The Tennessee College of Applied Technology division of Chattanooga State Community College welcomed Kathy Cochran of Cloudland, Ga. as its new director of medical programs.
With her years of nursing experience concentrated in Georgia, Ms. Cochran decided to challenge herself by learning about education in Tennessee and applied to Chattanooga State. “I walked in and it felt like home,” said Ms. Cochran, “people sought me out to introduce themselves.” She also notes that she sees a greater enthusiasm for education in Tennessee than what she experienced in Georgia.
Ms. Cochran’s long history in the medical field includes rotations in surgical nursing, pediatrics, public health, hospital supervision, and home health. For the last 20 years she served as a nursing instructor, moving up to assistant dean of Allied Health in the Technical College System of Georgia.
She holds degrees from Piedmont Hospital School of Nursing, University of West Georgia, and Jacksonville State University, with course work toward her educational doctorate from the University of Alabama, currently put on hold as she helps manage her mother’s care from Alzheimer’s disease.
TCAT medical programs that Ms. Cochran directs include Practical Nursing, Surgical Technology, Medical Assisting and a new program for Certified Medical Assistants that will begin in the fall. Ms. Cochran does not foresee any major changes in the established TCAT medical programs at Chattanooga State, but firmly believes the future of these programs “will be in the hands of those who teach them.” Ms. Cochran states that her job is to help her staff reach their goals, as well as to maintain a good success rate and job placement rate for the students in these programs. She concedes that any program can always do things better, but says, “As those things are identified, then the faculty and I will make plans together.”
For more information about TCAT medical programs at Chattanooga State Community College, contact Kathy Cochran at 423-697-4491 or visit www.chattanoogastate.edu/tcat.