{"id":5413,"date":"2025-10-09T14:38:53","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T20:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/?p=5413"},"modified":"2025-10-09T14:39:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T20:39:28","slug":"ssc-employees-recognized-at-statewide-conference-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/ssc-employees-recognized-at-statewide-conference-7\/","title":{"rendered":"SSC Employees Recognized at Statewide Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Three Seminole State College employees were honored at the 58th annual Oklahoma Association of Community Colleges\u2019 conference on Oct. 3 at Oklahoma City Community College\u2019s Visual and Performing Arts Center. During the event, Assistant Professor and Accreditation Coordinator Dr. Deanna Miles was named SSC Faculty Member of the Year; Alecia Bailey, NASNTI Computer Science Specialist, was named Professional Staff Member of the Year; and Alisha Riojas, Bookstore Clerk, was named Support Staff Member of the Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\"SSC
SSC President Lana Reynolds congratulates OACC honorees\u2014Professional Staff Member of the Year Alecia Bailey, Faculty Member of the Year Dr. Deanna Miles and Support Staff Member of the Year Alisha Riojas\u2014for their achievements at the Oklahoma Association of Community Colleges\u2019 annual conference on Oct. 3 at Oklahoma City Community College\u2019s Visual and Performing Arts Center.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Deanna Miles teaches Human Anatomy and Human Physiology with lab and coordinates efforts across campus to ensure SSC\u2019s continued accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission. She holds a medical doctorate from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, a master\u2019s degree in healthcare administration from Grand Canyon University and a bachelor\u2019s degree in science from Baylor University. She serves as chair of the Higher Learning Commission Accreditation Committee, mentors biology degree students, sits on the Faculty Senate, and is a member of the Distance Education and Assessment committees. She also sponsors the P.R.I.D.E. student group and volunteers with SISU Youth Homeless Shelter. She served as Faculty Senate President in the 2024-2025 academic year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alecia Bailey leads several emerging technology initiatives at SSC. She oversees construction of the College\u2019s Esports Lab, created syllabi for four esports courses, aided in hiring an esports adjunct and formed both the Esports Club and competitive team. Bailey also leads a Native Language Revitalization project using a NAO robot to translate English into Sauk and Potawatomi. She earned a Master of Science in information technology (information security) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Bachelor of Science in computer science from the University of Technology, Jamaica. She co-authored a 2024 paper titled \u201cCholera Outbreak Analysis in Sub-Saharan Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"SSC
SSC employees attended the statewide conference, which featured presentations from SSC administrators and staff alongside the recognition of this year\u2019s honorees. Pictured (left to right, beginning with the front row): Melanie Rinehart, Jessica Isaacs, Tina Morris, Brooks Nickell, Tisha Simon, Kim Pringle, Alisha Riojas, Sheila Morris, Lana Reynolds, Marlene Webster, Kelli McBride, Kimberly Root, Melinda Sims, Alecia Bailey, Toni Wittman, Mechell Downey, Lynette Atchley, Alicia Ryan, Andrea Dearth, Twila Kappele, Josh Hutton and Talina Lee.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Alisha Riojas supports student success at the campus bookstore, where she staffs the register, helps students find course materials and assists with collegewide supply orders. She is pursuing an Associate of Psychology degree at SSC and anticipates graduating in spring 2026. Riojas serves as treasurer of SSC Classified Staff and is involved with the Oklahoma Arts Council. Her accomplishments include being named OACC Support Service SSC Employee of the Year (2025), publishing a children\u2019s book\u2014Animal ABC\u2019s<\/em>\u2014under the pen name Alisha Weston, teaching art classes at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art and exhibiting at Tulsa Community College\u2019s 2022 Mental Health Art Show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the honorees, several SSC employees presented at the conference. Vice President of Finance, Grants and Enrollment Melanie Rinehart and Registrar Sheila Morris presented \u201cUndetected Bias: We All Have It.\u201d Director of Communications Josh Hutton led a session on launching testimonial marketing campaigns. Director of Board Relations and Administrative Operations Mechell Downey spoke on a panel with administrative assistants to college presidents titled \u201cElevating Support: AI, Strategy, and Professionalism for Higher Ed Assistants.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three Seminole State College employees were honored at the 58th annual Oklahoma Association of Community Colleges\u2019 conference on Oct. 3 at Oklahoma City Community College\u2019s Visual and Performing Arts Center. During the event, Assistant Professor and Accreditation Coordinator Dr. Deanna Miles was named SSC Faculty Member of the Year; Alecia Bailey, NASNTI Computer Science Specialist, … Continue reading SSC Employees Recognized at Statewide Conference<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,87],"tags":[169,170,167,168,69,163],"class_list":["post-5413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-http-www-sscok-edu-media-faculty-staff","category-news","tag-alecia-bailey","tag-alisha-riojas","tag-community-college","tag-deanna-miles","tag-oacc","tag-october-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5413"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5416,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5413\/revisions\/5416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}