44th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2000

RECOGNIZING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF DR. JAMES C. HENDERSON, PRESIDENT OF SAN JUAN COLLEGE.

WHEREAS, James C. Henderson earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from northern Arizona university and earned his education specialist degree and doctorate in education from the university of Arizona; and

WHEREAS, he arrived at the San Juan branch of New Mexico state university in 1975 when its annual enrollment was just over seven hundred students; and

WHEREAS, he was a driving force in that institution's effort to become an independent community college and became San Juan college's first president in 1982 and has served continuously as the college's director and president for nearly twenty-five years; and

WHEREAS, under his guidance San Juan college has grown to a credit enrollment of more than six thousand students per year and now serves over fifteen thousand students annually through its various credit and noncredit divisions; and

WHEREAS, under his leadership the college has broadened its offerings to include programs for children, senior citizens, local business and industry and area economic development; and

WHEREAS, he has placed great emphasis on linkages with local public schools, assisting the regional business community, responding to community service needs and serving the area's diverse population; and

WHEREAS, his leadership has resulted in the inception of many noteworthy and valuable community efforts, including leadership San Juan, the family resource center, the academy for lifelong learning, the possible dream scholarship program, the San Juan college volunteer center, the San Juan county area vocational school, the San Juan college instructional computing resource center and San Juan county's quality center for business; and

WHEREAS, he is a member and past president of the board of directors of leadership San Juan; he serves on the New Mexico public education strategic planning team; he is a former president of the mountain states community college association and the New Mexico association of community colleges; he is a past president of the Farmington chamber of commerce and the four corners better business bureau; he is a New Mexico amigos goodwill ambassador; and he serves on numerous other organizational boards; and

WHEREAS, he was named Farmington's 1983-84 citizen of the year and was inducted into the Farmington chamber of commerce's historymakers hall of fame in 1999; and

WHEREAS, he has been recognized as one of fifty outstanding two-year college presidents in the nation, and he has received the pacesetter award from the national council for marketing and public relations in 1995, the Shirley B. Gordon award of distinction from the phi theta kappa honorary society for community colleges and the 1990 New Mexico distinguished public service award as the state's outstanding educator; and

WHEREAS, under his leadership San Juan college has received the quality New Mexico roadrunner award and has become one of the most outstanding two-year colleges in the nation;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that James C. Henderson be recognized and honored for his contributions to education in San Juan county, New Mexico and the nation; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that congratulations be extended to James C. Henderson for his dedication to the state of New Mexico.