LAPLACE — Monica Morrison, the new River Parishes Community College Reserve Campus Director, looks forward to fostering industry employability readiness within students while breaking barriers to continuing education.

Morrison is taking the place of departing Reserve Campus Director Penelope Shumaker, who will oversee a new St. Charles Parish RPCC campus expected to open in 2020.
United Way is working on narrowing down a site for the new campus, and Shumaker is hopeful the final decision will be made within 30 days.

In the meantime, there are a number of ongoing renovations at the Reserve campus coinciding with the August 21 start to the Fall semester. According to Morrison and Shumaker, the renovations will include replacement of electrical and AC systems in the two older buildings, a complete revamp of the welding shop and minor roofing and landscaping improvements.

“The idea is to get the older building up to (the standard of) the new building,” Shumaker said. “The architects and engineers are working on it now.”

Between renovations and a continued effort to provide workforce opportunity to students, Morrison said the community can expect a lot of great news from the Reserve campus.

Her responsibilities will include providing support to faculty, staff, students and the community; offering a balance of on-campus and community resources, partnering with businesses and industry and promoting continuity and clarity of the RPCC brand.

Morrison has worked in education on the post-secondary college level since 2007. A Navy vet or seven years and a married mother of four, she did not initially see herself as an educator.

As she dreamed of becoming a corporate level trainer, her grandmother, a librarian and schoolteacher, urged her to take classes in education. Morrison was adamant a teaching role was not in her future.

That all changed when she got her master’s in psychology and started working as a secretary for a community college when she was in her 30s.

Morrison quickly fell in love with the atmosphere and felt each of the students’ successes when they would come to her with improved final grades and graduation photos. She felt a calling to help students emerge from their comfort zones and expand what they believe themselves capable of achieving.

“My goal is to help students recognize the financial, educational and personal value of looking locally for big opportunities that ready them to be competitive on a world stage,” Morrison said. “A lot of times, students are not ready to go to larger universities. Community colleges provide a smooth transition to get them acclimated with study skills and the confidence to be self motivated and accountable for things that can make or break their success when pursuing industry credentials, work readiness or furthering themselves in the academic process.”

Morrison is no stranger to providing student-focused services that lessen barriers, drive degree and skill attainment and foster employability readiness.

She’s worked with T.R.I.O., a federally funded program to help first generation low-income students succeed in a college setting. While she is an Arkansas native, her most recent position was at a Mississippi community college with a socioeconomic breakdown similar to St. John Parish.

“I’m a very student-focused leader,” Morrison said. “I take great pride in helping them stay motivated about completion and seeing their personal academic growth in action. I’ve been welcomed here and really feel like it will be a great second home.”

Located at 181 Regala Park Road, the RPCC Reserve Campus offers a variety of programs in teaching, drafting and design, process technology, welding, business office administration and more. For more information, please visit rpcc.edu.