Tarrant County College to honor six individuals at 40th anniversary celebration on May 2

by PegNews wire

Tarrant County College will honor six individuals who have played major roles in the institution’s history and progress during its 40th Anniversary celebration May 2 at the Ashton Depot, 1501 Jones Street in Fort Worth.The event is hosted by the TCC Foundation to benefit its scholarship fund.

The honorees are:

• U.S. Congresswoman and former Fort Worth Mayor Kay Granger
• retiring TCC Board of Trustees President Dr. J. Ardis Bell
• Fort Worth attorneys Jenkins Garrett and Glenn Lewis
• former TCC Chancellor Joe B. Rushing
• former TCC Board Treasurer J. Pete Zepeda, whose award will be given posthumously.

Granger encouraged a cooperative partnership between the city and TCC to advance the area’s economic development during her tenure as Fort Worth mayor, and as the Trinity River Vision project developed, she worked with TCC and city officials on plans for a TCC campus downtown. She also helped secure the land for the campus that is considered the anchor for the Trinity project.

Bell, a retired family practitioner, joined Garrett and other community leaders to solicit support for the establishment of TCC, was elected to the College’s first Board of Trustees in 1965, and served as president from 1976 to 2008. He is among the longest-serving members of a community college board of trustees in the nation.

Garrett was serving on the Governor’s Committee on Education Beyond the High School in 1964 when the committee began discussing community colleges, and was among the first to seek support locally for a Tarrant County community college system. He proposed the community college idea at a Fort Worth Town Hall meeting and worked tirelessly for its support. Voters approved the concept by an overwhelming margin.

Lewis, a TCC alumnus, is a former Texas legislator who helped secure a special appropriation for the establishment of the TCC Southeast Campus in Arlington. Lewis received his Associate of Arts Degree from what was then Tarrant County Junior College in 1979. He is a partner in the law firm of Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson and chair of The Board of Regents at Texas Southern University.

Rushing was TCC’s first chancellor and served for 24 years in that capacity. Rushing, who encouraged a multicampus vs. multicollege system for TCC, oversaw the building of three additional campuses and the development of new programs that addressed the critical educational needs of Tarrant County residents.

Zepeda was the first Hispanic elected to a countywide post when he was elected to the Tarrant County Junior College Board of Trustees in 1983 – a position he held until 1996. Zepeda helped found the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Texas Association of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

“Tarrant County College – 40 and Fabulous! And the Beat Goes On…” is the theme of the event sponsored by The Projects Group + Parsons. Honorary chairs are Donna Arp, Dionne Bagsby, Dee Kelly, Jr. and Dan Serna. There will be a 6:30 p.m. reception followed by dinner.

Source: Tarrant County College