Penn State honors alumnus Dr. Melissa Frank-Alston for leadership and service
Dr. Melissa Frank-Alston, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs/Institutional Effectiveness & Research at Augusta Technical College has been awarded the prestigious Leadership and Service Award.
Penn State honors alumnus Dr. Melissa Frank-Alston for leadership and service
November 5, 2018 – Seven College of Education graduates were recognized for their professional accomplishments, leadership and service during the annual College of Education Alumni Society Awards banquet held last month at the Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Melissa Frank-Alston, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs/Institutional Effectiveness & Research at Augusta Technical College has been awarded the prestigious Leadership and Service Award. The award recognizes alumni who have distinguished themselves in their chosen professions, in or out of the field of education. Selection is made on the basis of leadership and service within a career, a community or to society in general.
“I am truly honored and humbled to be selected as this year’s recipient for the Leadership & Service Award. I am extremely grateful for the professional preparation I received from the Workforce Education & Development Program, which I utilize daily in fulfilling the mission of workforce development in the Technical College System of Georgia, specifically at Augusta Technical College”, Frank-Alston said.
Dr. Frank-Alston has worked in higher education for over twenty-five years at institutions ranging from small to large, public to private/sectarian, liberal arts to technical, and medical to research. She has been with Augusta Technical College since 2005 and has served in many capacities including Vice President for Student Affairs and Vice President for Academic & Student Affairs.
She currently serves as the college’s accreditation liaison to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), core team leader for the college’s Achieving the Dream initiative, the college’s grant writer and grants manager, and the faculty/staff representative on the Augusta Technical College Foundation.
Since 2010, Dr. Frank-Alston has collaborated with faculty, staff, administrators, and local business and industry partners to secure over $7.8 million to support student success efforts at Augusta Technical College.
She is a 2017-2018 graduate of the Aspen Presidential Fellowship for Community College Excellence which engages a select group of community college leaders in an intensive, applied leadership executive program focused on student success and delivered in collaboration with Stanford Educational Leadership Initiative.
Dr. Frank-Alston is a 2007 graduate of Leadership Augusta and a 2014 graduate of the Technical College System of Georgia Executive Leadership Academy. During her employment at Pennsylvania State University, she was featured in “Town & Gown” magazine for the “Fifteen for the Future” selection showcasing Penn Staters “on the move.”
Dr. Frank-Alston and her husband, Dr. Sparticus Alston (also a Penn State Workforce Education & Development doctoral graduate), have two daughters, Cosette, age 17 and Colette, age 13.
Additional honorees include Samuel B. Slike, Director of Special Education online programs at St. Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania; Thomas J. Gentzel, Executive Director/CEO of the National School Boards Association in Alexandria, VA; Elizabeth A. Burkhart, a Physical Education Teacher at Wilson High School in West Lawn, PA; Mikayla Masley, a Sixth-grade Math Teacher at West Pine Middle School in West End, NC; Nicole Luchansky, a Math Teacher at Aquinas Academy in Pittsburgh, PA; and Tracey Tardif, a Kindergarten Teacher at Louise Archer Elementary School in Vienna, VA.
The Penn State College of Education article can be viewed at http://ed.psu.edu/news/2018-10-12-news/2018-asb-awards.
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About Augusta Technical College
Augusta Technical College, a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia, is a public postsecondary institution that provides academic and technical education, customized business and industry training, continuing education, student support, economic development, and adult education services to its service area (Burke, Columbia, Lincoln, McDuffie, and Richmond Counties) at a competitive financial value. Associate of Science Degrees, Associate of Applied Science Degrees, diplomas, and technical certificates of credit are provided through traditional and distance delivery methods. For more information, visit wuwr.ngskmc-eis.net . For more information, contact Kimberly Holden Director of Community Engagement & Public Affairs, Augusta Technical College 706.771.4819.
About the Technical College System of Georgia
The 22 colleges of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) are Georgia’s top resource for skilled workers. TCSG offers world-class training in more than 600 associate degree, diploma and certificate programs to students who are trained on state-of-the-art equipment by instructors who are experts in their fields. The system also houses Georgia’s Office of Adult Education, which promotes and provides adult literacy and education programs, including the GED® testing program, throughout the state. In addition, TCSG partners with companies through Quick Start, the nation’s top customized workforce training program, and through its individual colleges, who work with local industry to provide workforce and training solutions. For more information, visit www.TCSG.edu.