Barnes named to fellowship program

  POPLARVILLE – Raymunda Barnes has been selected to participate in the Mississippi Education Policy Fellowship Program along with 17 other professional and civic leaders throughout the state.
  Barnes is assistant vice president at Pearl River Community College’s Hancock Center in Waveland.
  The 10-month intensive professional development program equips leaders in education and related fields to work toward developing sound education policy and practice in Mississippi.
  The program is an initiative of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government and Community Development at Mississippi State University.
  “Our commitment and success in educating students of all age has a profound impact on the economic health of Mississippi,” said Tyson Elbert, program coordinator. “Some of our state’s most talented and dedicated leaders are represented in this year’s fellows. We are very pleased to bring them together to learn new skills, develop added insight and work collaboratively to take action in improving our state’s future through education improvement and reform.”
  Barnes has been at the Hancock Center since 2007, serving as lead instructor for four years after teaching at the Gulfport Job Corps Center and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. He was named director in 2011 and assistant vice president a year ago.
  Participants in the fellowship program meet monthly for dialogues, exercises and group projects, will take part in a four-day civil rights bus tour and spend four days in the nation’s capital at the Washington Policy Seminar hosted by the Institute for Educational Leadership. The institute oversees fellowship programs in 15 states and the District of Columbia.