Anderson Oconee Pickens

Three Faculty/Staff Members Honored as Tri-County's Educators of the Year

CONTACT: LISA GARRETT, EXT. 1506

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 1/15/2004
(By Lisa Garrett)

PENDLETON --- Three faculty/staff members have been honored as Tri-County Technical College's Educators of the Year.

Dr. Neil Lark, of Anderson, dean of continuing education and chair of the Industrial and Engineering Technology Division, is the College's outstanding administrator; Tim Busha, of Seneca, Criminal Justice Technology department head, is the outstanding instructor; and Scott Harvey, of Pendleton, Registrar, is the outstanding staff nominee.

Dr. Lark joined Tri-County in 1989 after a 20-year career with the U.S. Army. He assumed the title of dean in 1994 and is responsible for the coordination and delivery of non-credit seminars and workshops for business and industrial training and personal and professional development. Late last year he assumed additional responsibilities for providing leadership to the Industrial and Engineering Technology Division.

He began as part of the Continuing Education Management Team as an instructor in the Business and Industry Training Department where he taught and coordinated world-class manufacturing courses for local industries. He became its director in 1993. Through his leadership he was instrumental in 60 local industries becoming approved to receive the retraining incentives of the S.C. Enterprise Zone Act, which offers several incentives for economic development. One of these allows a qualifying business to obtain a job development retraining fee of up to $500 per year from income withholding tax liability for each production employee.

At the College Dr. Lark serves on the Executive Leadership Team, President's Council, Instructional Affairs Committee, School-to-Work Planning Committee, Textile Advisory Committee and the World Class Training Center Advisory Board.

He represents the College with his involvement and memberships in the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce, Anderson Area Society for Human Resource Development, Clemson Calhoun Rotary Club, Oconee Pickens Personnel Association, and the S.C. Association of Higher Continuing Education.

He also is a member of the Learning Resource Network and is a graduate of the Anderson Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Anderson class. He serves on the executive committee of the State Tech Continuing Education Peer Group.

He chaired the System-wide work group that planned, developed and presented the inaugural South Carolina Silver Crescent for Manufacturing Excellence award at the annual Salute to Manufacturing ceremony in Greenville.

A graduate of Palmetto High School, Dr. Lark entered the United States Military Academy where he received his bachelor of science degree in Engineering. He also earned his master's degree in Management from the University of Northern Colorado. While an Army officer, he attended the Command and General Staff College and the Defense Systems Management College. He holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Clemson University. He and his wife, Diane, have two adult children.

Harvey came on board as the College's new Registrar in August of 2002. He currently serves on Tri-County's Calendar, Expanding Service Access, and Strategic Planning Committees.

He began his career in 1995 as a schedule coordinator at the College of Charleston. He was promoted to Assistant Registrar for Information Systems in 1997. In 1998 he accepted a job at Clemson University as its registration coordinator where he coordinated with academic departments in the collection, organization, and entry of the course listings for each term. He also managed the assignment of classroom space for all course offerings. He also created and maintained the Registration Services Office website. In 1999 he accepted the responsibility of coordinating and executing on-line registration for all new freshmen and transfers for 11 academic orientation sessions.

Harvey holds an associate in Arts from Trident Technical College, a B. A. in Communication Studies from Clemson, and a master of education degree in Student Affairs Administration from Clemson. He is a member of the Carolina Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, the Southern Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers and the South Carolina Technical Education Association. He and his wife, Crystalin, have three children and live in Pendleton.

Busha joined the College in 2000 after a 14-year career as a law enforcement officer and investigator, and later as an instructor at the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy. He was director of juvenile services for the 10th Circuit Solicitor's Office prior to joining the College.

Tri-County's criminal justice program acquaints students with law enforcement, the courts and corrections, and how justice is administered fairly. Students also learn about social service and educational agencies and how they interact with and affect the criminal justice system.

Busha began his career as a patrol officer in Central in 1986. The same year he completed Tri-County's police reserve training class, a program he credits with sparking his interest in law enforcement. He moved on to work as a deputy at the Pickens County Sheriff's Department for a year before becoming an investigator with the Anderson County Sheriff's Department. He holds a bachelor's degree from Southern Wesleyan University and a master's degree in criminal justice from the University of South Carolina.

In 1993 he moved to Columbia where he taught advanced and basic drug enforcement classes at the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy for four years.

He moved back to the Upstate in 1997 when he took a position with the Solicitor's Office where he developed prevention and intervention programs for at-risk youth (ages 8 ­ 16) and managed the juvenile court docket.

Last year he was selected as one of two from Tri-County to participate in the University of South Carolina Certificate in Higher Education Leadership program and this year serves as the College's representative to the South Carolina International Education Consortium.

Busha and his wife, Teresa, live in Seneca and have four children.
-30-