Her Stories Panel
Dr. Betty Reynard
President
Lamar State College - Port Arthur
Dr. Betty Reynard is the president of Lamar State College-Port Arthur. As president she is responsible for providing overall leadership to the college. The major areas of responsibility include academic programs, athletics, finance, library services, student services, physical plant, and workforce training.
Since arriving at Lamar State College-Port Arthur, Dr. Reynard has continued to build upon the academic programs while establishing a focus on technical education and workforce training. Future plans include construction projects on campus, improved communication plans, and a continued emphasis of technical programs and workforce education.
Reynard has over thirty years of experience in higher education. She began her career in 1979 as a faculty member at Lamar University and moved to Lamar Institute of Technology as a program director and assistant to the vice president for academic affairs. In 2007, she became LIT’s Vice President for Academic Affairs.
As a chief academic officer, Dr. Reynard has overseen LIT’s academic and technical program planning and review, curriculum development, academic standards, technical standards, workforce training programs and policies. She led LIT’s efforts to develop a Quality Enhancement Plan (PASS Program) and new academic programs. She is a member of several professional organizations and was appointed to the Board of Trustees for the American Technical Education Association.
Dr. Reynard earned an associate of applied science degree in dental hygiene, a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and a master’s degree in educational administration from Lamar University. She earned her doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Houston.
She has received numerous honors and awards including several Teaching Excellence Awards, Distinguished Alumni Award, an Award from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, the Ben and Julie Rogers Community Service Award, a Faculty Merit award from Lamar University and was recognized as the First Year Student Advocate from the National Resource Center for the First Year Experience & Students in Transition.
Dr. Brenda Nichols
Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
Lamar University
Dr. Brenda Nichols is Dean of Arts & Sciences at Lamar University. In her role as Dean, Dr. Nichols guides the work of more than 200 full-time faculty in 12 academic departments, interdisciplinary majors, AFROTC, dual credit programs, study abroad and partnership programs at the undergraduate and Master’s level. She oversees 48 budgets in excess of $40M for approximately 5500 majors. Dr. Nichols has previously served as Chair, School of Nursing at Old Dominion University and as Founding Dean, College of Health Sciences at Southern Cross University in Australia. She graduated from the University of Evansville and earned a doctoral degree from Indiana University in 1983. Dr. Nichols was recognized as the “Most Inspiring Faculty Member” by the Outstanding Graduate for the College of Health Sciences at Old Dominion in 1992. She has served as a consultant to a number of educational institutions and hospitals. Her community activities have included work on breast cancer, civic and hospital boards.
Dr. Cathy Kemper-Pelle
Vice President of Learning
Lee College
Dr. Cathy Kemper–Pelle currently serves as Vice President of Learning at Lee College in Baytown, Texas. She has over fifteen years of successful community college administrative leadership experience and thirty-five years of higher education teaching experience. She has taught in the Leadership and Supervision Program at University of Houston and currently serves as doctoral student coordinator for the Lone Star cohort of the Roueche Graduate Center, National American University. Dr. Kemper-Pelle has held progressively challenging executive positions in community college leadership, addressing a wide variety of challenges, including student access, student success, equity, accountability, institutional effectiveness, accreditation, performance funding, budget constraints, technology advances, and constant change. She has extensive experience in integrated strategic planning and leveraging of financial and human capital to build synergy through collaborative alignment. She has engaged local communities in the identification of educational needs and built award-winning college partnerships with local school districts, businesses, and industry. Dr. Kemper is a product of community colleges and the University of Texas at Austin Community College Leadership Program with a deep commitment to the vision of reclaiming the American dream through improved student success.
Dr. Nancy Stretcher
Director of Institutional Effectiveness
Lamar State College - Port Arthur
Nancy Stretcher graduated from Many High School in Many, Louisiana, in 1975. She attended Lamar University and received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Office Administration in 1981. She began her career as a legal secretary and continued such until 1992. In 1993, she began the next era of her career at Lamar State College-Port Arthur (then known as Lamar University-Port Arthur) as an instructor in the Computer Information Systems program. She returned to Lamar University to pursue her Master of Business Administration and received same in 1998. In 1999, she had the additional responsibility of Program Coordinator for the CIS program. She was accepted into Cohort II in 2005 at Lamar University where she earned a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership in 2008. In 2010, she began the next phase of her career in higher education administration. She has served as Dean of Technical Programs (2012 to 2014) and currently serves as Director of Institutional Effectiveness (2010 to present).
