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Dr. Alice Austin graduates from community college leadership program
Holmes Community College Associate Degree Nursing Director Dr. Alice Austin graduated from the Mississippi Community College Leadership Academy (MCCLA) on May 10. The graduation ceremony was held in the Hunter Henry Center on the campus of Mississippi State University and Austin was among 31 graduates from community colleges across the state.
The MCCLA is organized around the practical needs for future community college leaders, specific to the Mississippi community college system. The program was developed in 2009 to address the projected need for upper-level leaders in the Mississippi community college system.
A native of Vicksburg, Austin obtained a bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's in nursing education from Alcorn State University in 1991 and 2002, respectively. She first joined the Holmes family as a full-time instructor for Medical-Surgical Nursing in 2004. Shortly after, she began teaching as an adjunct faculty instructor for the Ridgeland and Grenada campuses, and in 2010, added on the role of ADN assistant director.
"I am very proud to have had the opportunity to present Dr. Austin with her MCCLA graduation certificate on behalf of Dr. Jim Haffey and Holmes Community College," said Ridgeland Campus Vice President Dr. Don Burnham. "Dr. Austin is an outstanding leader in our Associate Degree Nursing Program and an integral part of the Ridgeland Campus administrative team. I am excited that she took the initiative to participate in the MCCLA. I congratulate Dr. Austin for completing the MCCLA and I am confident that her career will be enhanced by her participation."
Prior to working at Holmes, Austin taught at other institutions in the state. She served as an adjunct clinical instructor (LPN Bridge Program) for the Hinds Community College ADN program on the Vicksburg Campus and as an instructor from the Mississippi College School of Nursing in Clinton. She has also been employed as a staff nurse (PRN status) at St. Dominic's Hospital in Jackson, as a staff nurse for maternal-child services at River Region Health System in Vicksburg, as pediatric coordinator and as a staff nurse for ParkView Regional Medical Center in Vicksburg, and as assistant director of nursing for Delta Haven Nursing Home in Tallulah, Louisiana.
Other credentials include: vice-chair for the Council for Associate Degree Nursing, Deans & Directors of Mississippi; board member and treasurer for Believers of Faith Outreach in Vicksburg; board member for the Madison County Health & Wellness Committee of the Madison County Business League; member of the Obesity Society; dual member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, Tau Eta Chapter and member of the Mississippi Nurses Association and of the American Nurses Association. Dr. Austin is also the faculty advisor for Holmes' student nurses association and was named Faculty of the Year at Mississippi College in 2004 and Faculty of the Year at Holmes in 2008.
In 2016, Austin earned her Ph.D. in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Her dissertation was titled, "African American Child and Adolescent Obesity: The Parent's Perspective." For her MCCLA project, she created an alignment brochure for nursing education. It included detailed information about all levels of nursing education offered at each institution in the state of Mississippi, from practical nursing courses to the doctoral level programs.
Previous MCCLA graduates from Holmes include: Diane Allgood, Dr. Mike Blankenship, Dr. Don Burnham, Martha Cofer, Stephanie Diffey, Steve Diffey, Dr. LaWanda Herron, Dr. Joye Jones, Dr. Luke Jones, Kay Kelly, Dr. Tonya Lawrence, Dwight Myrick, Bronwyn Martin, Slade Redwine, Larry Webster, Dr. Amy Whittington and Dr. Amy Wolgamott.
For more information about MCCLA, visit https://mccfms.org/mccla/.
For more information about the Associate Degree Nursing program at Holmes, contact Austin at aaustin@holmescc.edu or (601) 605-3419.
IN THIS PHOTO: Pictured is Holmes Community College Associate Degree Nursing Director Dr. Alice Austin, who graduated from the Mississippi Community College Leadership Academy (MCCLA) on May 10.
