March 2026 Central Connection
March 2, 2026
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| Recipients of the League Excellence Award are (left to right): Karl Anderson, Lynda Cohn, Angela Davidson, Amy Hill, Landon Hunt, Tanner Jenkins and Bryce Standley |
Award recognizes employees’ excellence
Seven Central Community College employees have received the 2025-26 League Excellence Award from The League for Innovation in the Community College.
The honorees were nominated by College President Dr. Matt Gotschall.
CCC’s honorees are:
Karl Anderson
Karl Anderson, Columbus Campus plastic injection molding director, has translated decades of industry experience into real-world technology examples for students. He has set up a model training program that brings industry professionals from across the U.S. to Nebraska. He has expanded into virtual and extended reality development for injection molding and reaches national audiences through podcasts and expos. He also is leading a National Science Foundation grant to provide effective learning materials for adult learners.
Lynda Cohn
Lynda Cohn, college senior application database manager, has remained innovative and a go-to person for several decades at CCC. Regular software updates, testing, troubleshooting and countless reports required for a complex and comprehensive college all have her input. She is involved in reviewing new applications prior to final recommendation for purchase and in integrating multiple platforms for secure sharing of information. She assists with training and helping peers whenever needed.
Angela Davidson
Angela Davidson, college benefits manager, has led efforts in streamlining benefit selections, notifications and management while keeping updated on regular changes from local, state and federal levels. She has specialized certifications in benefits, holds the SHRM Senior Certified designation and regularly assists other human resources members. She serves on multiple college committees where she lends her expertise in benefits, parliamentary procedure and conflict resolution.
Amy Hill
Amy Hill, Lexington Center regional director, has long been deeply involved in an increasingly diverse Lexington area. She has made connections with area schools, businesses, educational service units and community organizations to provide opportunities for individuals of all ages and backgrounds. She was involved in the expansion of the Lexington Center and dual credit offerings and the implementation of the Tyson industrial maintenance training program.
Landon Hunt
Landon Hunt, Columbus Campus welding instructor, has worked with his peers to involve welding and other trades students in projects that teach and reinforce their skills and expand opportunities at a global level. He has served as a SkillsUSA adviser and sponsor and accompanied a SkillsUSA national championship team in mechatronics. He worked with his welding co-teacher on the creation of stoves used for primitive and safe cooking in Togo, Africa, and this past summer took part in the installation of those stoves along with three CCC students and other volunteers.
Tanner Jenkins
Tanner Jenkins, Hastings Campus biological sciences, has been innovative through early adoption of flexible, simulation-based lab assignments using Labster during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been active on campus and college teams and committees, contributing to initiatives that support teaching and student success. He is now applying generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in his classes to strengthen engagement, provide timely practice and feedback, and improve student learning and retention.
Bryce Standley
Bryce Standley, Columbus Campus welding instructor, has expanded enrollment by working to recruit high school students, teach topics at high schools and ensure area welding instructors get training. He is involved in the Slama Stove project, helping students make safe and effective cooking stoves for Togo, Africa, missions. He was recently named instructor of the year for his region by the district American Welding Society for his work with area welding students and current welders through robotic, blacksmith and customized training.
Reimagined service leads to team award
Four Central Community College employees have received the 2025-26 Innovation of the Year Award from the League for Innovation in the Community College.
The “Designing the Digital Front Door for Procurement” project was the result of efforts by Jesse Barto, director of Enterprise System Services (pictured, top left); Lynda Cohn, senior application database manager (top right); Amy Kinney, application programmer and database administrator (bottom left); and Carmen Taylor, purchasing manager (bottom right).
Their initiative has reimagined how CCC delivers essential services by centralizing institutional procurement within a platform that employees already use every day.
Previously, procurement processes involved partially disconnected systems and informal workflows that varied by department and role. It required additional logins, manual tracking and deep procedural knowledge that created delays and inconsistencies.
The team addressed these challenges by embedding Ellucian Spending Management into Ellucian Experience. Rather than treating purchasing as a separate system, they reframed it as a core institutional service. This refocus required multiple platforms to function together cohesively, aligning identity management, role-based access, approval routing and user experience standards.
By centralizing procurement within Ellucian Experience, the team transformed a fragmented purchasing environment into a single, intuitive and reliable service that improves agility, accountability and operational effectiveness. In addition to an information portal, Ellucian Experience now serves as an operational hub that connects people, processes, and systems in a cohesive manner.
As a result, employees now initiate and manage procurement activities in the same environment they use for other institutional services, reducing learning curves and eliminating unnecessary context switching.
Centralizing procurement has reduced purchasing approval and processing time. Requests move through clearly defined workflows with improved visibility, reducing delays and bottlenecks. This increased efficiency allows purchasing staff to focus on higher-value oversight, exception handling and continuous process improvement rather than manual follow-up.
Equally important, the initiative strengthened accountability and procedural compliance. The unified experience reinforces clear ownership and responsibility throughout the purchasing lifecycle, enabling purchasing officers and requestors to follow established procedures from start to finish. Required steps are more visible, approvals are properly documented, and expectations are consistently applied. By embedding governance directly into the workflow, the college reduced reliance on manual oversight while increasing transparency, consistency, and auditability.
It also allows leadership to better understand demand patterns, identify systemic bottlenecks and plan and respond more effectively to changing operational needs, funding constraints or emergent priorities without sacrificing governance or control.
Although this innovation focuses on internal operations, its impact extends directly to students. More efficient and reliable procurement enables departments to secure instructional materials, technology, equipment, and services more quickly and predictably to meet student needs.
Finally, this project can serve as an example of how higher education institutions can leverage enterprise platforms in innovative ways. By building on existing systems and focusing on integration rather than customization, peer institutions can modernize procurement without introducing unnecessary complexity or cost.
Enrollment increases
The 2026 spring semester enrollment at Central Community College increased 4.2 percent over the 2025 spring semester.
Total college-wide enrollment was 6,359 in 2005 and 6,624 in 2026 at the start of the semester.
This year’s enrollment is comprised of 1,830 on-campus and 4,797 distance learning students. Full-time enrollment increased by 2.6 percent from a year ago.
“We are pleased our enrollment continues to grow, even when challenged with a significant plant closing in Lexington,” said CCC President Dr. Matt Gotschall. “The ability to help educate individuals for new careers is a primary reason why community colleges were created, and we are eager to serve those impacted.”
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A place for every piece Six four-person teams tested their skills Feb. 7 at a Jigsaw Puzzle Tournament at Central Community College-Holdrege. The three teams that were the first to complete the 750-piece puzzle qualified for the 2026 Nebraska State Fair Puzzle Championship. |
Employee news
Administrative Office
Joe Black, grants development coordinator, has earned the Grant Professional Certified (GPC) credential through the Grant Professionals Certification Institute.
The GPC is the only experience-based grants certification. In a field without a formally recognized academic degree path, it represents the most authoritative and independent measure of experience, skill and knowledge as defined by one’s professional peers.
The certification evaluates grant professionals across core competencies, including grant application development, project design, funding research, organizational development, ethics, grant management, funder cultivation, and professionalism.
“For CCC, the GPC signals to our current and prospective funders that we are responsible, effective stewards of grant funding and committed partners in advancing shared goals,” Black said.
Columbus Campus
Alicia Cazares, adult education teacher’s aide, and Jake Novicki, residence life coordinator, have resigned.
Grand Island Campus
Becca Dobry, area financial aid director, and Allison Kleier, nursing instructor, have resigned.
Diann Rogene (Harder) Muhlbach, 82, of Shelton died Jan. 23 at CHI Health St. Francis in Grand Island. Services were Feb. 3 at Peace Lutheran Church with burial in Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Shelton.
She was born on Aug. 17, 1943, in Grand Island to Ralph and Joyce (Jess) Harder. After graduating from Cairo High School, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kearney State College.
She married Richard A. Muhlbach Jr. on June 11, 1966, at Christ Lutheran in Cairo.
In addition to serving as director of CCC’s adult education program, she was a full-time and substitute public school teacher, district court clerk and executive director of Heartland CASA. She started the Literacy Council and Child Advocacy Center and was appointed to the Nebraska Volunteer Service Commission for 14 years.
Survivors include her husband and four sisters. She was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers.
Memorials are suggested to the Literacy Council or the First Light Advocacy Center.
Hastings Campus
New full-time employees are Zandra Golter, administrative assistant in the arts, sciences and business department; Craig Potthoff, truck driver trainer; and Katherine Shanahan, administrative assistant for the career and technical sciences department.