Photo by Felicia Jackson
Donates Entire Year’s Salary of $150K to ‘Students with Honors’ Scholarships
By Bronson Peshlakai
Metro Campus Editor-in-Chief
It was a short ride into the sunset as a retiree for Tri-C’s longest serving president.
Seventy-nine days after leaving her post of 21 years as Tri-C District president, the college announced Jerry Sue Thornton will “formally re-engage with the college” for the next year in a special advisory role that reports to the vice president of development.
“It’s an opportunity to have some continuity of her experience as president, in terms of maintaining connections in the community, as well as working to identify some additional opportunities for relationships and those who might be giving to the college as well,” said David Hoovler, chief of staff to Tri-C President Alex Johnson.
The move brings back Thornton to Tri-C as a paid administrative employee earning $150,000 for the length of about one year, Hoovler said. Thornton’s office will be based out of the Corporate College East in Highland Hills.
One of Thornton’s legacies at Tri-C is her innate ability to schmooze with local civic and business leaders to enlist their help in garnering financial support for student scholarships.
“For this year, she will advise the college on external relationsjhips that have been cultivated and identify potential donors that have not been approached in the past,” a release said. “In addition, she will assist in the ongoing transition of strategic college initiatives.”
The announcement came on the same day the former Institutional Advancement building is to be formally named the Jerry Sue Thornton Building.
More on this story in The Voice’s next issue on stands Sept. 30.
