And The Winner Is…
Submitted by Martin Hernandez, Access Group

This year at the TASFAA Fall Conference, our association had the opportunity to recognize two of its members for their outstanding contributions.

This year TASFAA members learned of the many contributions of Jimmy Parker, Executive Vice President of the Panhandle-Plains Student Loan Center, as he was bestowed the TASFAA Hall Of Fame Award. According to the Awards Committee, “The Hall Of Fame is an honorary group of current and or former financial aid administrators who have served in Texas and who have been designated by TASFAA as having been exceptional in their dedication and service to TASFAA and the students of Texas.” Among the criteria for this award include a minimum of twenty years in financial aid (fifteen of those years must have been served in Texas), an untiring commitment to encouraging qualified students to pursue a higher education, and actions that must have resulted in lasting improvements in policies and procedures of financial aid administration.

Those that know Jimmy Parker certainly agree that he was a very deserving recipient of this honor. Jimmy started his financial aid career in 1978 as a collections officer at West Texas State University. He served in multiple positions and eventually became the director of financial aid at both Western Texas College and Angelo State University. In addition to his efforts at the schools he worked at, Jimmy has served on numerous committees and boards for TASFAA, SWASFAA, and NASFAA. During the 1990-1991 year, Jimmy served as President of TASFAA. If you are new to TASFAA, then you may recognize him for his work with legislative affairs. His work with state and federal lawmakers on financial aid legislative issues has earned him a reputation as a champion for students and financial aid administrators. Finally, in addition to his accomplishments, Jimmy was cited numerous times for his assistance, advice, and mentoring of other less experienced aid administrators throughout the state. It can be truly said that Jimmy has done much to improve financial aid administration in Texas.

The second award recipient, Jim Anderson, Associate Director, Texas Tech University, received the TASFAA Trailblazer Award. Jim was selected by the TASFAA Board of Directors to be recognized as the “up and coming leader” in the association. The Trailblazer must have served TASFAA, the education arena, and students with creative energy, dedication, and commitment. Jim was selected for his outstanding work and leadership on the TASFAA TRAINetwork. His efforts resulted in creating a database for tracking financial aid outreach efforts by member institutions. The database can be used to demonstrate to others the role financial aid plays in getting students into college. These efforts were also recognized by NASFAA as one of the State awards at the NASFAA Annual Conference in July.

In addition to his efforts with the TRAINetwork, Jim has also served on the TASFAA Board of Directors for the last two years. Further, he was re-elected to a second two-year term on the Board where he will continue to serve TASFAA and we will continue to benefit from his outstanding work and leadership.