College Notes

Pellissippi State enrollment breaks record again

For the third fall semester in a row, Pellissippi State Technical Community College’s enrollment numbers have hit a record high. Enrollment for the current semester is 8,742 students, an increase of 1.5 percent over fall 2007.

In fall 2006, the number of students signing up for classes increased 6.5 percent from fall 2005, to 8,188. Fall 2007 saw a 5.1 percent increase, to 8,608 students.

“We are pleased that Pellissippi State continues to be an excellent educational value to our students,” said President Allen Edwards.

Pellissippi State Foundation announces new board of trustees

The Pellissippi State Foundation has chosen its board of trustees for the 2008-2009 school year.

The Foundation secures financial support for educational and cultural activities that are above and beyond the ongoing operational expenses of Pellissippi State Technical Community College.

Joining the board this year:

Joy Bishop, owner, Bishop Property Management

David A. Clothier, controller/treasurer, Pilot Travel Centers LLC

Andrew Lorenz, vice president, Messer Construction Company

Travis Spiva, area marketing director, Chick-fil-A

New members of the Executive Committee:

Chair, Board of Trustees: Deborah Stevens, attorney, Lewis, King, Krieg & Waldrop, P.C.

Vice chair, Board of Trustees: Rebecca (Becky) Paylor, president, Magellan Mortgage Group and B. Paylor & Associates, LLC

Secretary: Gracie Bishop, senior vice president and director, Human Resources, Home Federal Bank

Treasurer: Charles W. (Wes) Carruthers Jr., vice president, Downey Oil Company/KenJo Markets

Parliamentarian: Richard M. (Dick) McGill, chief estimator, Joseph Construction Company, Inc.

Chair, Finance Committee: Jerome Moon, community leader

Chair, Nominating Committee: Melissa Copelan, community leader

Chair, Projects Committee: Marsha S. Hollingsworth, community leader

President of the college: Allen G. Edwards, president, Pellissippi State

Members returning to the board:

Elizabeth Bonilla, account representative, B.P. Broadcasters

Patrick Carroll, president, Freightliner of Knoxville

Jeffrey L. Cornish, president and CEO, Performance Transportation Services

Jennifer Goforth, vice president, Online Production, Scripps Networks

Charles Griffin, president, BarberMcMurry architects

Jonathan Hayes, investment associate, UBS Financial Service

Bill Jenkins, community leader

Joseph L. Johnson, owner, A&W Office Supply

Wallace Bryan McClure, president, Scalable Development, Inc.

Peggy McCord, community leader

Todd Moody, attorney, Hagood, Tarpy & Cox, PLLC

Rick Rushing, senior vice president and manager, Commercial Banking Department, First Tennessee Bank

Jeanne Evelyn Sandlin, director, Advertising and Creative Services, The Daily Times

LaTanya Terrell, branch manager, ORNL Federal Credit Union

Michael David Treadway, vice president, Operations, Community Tectonics Architects

Luis Velazquez, executive director, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of East Tennessee

Harley (Andy) White, office sales and leasing, NAI Knoxville

For more information on the Pellissippi State Foundation, visit www.pstcc.edu/foundation or call 865- 694-6528. To learn more about Pellissippi State Technical Community College, visit www.pstcc.edu or call 865-694-6400.

Pellissippi State students help advertise Salon Biyoshi

You don’t have to possess a beautician’s license to make a hair salon advertising campaign a success. It’s probably safe to say, in fact, that most of the students in Lisa Bogaty’s advertising class at Pellissippi State Technical Community College are not hair stylists.

The students nonetheless know that the key to a successful business—whether it’s a salon, a shoe store or a sandwich shop—is getting more customers through the door. And they’re spending the entire fall semester accumulating real-life experience in promoting the year-old business Salon Biyoshi on Kingston Pike.

The students might as well have their own “Apprentice” show: this month, two teams will go head to head in a competition to be judged by local media experts from TV, radio and newspaper. Teams “Voilà” and “Sun and Moon” will present their advertising strategies, and only one plan will be chosen.

One recent Monday, Bogaty and her students gathered at Salon Biyoshi, a high-end salon whose name means “beautiful” in Japanese.

About 15 students crowded into the seating area to report on the progress of their proposed ad campaign to owners David and Nancy Watkins and son and daughter-in-law Brandon and Mary Harris. The students have been assigned real-life duties as account executives, account managers, creative artists, media planners and writers.

“We’re getting experience for later on in our lives,” said Zane Mathews, an advertising student and account executive for his team.

“I think it’s a great way to learn—by working on a real campaign,” said classmate Joy Riddle. “It’s surprising how much research you have to do.”

The college-salon partnership started one day when Bogaty, an associate professor in the Business Administration program, was having her hair done by Mary Harris. The two women realized as they talked that the new salon could give Pellissippi State students the advertising experience they needed and that the salon would benefit from students’ innovative ideas.

So Bogaty’s advertising classes are now two teams. Students have done market research on the target audience: women from 21 to 70 who have a household income of at least $75,000. They’ve also used a psychographic survey to identify potential customers. Based on their findings, the teams will decide what kind of advertising will attract women in a five-mile radius of the business.

Already, student suggestions have influenced the salon, whose modern Japanese décor is done in deep red, black and yellow. The motto “Be chic. Be Biyoshi” has changed to “Be calm. Be beautiful. Biyoshi.”

“One of the things Brandon and Mary [the stylists] said when we started this,” said David Watkins, “is that they wanted to be in the position to help other people in the business. If we’re playing a role in the career development of these students, that’s unreal.”