By China Cassidy During the Sept. 15, Navajo County Community College Governing Board Meeting, NPC Friends and Family Director Betsyann Wilson announced that a scholarship has been established to honor Jennifer Lee Witt who was an English Professor at NPC but passed in early August. Wilson stated, “I’m really delighted to be able to offer this to our students because I think that it’s something that she very much would have been pleased with.” According to Wilson, Witt’s parents donated funds for the purpose of establishing a scholarship in their daughter’s name. Nearly two months ago, Witt’s parents Janice and Daniel Witt spoke with Wilson about creating a scholarship for students in memoriam of their daughter. Wilson explained that an endowment would ensure that the scholarship would continue to benefit students in Witt’s honor. “An endowment is a large amount of money invested as principal, and then scholarships are rewarded from the returns on the investments, so that its truly a memorial and perpetuity in the fund that principal is never undated so the fund continues to grow and continues to honor the memory of that person for whom it was established.” Former student and colleague Early College Advisor Ryan Ore spoke in memory of Witt and why a scholarship in her name is the perfect way to honor her. Ore described Witt as, “genuinely the kind of person who really had a big heart and she cared a lot about her students. As well as being a very dynamic interesting person.” According to Wilson, once established, the endowment will provide three, $1,000 scholarships each semester. The scholarship will fall in line with others offered at the college such as the Martia Smith Memorial Scholarship and the Pres Winslow Scholarship. Witt’s husband Ryan Rademacher was also present and thanked everyone for their efforts in honoring Witt’s memory. Wilson also announced that the window to apply for scholarships for the spring semester will be open at the end of September. Students will receive emails and/or text to notify them when applications open. In other business, the board: * Approved the fiscal year 21-22 budget development calendar presented by Vice President Maderia Ellison. * Approved a contract for payroll services and human resource management to Payday for the annual amount of $69,122 in addition to the application tracking system, Hire. Adding Hire would bring the total to $77,043. * Approved a contract with Cisco Smartnet for support and maintenance services for the amount of $179,863 for fiscal year 2020-21. * Approved a five-year FLEX EA licensing with Cisco for $163,948. This will allow for support, replacements, and upgrades to equipment and software applications. * Approved a time change for the governing board meetings to 9 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. until in-person meetings resume, at which time the meeting time will return to 10 a.m.
