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James Lombard III has the whole college thing figured out, but that epiphany didn’t happen instantly. He went to Eastern Michigan University right after graduating high school in Detroit, but “I didn’t know why I was there,” he explains. James tried again after he left the Navy, that time at the University of Tennessee. After a couple of years there, however, he still wasn’t sure what college really had to offer him.  

On the advisement of a faculty member at UT, James realized the ideal choice for him was an Associate degree from Pellissippi State. James recognized Pellissippi State as an opportunity to “get that accomplishment and feel what it’s like to achieve something,” he remembers.  

Pellissippi State was the perfect fit. The community college made James feel more like himself, he says, because his classes reinforced the tools he already has. “It felt like I was supposed to be there,” he says.

Although music has always been important to James, he realizes that music can be a difficult way to pay the bills. His entrepreneurial spirit drew him to a degree in Business. “I really plan to shift gears and focus on getting a business started and running that as effectively as I can,” he explains. “And I can’t just walk into those things without these basic skills. My management, accounting and math classes helped me look at the intricacies of a business.”  

James was determined to take ownership of his education. “I would say that I’ve Lone Wolfed this semester a little bit,” he admits. “I wanted to own all the burden and see how I could handle it.” But James was also able to build a network of faculty and fellow students in the Multicultural Student Leadership Group, where they discussed big picture topics and deep management principles outside the structure of the classroom.  

James did face one big challenge at Pellissippi State, but he looks at it now as a learning opportunity about conflict resolution. He got to see his management professor “not just talk the talk, but actually walk the walk … and man, that was so valuable,” he recalls. “Just watching her handle me while my hair was on fire was like, ‘I’m like taking notes on how I want to emulate that in the future.’”  

Ultimately, James says that his Pellissippi State experience has been incredibly fulfilling. “It’s made me feel like I can take the biggest bite out of this apple as I want,” he says. “It’s also encouraged me to stay a lifelong learner. I’m still going to be reading, I’m still going to be engaged and I’m still going to be trying to level myself up and grow.”

— Story and photo by Jessie Tipton, visual media coordinator for Pellissippi State 

Mae Manis had gone down many different paths on her way to Pellissippi State, not the least of which was as a firewalker. “I started firewalking at 15, I started teaching at 18 with my brother, and then I went to firewalking school and got licensed to teach by myself when I was 20,” Mae explains. 

Eventually, however, that became a bit overwhelming. “It takes a lot of energy and a lot of time and a lot of wood,” she notes. Looking for something more stable, Mae became a counselor at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility managing detox units and performing crisis management. With aspirations of sharpening those skills and earning a little more money, Mae began to take classes in social work. Unfortunately, a difficult pregnancy cut her time in school short. 

Despite being reluctant to return to college – “I felt like I was a really bad student in high school, so I didn’t really want go to college again because I thought I was bad at it,” she remembers – Mae decided to enroll at Pellissippi State. Now that she has graduated with an anthropology degree, however, she realizes she is not the bad student she feared she was. Thanks to encouragement from her teachers and advisors, Mae was reminded that she really does enjoy learning. “I’m good at it. I’m not some failure who can’t do,” she says. The special honors tassels on her graduation cap are a testament to that. 

Kelly Rivers, associate professor of English, and Heather White with Pellissippi State Counseling Services helped Mae get through a lot while at Pellissippi State – more than just academics. “I lost my dad and my grandmother within 24 hours during school,” Mae explains. “(Rivers and White) were my support system through that — not just in school, but in supporting me as a person.” And then there’s Judith Sichler, associate professor of Natural and Behavioral Sciences. “She has been wonderful in supporting me and helping me really kind of fill out into anthropology and go, ‘Yes, this is where I want to be.’” 

Mae plans to go for her doctorate and hopes to one day teach and do research as an anthropologist, focusing on religious studies. “I actually did all of that … the firewalking and Native American traditions,” she notes. “I’ve researched all those things and lived those things.” 

Mae describes her time at Pellissippi State as “absolutely life changing for the better.” 

“I have never felt more confident in myself or my ability or what I want to do,” she says. “I could not be more grateful.”

— Interview and photo by Jessie Tipton, visual media coordinator for Pellissippi State; story by Sam Comer, writer for Pellissippi State

The works of local legend and ceramic artist Bill Capshaw kick off The Arts at Pellissippi State series for spring 2023. 

“With his tremendous skill, talent and warm and generous personality, Bill is a fixture in East Tennessee, giving lectures and demos to generations of budding and experienced ceramic artists,” said Professor Herb Rieth. “Bill has been recognized on both the state and national levels, and his work is in numerous public and private collections.” 

The Bill Capshaw exhibit is open now through Feb. 3 in the Bagwell Center for Media and Art Gallery on Pellissippi State Community College’s Hardin Valley Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays or by special appointment. All exhibits in the Bagwell Gallery are free and open to the public. 

“The heart of each piece comes from deep within the soul with the intent to pierce the mind with probing thoughts of the creative process,” Capshaw said in an artist statement. “Classic forms are conceived using simple line work with basic shapes and design elements. Embellished surfaces and glaze decoration work together for contrast and emphasizing the compositional message.” 

Capshaw earned his Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts from East Tennessee State University and has worked at the Oak Ridge Art Center as a ceramic artist and instructor since 1977. Named Artist of the Year in 1998 by the Arts Council of Greater Knoxville, Capshaw is widely known for his expertise in the raku process and the unique designed ceramic forms and textural finishes on his works. 

The Arts at Pellissippi State includes visual arts exhibits as well as theatre and music performances. The series highlights the talents of Pellissippi State students and faculty and provides venues for other artists and musicians to bring their works to East Tennessee. 

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The Knoxville Jazz Youth Orchestra kicks off Pellissippi State’s spring 2023 concert series with a free performance Feb. 16, with special guest trombonist Matt Niess of Washington, D.C. 

The concert will be held at 7 p.m. in the Goins Building College Center on the college’s Hardin Valley Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville. Please note that this spring’s concerts are not being held in the Clayton Performing Arts Center due to ongoing renovations. 

The Knoxville Jazz Youth Orchestra is an honors band under the direction of Knoxville Jazz Orchestra lead trombonist Tom Lundberg, who also is a Music instructor at Pellissippi State. The band is open to high school students from across East Tennessee and is chosen by audition each fall. The 2022-2023 roster includes 17 students from Bearden, Central, Halls, West, Greeneville, Oak Ridge and Roane County high schools as well as Berean Christian and Concord Christian schools, both located in Knoxville. 

“The KJYO explores the repertoire of outstanding jazz ensembles as well as the music of the Great American Songbook,” Lundberg explained. “The group offers students the opportunity to learn about and develop jazz improvisation skills.” 

The Knoxville Jazz Youth Orchestra will be joined Feb. 16 by Niess, an Edwards Trombonist and Summit label recording artist. Niess served in the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” as lead trombone with the Army Blues Jazz Ensemble and trombonist with the U.S. Army Brass Quintet. Niess is the founder and director of the Capitol Bones and the National Jazz Workshop, a member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and director of Jazz Studies and professor of Trombone at Shenandoah Conservatory. 

“Mr. Niess is honored by the invitation to perform with KJYO and is looking forward to his Knoxville residency, which includes the opportunity to interact with Pellissippi State Music students via sessions with the college’s Brass and Jazz Ensembles,” Lundberg said. 

All Pellissippi State concerts are free and open to the public. For the full list of our spring 2023 concerts, including the venues where they will be held, visit www.pstcc.edu/arts. You can also watch recordings of our fall 2022 concert series on the website. 

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The Knoxville area AARP Foundation will offer Tax-Aide, a free tax preparation service, at Pellissippi State Community College this spring to taxpayers of all ages and backgrounds. AARP membership is not required. 

Tax preparation assistance will be offered 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays in the Hardin Valley Campus Educational Resources Center (library) on these dates: 

• Feb. 11, 18 and 25 
• March 4, 11 and 25 
• April 1 and 8 

The Educational Resources Center is closed on Saturday, March 18, due to the college’s spring break. 

Tax-Aide is the nation’s largest free volunteer tax preparation service, offered in conjunction with the Internal Revenue Service. Volunteers are trained and certified by the IRS to prepare the forms most taxpayers need. They cannot assist with income tax returns that exceed the scope of their training, however. A list of the forms volunteers cannot prepare is located at volsintax.com. Tax returns will be filed electronically, speeding up the processing and the arrival of any refund. 

Appointments are required for this free service. Visit volsintax.com to make an appointment or call 865.229.4429 and leave a message for the appointment volunteers. A map of the Hardin Valley Campus is located at www.pstcc.edu/maps. 

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Fans of artist Tom Wegrzynowski can see oil paintings from both his “Lucky” series and his “Entertainment” series in a new exhibit at Pellissippi State Community College. 

“All for One or Whatever …” is the artist’s first exhibition that combines pieces from both his bodies of work, “a visual dialogue that presents new opportunities for finding meaning,” Wegrzynowski said in an artist statement for the show. 

The new exhibit is on display through March 2 at the Bagwell Center for Media and Art Gallery, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays or by special appointment. All exhibits in the Bagwell Gallery are free and open to the public. 

A closing reception with the artist is scheduled for 3-4 p.m. Thursday, March 2. 

Wegrzynowski is a full-time instructor of Art and Art History at the University of Alabama, where he received his Master of Fine Arts in 2006. He has exhibited his work regionally and nationally and won several awards including the Reese Museum Award in 2022 International FL3TCH3R Exhibit: Social & Politically Engaged Art, East Tennessee State University. 

Wegrzynowski’s exhibit at Pellissippi State includes 19 oil paintings from his “Lucky” series, which explores history, mythology and how mutable these structures are when placed in the service of power, as well as from his “Entertainment” series, which allows Wegrzynowski to paint in a faster, more spontaneous way. 

“The first Entertainment paintings, or ‘panels’ as I think of them, were each executed in one sitting, sometimes in as little as an hour,” Wegrzynowski explained, as opposed to the works in the “Lucky” series, which could take months or even years to complete. “Most of these images were taken from screen captures of television commercials or movies, creating fragments of meaning. As such, they create opportunities for a more expansive investigation of the space between representation and formal abstraction.” 

The Arts at Pellissippi State includes visual arts exhibits as well as theatre and music performances. The series highlights the talents of Pellissippi State students and faculty and provides venues for other artists and musicians to bring their works to East Tennessee. For this spring’s events, visit www.pstcc.edu/arts.  

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Pellissippi State Community College was named a Fulbright Top Producing Institution for U.S. Scholars on Friday by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.  

This recognition is given to the U.S. colleges and universities that received the highest number of applicants selected for the 2022-23 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Pellissippi State is one of only 12 colleges that grant associate degrees to have a Fulbright scholar this academic year. 

Professor Tammie Bolling, chair of Pellissippi State’s Computer Information Technology program, received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to Ireland for fall 2022. Bolling’s Fulbright experience included researching the acceptance and use of digital health care innovations in Ireland and global cyberpsychology, lecturing at Atlantic Technological University and mentoring master’s level students. 

“I’ve known about the Fulbright program since I was an undergrad at the University of Virginia, and it’s something I truly wanted to do,” said Bolling, who taught for 17 years at Virginia community colleges and is in her 23rd year with Tennessee Board of Regents institutions. “I’m a first-generation college student, and I want students to know that even first-generation college students can succeed in completing their dreams.”   

Fulbright is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Since its inception in 1946, more than 400,000 participants from all backgrounds and fields – including recent university graduates, teachers, scientists, researchers, artists and others from the United States and over 160 other countries – have participated in the Fulbright Program. Fulbright alumni have returned to their home countries to make an impact on their communities thanks to their expanded worldview, a deep appreciation for their host country and its people, and a larger network of colleagues and friends. 

“The Fulbright Program provides opportunities for cultural immersion and the development of cross-cultural competencies,” said Bolling, who also encourages community college students to study abroad with the Tennessee Consortium for International Studies. “By participating in the Fulbright Program, scholars can immerse themselves in a new culture and gain a deeper understanding of the people, customs and traditions of their host country. This not only enhances their personal growth, but also provides them with valuable skills and experiences.” 

 “I am extremely proud of Dr. Bolling’s selection as a Fulbright Scholar,” said Pellissippi State President L. Anthony Wise Jr. “Her experiences will ultimately benefit the college and our students by encouraging them to look for learning opportunities here and abroad and by building networks to help solve the challenges we face.” 

For more information about the Fulbright Program, visit fulbrightprogram.org. 

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Bolstered by wins in 29 consecutive competitions, Pellissippi State Community College Speech and Debate Team is gearing up for its first national competition in March. 

“Reaching a national tournament brings me great pride and validates all of the hard work that these students and past competitors have done over the course of the past seven years,” said Assistant Professor Shaquille Marsh, who coaches the team. 

Pellissippi State will compete at the National Novice Competition in Charlotte, N.C., March 3-5. The team just returned from state competition, earning 12 awards at the Tennessee Intercollegiate Forensics Association tournament at Belmont University Feb. 18-19. Seven Pellissippi State students took home individual awards while the team was named top community college in Debate, top community college in Individual Speech Events and top community college overall. 

This weekend Pellissippi State Speech and Debate Team members will welcome almost 100 of their peers from throughout the Southeast to the 5th Annual Tennessee Valley Invitational on the college’s Hardin Valley Campus. The Feb. 25-26 tournament will include competitors from across Tennessee as well as from Clemson University. 

“Debate competition allows students to discuss and debate complex and sensitive issues in a productive and civil manner, while Speech competition allows students to showcase their talents and individuality against great competition,” explained Charles Wilhite, vice president of Pellissippi State Speech and Debate Team. 

In a tournament, two-person debate teams are assigned a topic and a position to argue, either in the affirmative or the negative. The teams have 15 minutes to research and formulate their arguments, and then individuals on the teams take turns debating their points and counterpoints in a 40-minute round.  

“It’s really about persuasion,” said Instructor Jesse Cragwall, one of five faculty advisors. 

Students have no choice about whether to argue for or against a topic, regardless of how they feel about it. That’s why it’s important for students to remember that they are attacking the arguments, not the topics themselves. 

Meanwhile, speech competitions incorporate a wide range of styles and topics. Events such as Dramatic Duo and Slam Poetry showcase performance skill while events like Persuasive Speaking and Program Oral Interpretation require research, analytical and speaking skills.  

“Speech is an outlet to tell your story and write your own narrative,” said 15-time award winner Casey Looper. 

The 5th Annual Tennessee Valley Invitational will be held 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, and Sunday, Feb. 26, in the Ned R. McWherter Technology Building on Pellissippi State’s Hardin Valley Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville. Tournaments are open to the public, and Pellissippi State Speech and Debate Team members would love to have a supportive crowd to cheer them on.  

To volunteer to judge or staff the tournament, contact speechanddebate@pstcc.edu. 

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Pellissippi State Community College and Herzing University have developed and signed a transfer articulation agreement that allows graduates of the college’s Nursing program to seamlessly transfer into the university’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program as juniors. 

Pellissippi State President L. Anthony Wise Jr. and Herzing University Associate Vice President of Community Partnerships Thomas P. Perin Sr., working through Herzing University Provost and Chief Academic Officer Kitty Kautzer, signed the articulation agreement on the college’s Strawberry Plains Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 22. 

“Pellissippi State is committed to creating and expanding clear pathways for our students to continue their education or start a career,” said Wise. “This is the latest of many transfer agreements Pellissippi State has made with universities in the last several years to streamline continued education for our graduates. We thank Herzing University for working with us on this pathway.” 

Herzing University is a private, nonprofit university with campuses across the United States. While Herzing University has opened a new campus near Nashville, its Bachelor of Science in Nursing program is offered online, which allows students to continue working as registered nurses while preparing for the next chapter in their career. 

“Herzing University is proud to partner with Pellissippi State Community College and appreciates Dr. Wise and his team for working with us to establish this partnership,” said Perin. “This articulation agreement is a good fit for graduating Nursing students from Pellissippi State.” 

For more information on Pellissippi State’s Nursing program, visit www.pstcc.edu/nursing. 

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Grab your masks and capes! Pellissippi State Community College’s celebration of comic books, cosplay and pop culture returns March 24-25 with more vendors, more events and more fun for the whole family. 

The Mag Comic Expo will be held 2-7 p.m. Friday, March 24, and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, March 25, on the college’s Magnolia Avenue Campus, 1610 E. Magnolia Ave. The event is free for both community members and vendors. 

“Our goal for year two is to make this a true annual event for the area,” said Associate Professor Grant Mincy, one of the expo’s organizers. 

The college’s first Mag Comic Expo on its Magnolia Avenue Campus was only a one-day event and drew more than 250 comic book fans and 32 vendors in 2022. Sponsored by a Pellissippi State Libraries grant, the Mag Comic Expo was created by Magnolia Avenue Campus faculty and staff who wanted to try a different approach to promoting literacy in the community. 

“A large part of why we do what we do is because, for a large population of students from underserved schools, comics were a way in for them to fall in love with reading,” Mincy explained. “Comic books bridge boundaries such as race, religion and social economics; promote social belonging and creativity; build literacy skills; support reading comprehension; and enhance the learning process of non-native English speakers.” 

Back this year are art workshops, costume contests and panel discussions, but the event has grown, with a Kids’ Corner run by Fulton High School’s Comic and Manga Club, live music, a Mad Lab full of strange animals and fungi, two video game rooms and even “an old-school wrasslin’ match, a throwback to the WWF,” Mincy noted. 

Food trucks will be on site as well as vendors selling their wares and special guests such as horror writer Blake Best, who will bring Freddy’s glove from one of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” films for a super scary photo op! 

Pellissippi State staff will be on hand as well with information about the college’s academic programs and career opportunities, including those in the arts and pop culture. 

“We have several Pellissippi State alumni who will be there, from Grant Mitchell, co-owner of Nirvana Comics, to Tony Covington with Hacks’s Horror Show, to artist Zoe Eades,” Mincy said, noting all vendor spaces have been filled. 

Community members do not need to register for the Mag Comic Expo, as the cosplay contest registration will be on site during the event. For more information about the Mag Comic Expo, check out the event’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MagComicExpo or email Mincy at gamincy@pstcc.edu. 

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