit for me and my family, especially considering the kids’ schedules.”

Robinson took an education class her very first semester at Pellissippi State, then got real-life experience in a third-grade classroom the beginning of her second year. Of course, that wasn’t her entree into an elementary school classroom—she already had put in scores of hours as a volunteer in her own children’s classes.

“I’ve always been a firm believer that parents should be involved in their kids’ educations,” she said. “By becoming a teacher, I hope to remain active in my own children’s educations and encourage other parents to be involved in their children’s, to enrich the lives of their kids as well as their own lives. After all, learning is a lifelong process.”

This fall Robinson plans to begin working toward a bachelor’s degree in education. The children are older now, but, she says, the juggling hasn’t gotten a whole lot easier: “We are on the go year-round, since the oldest six kids rotate through football, cheerleading, basketball, baseball and softball.”

Making her journey toward a four-year degree a lot easier is a partnership between Pellissippi State and Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville. The agreement allows education students to earn a bachelor’s from TTU, yet remain at Pellissippi State’s campus to attend classes.

“I have loved being back in school,” Robinson said. “I feel like I’ve really connected with my professors and peers at Pellissippi State. It seems as though my professors really want all of their students to succeed, and one of my best friends is someone I met last semester in chemistry.”

For more information about Pellissippi State’s Teacher Education program, call (865) 694-6400 or visit www.pstcc.edu. This year’s Commencement ceremony is at the University of Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena, beginning at 7 p.m.

Pellissippi State President Anthony Wise, at left, congratulates Kelly Nelson, recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Award in Nursing. Nelson is one of 29 members of the college's first Nursing class graduating May 4.

Commencement is just days away for Pellissippi State Community College’s first class of Nursing students.

Since the start of the program in fall 2010, students have balanced lectures, labs and clinical rotations each semester while preparing for the rigorous test that licenses and enables registered nurses to practice: the NCLEX-RN exam.

The students’ growth has impressed Pellissippi State’s dean of Nursing, Larry Goins.

“To see the confidence as they grow in this nursing program is just wonderful,” said Goins, a nursing educator of 20 years.

Most of the upcoming graduates are “non-traditional”—they range in age from 21-56. Theirs is a diverse group overall, says Goins. Most are parents, and one is a grandparent. Three students have bachelor’s degrees, one has a master’s, and several have other health-care certifications or licensures. Career changers are not uncommon in this group.

A trend is under way in the nursing profession: an increasing number of men are committed to working in the demanding profession. Of the 29 students in the college’s first graduating class, seven are male.

Kelly Nelson is the premier recipient of Pellissippi State’s Outstanding Graduate in Nursing Award.

Nelson, a 55-year-old retired firefighter and paramedic, started taking classes part time at the Hardin Valley Campus about four years ago. He moved to Vonore from Tucson, Ariz., after a 30-year career with the Tucson Fire Department.

A lifelong learner, Nelson already has associate’s degrees in fire science, paramedicine and liberal arts from Pima Community College. He also taught fire science as an adjunct faculty member for 15 years at Pima. He likes math and science, so he enrolled first in anatomy and physiology at Pellissippi State.

“After I took classes for probably a couple of semesters,” he said, “it just seemed like I was taking all the prerequisite courses for the Nursing program, and that was right up my alley because of my medical background in the fire department.

“It seemed like a good fit. My wife is a nurse, and I’ve got a daughter-in-law who is a nurse.”

When Pellissippi State announced the approval of the program in September 2009, Nelson decided to apply. There are nine nursing schools in the Knoxville area, but he applied only to Pellissippi State and says it has worked out great.

“I would have to say, as a group, I was concerned that I was going to be the oldest. I’m certainly one of the oldest,” he said. “The group is an older group, a lot of life experience and different careers and backgrounds.

“There are a couple of young people, but I think mostly it’s more experienced people—a diverse group, I would say, a very capable group, an enjoyable group of people.”

There are two sites for the Nursing program at Pellissippi State: the Magnolia Avenue Campus and the Blount County Campus. Both have state-of-the-art simulation laboratories. Every semester, students combine classroom lectures, lab work and clinical rotations.

The Nursing program arranged clinical rotations at 22 sites in eight counties for the first class. The variety gives students experience in a number of settings, with patients in rural and urban areas. Striking that balance prepares them to meet a range of needs and improves the students’ prospects for employment.

Pellissippi State admitted a group of 40 students for the first class. Twenty-nine are anticipated to take part in a private pinning ceremony at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 3, at the Clayton Performing Arts Center on the Hardin Valley Campus and in the Commencement ceremony at the University of Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena the next day at 7 p.m.

“That gives us a 73 percent rate of retention, which is really good for nursing,” said Goins. “Usually it’s about 50 percent for a nursing class.”

The next class begins fall semester, and it will be larger. Goins anticipates an incoming class of 60 students.

Learn more about Pellissippi State Community College’s Nursing program at www.pstcc.edu/departments/nursing or (865) 694-6400.

The event provides the community with an opportunity to tour the facility and learn which courses will be offered this fall. Prospective students attending the open house can get more information about dual enrollment, financial aid and academic programs. Faculty and staff will be on hand to answer questions.

The Strawberry Plains Campus is located at 7201 Strawberry Plains Pike, just off Interstate 40.

For more information about Pellissippi State, call (865) 694-6400 or visit www.pstcc.edu.

Mary Costa

Virtually every student who walks across the stage at the May 4 Pellissippi State Community College Commencement ceremony will know who Sleeping Beauty is, and many will have seen the timeless animated Disney movie.

What most of the participants won’t know is that the voice of Princess Aurora was done by Mary Costa, a legendary diva of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City who now makes her home in East Tennessee.

Costa, a native Knoxvillian, will “sing” the praises of graduates’ accomplishments as speaker at this year’s Commencement address.

During her operatic career, the world-renowned soprano performed in 44 roles on the American and European stage. She played the title role in Jules Massenet’s “Manon” at the Met. She also sang the lead of Violetta Valéry in Guiseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata” at the Royal Opera House in London.

A recipient of the Disney Legends Award, Costa has been bestowed some of the highest honors of opera, among them, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award and acknowledgement by the Metropolitan Opera Guild for Distinguished Verdi Performances of the 20^th Century.

The Knoxville Opera Hall of Fame inductee also has served on the National Council on the Arts. Council members, who advise the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts on agency policies and programs, are appointed by the president and approved by the Senate.

Costa now spends much of her time volunteering with schools and colleges across the country to inspire youth, especially those studying music. Last October, she was honored by Pellissippi State with a special tribute presentation of the Faculty Recital Showcase, part of the school’s annual concert series. The concert, which highlighted Costa’s volunteerism in education, was a natural fit, says Bill Brewer, the college’s Music program coordinator:

“Mary puts so much of her energy into supporting young people and encouraging them in music. Her support of our students and the Music program here at Pellissippi State has made a world of difference in the way we see ourselves. The students are ‘awestruck’ by her beauty and grace, as well as by the fact that she takes notice of their talents and achievements.”

This year, Pellissippi State will confer a record number of 1,166 associate’s degrees. Approximately 2,801 students also completed certificates during the academic year. In 2011, 992 students were awarded associate’s degrees and another 509 completed certificates.

Pellissippi State’s Commencement ceremony is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the University of Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena.

For additional information regarding the ceremony, the college or the Music program, call (865) 694-6400 or visit www.pstcc.edu.