2nd Annual Jesse Jones Leadership Award

Dr. William "Bill" Coppola serves as the President for Southeast Campus at Tarrant County College. Starting in 2011, Bill has competently and passionately built on the strengths of the campus, enthusiastically supported new faculty and staff initiatives, and introduced new ideas to remove barriers to student engagement and eventual success.

Since his first day as campus president, Dr. Coppola has maintained that student engagement is crucial and foundational to student success. His service and leadership focus may be described as relentlessly working to remove barriers to improve student success. Bill balances this focus with ensuring that all campus activities align with the district's vision and strategic initiatives, and that the Southeast Campus is part of a broader coordinated effort with all campus presidents.

Academically and administratively experienced, Dr. Coppola has thoughtfully led and consistently modeled the behaviors needed to reach these milestones.

Drawing upon his distinguished record of service to Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), Dr. Coppola uses this resource to engage students and to encourage their academic performance. Expanding PTK membership, serving its members, and supporting the chapter advisor are his priorities for the Beta Delta Omicron chapter.

Dr. Coppola continues to be relentless in his pursuit of reducing barriers to student success. The Southeast Campus initiated work on Open Educational Resources (OER) for the use of teaching, learning and research materials in any medium that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. A faculty committee of 15 members representing 11 disciplines and the campus library worked diligently on this project with the full support and constant attention of Dr. Coppola. In tum, 7 faculty members agreed to use their assigned courses as a pilot. By the end of the fall 2014, the benefits were immediately apparent. 765 students were able to save $119,707 by using OER materials. These accomplishments, and many others not presented, illustrate an important leadership principle. Leaders have followers. Dr. Coppola has worked tirelessly to establish and maintain effective communication channels with faculty, staff, students and community partners.

"Cookies with Coppola" is the standard for his communication with all faculty and staff. Everyone is invited to a monthly informational session where he shares information about what is going on at the district and across the Southeast campus. Held on alternating days of the week, faculty have greater opportunities to attend these fun and informative sessions. Equally important, this forum serves as a way to ensure transparency in all campus and district initiatives. It offers a means by which employees may share their concerns and know there will be a prompt and transparent response.

Dr. Coppola's enthusiasm for surmounting challenges with the help of faculty, staff and students is evident when he walks the campus, buildings and classrooms, always asking for feedback about how to make the Southeast campus a better place in which to serve and to learn. He also uses this opportunity to express his sincere appreciation to employees for their commitment and the quality of their daily work.

Dr. Coppola's leadership value of treating people with respect and appreciation is also evident in his service to the community. His work as a campus president inevitably involves a number of community, regional, state and national partnerships. He reached out to them as a representative of TCC and in many cases as an engaged member in that organization. His recent awards from these groups are illustrative: International Exemplary Award -Chair Academy, Phi Theta Kappa Hallmark Award of Distinction, Texas Phi Theta Kappa, Presidential Ambassador, Legacy Partner in Education Champion Award - USPAACC Southwest, Education Partner Award-TAACC, Education Partner Award -Tarrant County Asian American Chamber of Commerce, and the Special Legacy Award - U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce Southwest.

Dr. Coppola serves as an exemplar of community service. His establishment of the Democracy Commitment at the Southeast Campus is used to prepare students to serve their community as engaged citizens improving the quality of life for everyone. As one campus peer leader stated, "I have learned skills that I could not have learned in the classroom such as fellowship, leadership and service and being able to care for the students, faculty and staff around me."

Building on the strong traditions of the Southeast Campus and leading faculty and staff to achieve what has never been before, or through circumstances that are unsure, Dr. Coppola has shown and allowed others to experience the transformative power that happens when people come together as a team for the common good of student engagement and success.