RAYMOND – The Rankin County Board of Supervisors has honored the contributions of retired Ϲ Vice President Dr. Sue Powell, who worked at Hinds for 20 years. She now lives in Tupelo.
Powell retired on June 30 as vice president for the Rankin and Jackson Campus-Academic/Technical Center and director of Occupational Programs for the district, positions she held for 12 years. She was commended by the county board July 16 for steering expansions and advancement of the college over her tenure at Hinds.
“Special recognition and commendation is due Dr. Sue Powell on the occasion of her retirement, recognizing her many outstanding professional accomplishments as well as her commitment to educational excellence in Rankin County,” read part of a resolution supervisors passed at their July 15 meeting. “We express sincere appreciation to Dr. Powell for a life of faithful and sacrificial service to the students of our community.”
Powell was a charter member of the Rankin Campus when it opened as a secondary career center in 1983 and spent six years as an instructor and marketing education coordinator. She returned to Hinds in 2001 and, under her leadership, career-tech and nursing programs expanded at the Rankin Campus as well as its physical footprint, with the construction of the Career Technical Building off Mississippi 18.
Rankin supervisors also lauded Powell for overseeing the construction of the 75,000 square-foot Muse Center on the Rankin Campus, completed in March 2011.