Southwest Tennessee Community College’s Shayla Kolheim Selected for Maxine Smith Fellows Leadership Program

Memphis, TN, June 12, 2021 --(PR.com)-- The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) has selected Shayla Kolheim, director of Grants Development and Management at Southwest Tennessee Community College, to participate in the Class of 2021-22 Maxine Smith Fellows Program.

“Ms. Kolheim is truly deserving of this opportunity. She is an outstanding member of our external relations team and we see great things on the horizon for her,” President Tracy D. Hall said.

TBR established the program in 2003 to provide professional development, training and advancement opportunities for participants from traditionally underrepresented groups at Tennessee’s locally governed public universities and the community and technical colleges governed by the Regents. The program is named after a prominent Memphis educator and civil rights leader who was head of the NAACP Memphis Branch for 33 years and a former member of the Memphis school board and TBR.

This year’s class is the program’s 15th cohort. Only individuals nominated by the president of a TBR institution are considered for acceptance. “Maxine Smith Fellows alumni have advanced to senior leadership positions, including seven Fellows who have gone on to serve as presidents at colleges and universities in Tennessee and in other states. Many of them have said that the Maxine Smith Fellows experience contributed to their success,” said Dr. Wendy J. Thompson, the program’s administrator and TBR vice chancellor for organizational effectiveness.

Kolheim joined the college in 2019 to serve as the Director of Grants Development and Management. In her short time as director, she has procured multimillion-dollar funding for the college and served on committees instrumental to redefining the student and employee experience.

“It is an honor to be selected as a Maxine Smith Fellow,” Kolheim said. “The Fellows program will provide me the opportunity to broaden the scope of my work in generating resources for our students and in combatting generational poverty in West Tennessee and the Delta region."

Kolheim joins 20 faculty and staff members from colleges and universities across Tennessee for this year’s Fellows program.

Members of the Maxine Smith Fellows Class of 2021-22 are:
- Antija Allen, Pellissippi State Community College
- Charria Campbell, Tennessee Tech University
- Sean Chism, Tennessee Board of Regents system office
- Richard Garvin, Jr., Nashville State Community College
- Daniel Green, Middle Tennessee State University
- Quincy Jenkins, Chattanooga State Community College
- Kiana Johnson, East Tennessee State University
- Brelinda Johnson, Middle Tennessee State University
- Shayla Kolheim, Southwest Tennessee Community College
- Deidre’ Kyle, Walters State Community College
- Erica Lee, Motlow State Community College
- Tongai Maodzwa, Northeast State Community College
- Adrian Montague, Jackson State Community College
- Arlene Nicholas-Phillips, Tennessee State University
- Barbara Scales, Motlow State Community College
- Cheryl Seay, Tennessee State University
- Tanya Shephard, Roane State Community College
- Eric Stokes, University of Memphis
- Sharron Taylor Burnett, Dyersburg State Community College
- LaNeeca Williams, Austin Peay State University
- Johnny Wyatt, Columbia State Community College