BATON ROUGE, LA - This week, the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) announced the recent appointments of two LCTCS employees to state and national engagements. Dr. Wendi Palermo, LCTCS Executive Director of Academics and Workforce, has been selected to serve on the Louisiana State Board of Nursing, and Damian Glover, LCTCS Coordinator for Student Engagement and State Director of SkillsUSA Louisiana Post-Secondary, has been selected to serve on the National Skills USA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force.
Dr. Wendi Palermo
The Louisiana State Board of Nursing safeguards the life and health of the citizens of Louisiana by assuring persons practicing as registered nurses and advanced practice registered nurses are competent and safe.
Dr. Palermo served as faculty and Dean of Nursing and Allied Health prior to her current position at LCTCS and has nearly 17 years of experience in higher education. In addition to her full-time position, she serves as adjunct faculty in both Doctoral and Master programs at Northwestern State University.
Dr. Palermo earned an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) and Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (BSN) in 1999 & 2002 respectively. She continued her education and earned a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) from McNeese State University in 2004 and then a PhD in Nursing Research from Southern University in 2011. Her early research focused on vulnerable populations; specifically, infant mortality. She developed and served as the Director of the NSU Leesville-Ft. Polk Cribs for Kids program and donated portable cribs to area families for 5 years to prevent co-sleeping and promote a healthy sleep environment. She presented her program locally, regionally and nationally.
Damian Glover
The National Skills USA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force has the intent of determining how to tackle diversity, equity, and inclusion at large. The roadmap of the taskforce surrounds courageous conversations about race protocols, meeting commitments internally and externally, working to grow the overall national conference experience, working to become an anti-racist multicultural organization, and establishing a clear vision and values surrounding diversity.
Glover was previously employed with South Louisiana Community College as a Student Life Coordinator. He earned a bachelor's and master's degree from Northwestern State University. He currently is completing research with the University of Louisiana at Monroe within the Doctor of Education program and the University of South Florida Muma College of Business's diversity, equity, and inclusion program.
SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. A nonprofit national education association, SkillsUSA serves middle-school, high-school, and college/postsecondary students preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service (including health) occupations.
SkillsUSA serves more than 372,655 students and instructors annually. This includes 20,598 instructors who join as professional members. Including alumni, SkillsUSA membership totals over 434,000. SkillsUSA has served 13.6 million annual members cumulatively since 1965 and is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Labor as a successful model of employer-driven workforce development.
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