[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 103 (Wednesday, July 11, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4889-S4890]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                      TRIBUTE TO DR. BECKY PANEITZ

 Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, today I wish to honor Dr. Becky 
Paneitz for her dedication, leadership and vision for providing a 
quality, affordable secondary education at NorthWest Arkansas Community 
College.
  Having earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Arkansas 
at Monticello and her master's from the University of Arkansas at 
Little Rock, Dr. Paneitz understands the unique education challenges in 
Arkansas and faced that task head-on. As the President of NWACC for 
nearly a decade, she developed additional opportunities to reach 
students by establishing learning centers in the region. These efforts 
increased student enrollment exponentially. In less than 10 years the 
student population nearly doubled, making NWACC one of the largest and 
fastest growing community colleges in the country.
  To accommodate this record growth, Dr. Paneitz launched an aggressive 
building expansion project on the NWACC campus including the Shewmaker 
Center for Global Business Development, the Center for Health 
Professions and the new Student Center.
  Dr. Paneitz devoted her life to education and that took her across 
the

[[Page S4890]]

country from Pueblo Community College in Colorado to Hutchinson 
Community College in Kansas and Central Piedmont Community College in 
North Carolina. Along the way she found time to earn her doctorate in 
vocational education at Colorado State University.
  Under Dr. Paneitz's guidance the community college established itself 
as an advocate of child welfare, partnering with the National Child 
Protection Training Center as a regional partner to provide training 
and technical assistance for child protection professionals. This is a 
great effort to better serve children in Arkansas and protect the 
wellbeing of children all across the country.
  I congratulate Dr. Becky Paneitz for her outstanding contributions to 
education and for her achievements at NWACC. I wish her continued 
success in her future endeavors as she gets ready to move onto the next 
chapter in her life after she retires as the President of Northwest 
Arkansas Community College in June 2013. I am grateful for her years of 
service and leadership to Arkansas.

                          ____________________