RSS
|
Mobile
|
Daily Emails
|
We Twitter
| Make us your home page
Blinn College Chancellor Donald E. Voelter will retire in December after working with the college for 38 years.
Voelter, who announced his retirement Monday, was named chancellor in June 2008, said Blinn spokesman Jeff Tilley. He began work at Blinn in 1971 as a business instructor, then in 1974 became director of the occupational education division, which is now called technical education. Three years later, he was named business manager for the college, and in 1983, he was appointed executive vice president of fiscal affairs, a position he held until being named president in September 1994. He was president for 14 years before becoming chancellor.
Voelter said he and his wife moved to Brenham with the intention of it being a five-year stay.
"Karen and I moved to Brenham in 1971 planning to stay for five years until I finished my doctoral degree and we would move on to greener pastures. We never found any greener pastures," Voelter said.
Voelter, originally from Marlin, received a bachelor's in business administration in 1967 and a master's in business administration in 1971 from Sam Houston State University. He completed his doctorate in education administration and management at Texas A&M University in 1985.
Under Voelter's leadership, Blinn College grew from 9,017 students in 1994 to 15,607 students in 2008, Tilley said. He oversaw the building of Blinn's new Bryan campus in 1997, and the establishment of the Schulenburg campus in 1996 and the Sealy campus in 2005.
Construction projects included the W.W. O'Donnell Performing Arts Center and student apartments on the Brenham campus, six buildings and the purchase of the Schulman Theater and strip center on the Bryan campus, and a new classroom building in Schulenburg. Also during his time as president, Blinn added the alternative teacher certification program and three technical education programs: emergency medical technician (1995), dental hygiene (1997) and physical therapy assistant (1998). Blinn also added two new women's sports, volleyball and softball, both in 1995.
"My career at Blinn College has been very rewarding," Voelter said. "I've worked with some great people who helped the college grow in number of students, number of programs and quality of education. I take great pride in the success of our students and knowing that Blinn is the proven choice in two-year colleges in Texas."
Voelter also has served as the president of the Blinn College Foundation which was established in 1993, and reactivated in 2000 with a new name and a broader scope to heighten community awareness of the college's mission and accomplishments.
An active member of the community, he has been a director of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce and served as its president in 1989, Tilley said. He is also a former Blue Blazer, a unit of the chamber that serves as its public relations arm. Voelter has served on the board of directors of Trinity Medical Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Washington County, the Brenham Country Club, the Brenham Children's Chorus and the St. Joseph Services Corporation Board of Trustees. He has been the president and vice president of the Brenham Evening Lions Club, a Boy Scout troop treasurer and troop committee chairman, a member of the Brenham Rotary Club and Brazos Valley Community Action Committee.
On the state level, he has served as president and treasurer of the Texas Association of Public Junior College Business Officers and on the Higher Education Insurance Program Advisory Committee. He served three years as a member of the Board of Regents at Concordia Lutheran College in Austin and six years on the Board of directors for the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities.
Voelter is a member and past regional representative of the Texas Association of Community Colleges. Also, he served as a Sam Houston State University Alumni Board member for five years.
He served two years in the U.S. Army, including one year in South Korea as a general's aide.
Voelter has been honored with awards from Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, the Marlin Chamber of Commerce, the Blinn College Ex-Students Association, Rotary International, the Buccaneer Alumni Lettermen Association and the Blinn College Board of Trustees.
He and his family are members of Grace Lutheran Church, where he has been a Sunday school teacher, chairman and secretary of the voters' assembly, treasurer, on the board of evangelism, the board of elders and the building committee, and a delegate to district and synodical conventions. He is currently serving a second term as an elder.
He and his wife have two sons and three grandchildren.
