Lott, Hale honored at retirement reception
by Hannah Little and Amber Blair, Northwest journalism majors
5/7/2008

After many years of dedication and service to Northwest Mississippi Community College, two academic division directors will be retiring this year. Vicki Hale, director of the Division of Nursing, and Russell Lott, director of the Division of Academic Business, were honored with a joint retirement celebration May 7 in the Art Gallery on the Senatobia campus.

Hale has been a faculty member at Northwest for 27 years. She is a Northwest alumna and received a master’s degree from Mississippi University for Women. She served on the State Board of Health for eight years and worked in a hospital for one year before coming to Northwest.

Hale was the first nursing instructor hired at Northwest and served as Director of the Division of Nursing longer than anyone else.

“I have so many memories of the last 27 years. Having been the first instructor when the program was new, I’ve seen a lot of changes,” said Hale. “We’ve moved from the basement of the Art Building to the Tunica Building.”

These changes include an increase in faculty and a new state-of-the-art nursing building that is to be finished in two to three years. According to Hale, she has seen the program go from 30 nursing students to well over 200. “We’ve gone from four faculty members to 16 full-time.

“The National League for Nursing, our accrediting agency, will be here in 2010, so preparations need to begin for that this fall. The new building is in the hands of the architect and at a good point for me to turn it over to someone else,” said Hale.

Her supervisor, Academic Dean Marilyn Bateman, credits Hale with excellent supervision of her program. “She is one of the finest leaders the college has ever had,” said Dr. Bateman. “She has taken the nursing program and built it into one of the premier programs in the South.”

Hale is a gifted musician and is the organist at Coldwater Baptist Church. She enjoys reading and is looking forward to a summer of downtime. Dr. Bateman said that she has developed a wonderful friendship with Hale over the years and has a tremendous amount of respect for her as a person and as a leader.

She is married to Danny Hale, who is also a Northwest alumnus. They have two sons, Matt and Brian, who are also graduates of Northwest. Matt is a highway patrolman, and Brian is working on his master’s degree in Emergency Management. Hale also has two grandchildren.

“The nursing faculty and staff are like my sisters,” said Hale. “That is the greatest source of my apprehension about leaving; when I start to list my friends, my Northwest friends are the first.”

Lott will also be retiring after 32 years at Northwest. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration from Delta State University. He also has 18 graduate hours in Law from The University of Mississippi. Lott teaches Business Law, Business Statistics and one online course at Northwest. He is also the Blackboard system administrator. He is on the Library committee, Technical committee, QEP, and the College-wide Planning Council.

Lott has taken advantage of new technology to improve his teaching skills. “Our division faculty were some of the first to adopt these new technologies in our offices and classrooms. The most significant change in the way we teach has been the integration of computer technologies in the classroom,” he said.

“He is one of the most moral men I’ve ever known. He always looks for the good in people and never has a bad thing to say about anyone,” said Dean Bateman.

Among the accomplishments in his Northwest career, Lott says it has been rewarding for him to be in on the hiring procedure for new faculty within the division. “Over the past five or six years, we’ve seen five faculty members retire and we lost another to an unexpected death. I’m proud to say that our newest instructors have added an exciting new dynamic to the division.

Their youth and enthusiasm, their fresh new ideas, their commitment to education, has given me the confidence that I need to know that the fine tradition of the division will continue when I’m gone.”

Lott is married to Jena Lott, and they have two daughters, Laura Beth and Leigh Ann, and three grandsons. He is a deacon of the First Baptist Church of Senatobia. Lott has received many titles, but his proudest title is “papa.” He will be moving south to Hattiesburg to be closer to his grandsons.

“Northwest has been so much more than my employer all these years. Being on the Northwest faculty has been truly enriching—professionally, culturally and personally. And as much as I’m looking forward to retirement and the next chapter in my life, I’m also going to miss Northwest and being involved in the next chapter of the Business Division,” said Lott.

It was only proper that the two directors share the retirement reception. “We’ve shared a building and now we’re sharing our retirement,” said Hale. The two had offices in the Tunica Building on the Senatobia campus.

To honor Hale’s retirement, she was presented with three original pieces of artwork by Northwest art instructor Eunika Rogers. The art will hang in the conference room of the new nursing building to honor Hale’s career at the college.

Lott’s surprise was a custom-made iron bench to be placed in his honor at the Northwest walking trail where he has spent many afternoons walking with Dr. Bateman and other staff and faculty.

Hale says she will remain in Tate County after her retirement, while Lott and his family will relocate to Hattiesburg.

Nancy Patterson contributed to this article.