Board of Trustees

The Cowley College Board of Trustees is an eight person corporate body elected by the citizens of Cowley County who assist the president of our community college in the management of the institution. Board meetings are typically held the third Monday of each month at 6:00 pm in the McAtee Dining Center, 206 S 4th Street, Arkansas City, KS. Just as all community colleges in Kansas, all Trustee meetings are open to the public.

To view the meeting agenda, official minutes, and press releases summarizing the board meetings, discussions and decisions, go to Agenda & Meeting Highlights.

Roles Members
Chair Brett Bazil
Vice-Chair Dr. Steve Abrams
Voting Delegate to Kansas Association of Community Colleges Trustees (KACCT) David Stanley
Alternate delegate to the Kansas Assoc. of Community College Trustees (KACCT) Dr. Alan Marcotte
Trustee Representative for Professional Negotiations Glennis Zimmerman
Trustee Representative designated to open bids received for College purchases Gary Wilson
Trustee Representative to the Cowley College Foundation Association Bob McGregor
Trustee Representative to the Tiger Booster Club David Stanley
Trustees serving on Finance Sub-Committee Gary Wilson, Bob McGregor, Dr. Steve Abrams
Trustees serving on Academic Sub-Committee Dr. Alan Marcotte, David Stanley, Bob McGregor
Trustees serving on Board Policy Sub-Committee Gary Wilson, Brett Bazil, Dr. Alan Marcotte
Clerk of the Board Tiffany Vollmer
Treasurer of the Board Dr. Steve Abrams
Legal Counsel for the Board David Andreas

Current Board

Brett Bazil
Brett Bazil

Brett Bazil was elected to the Board in January 2022. His term will expire in January 2026.

Brett Bazil was born in Arkansas City, KS and raised in Winfield, KS. He is a graduate of Winfield High School and Southwestern College with a BS in Applied Mathematics. He holds a certificate in management from Wichita State University, W. Frank Barton School of Business.

Brett has worked in the computing field for over 42 years. He was employed with Boeing/Spirit for 31 years before his work was outsourced to IBM in support of Spirit account, where he was employed for 11 years. Brett is a reserve police officer for the Burden, KS police department and a law enforcement tracker with BlueLine Tracking/Cowley Trackers.

Brett and his wife Ann have been married for 44 years and have two children and 4 grandchildren. They own a small farm that was part of Ann’s family.

Dr. Steve Abrams
Dr. Steve Abrams

Dr. Steve Abrams was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Nancy Burger in October 2020. His term will expire in January 2024.

Dr. Steve Abrams is a former member of the Board of Education for Unified School District 470 in Arkansas City, KS, he was elected as a member of the Kansas State Board of Education in 1995, representing District 10. He served as chairman for the Kansas State Board of Education from 2005 to 2007. In 2009, he became the Kansas State Senator for District 32. Reelected without Democratic opposition in 2012, by narrowly winning the Republican primary over Miranda Allen by 461 votes, he chose not to run for reelection in 2016.

Abrams was born in and is a resident of Arkansas City, KS. He is married. He has a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Kansas State University and has been a veterinarian since 1978.

Dr. Alan Marcotte
Dr. Alan Marcotte

Dr. Alan Marcotte was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Christopher Swan in August 2022. His term will expire in January 2024.

Dr. Alan D. Marcotte is a 1979 graduate of Great Bend High School. His educational path included attending Devry Institute of technology and Longview Community College in the Kansas City area with electrical engineering as a goal. He then became interested in following his Grandfather and Uncle in the discipline of practicing Dentistry. He transferred to Kansas University and majored in Organismal Biology. While there he did color vision research on frog retinas,and co-founded a Big Brothers Big SIsters Chapter.

In 1984 he was accepted in the Dental School at UMKC. Alan served as student representative on the Promotion and Retention Committee through his time at UMKC. In 1988 he entered private practice with Jim VanBlaricum in Pratt Kansas. Alan married Yvonne Brin in September of 1989. Continuing his dental development Alan and Yvonne moved to Winfield with their 5 month old daughter in early July of 1991. Marcotte Dental serviced the Winfield community until he sold the practice in January of 2018 and retired in October of that year due to a tremor that affects the hands.

Alan is a Life member of the American Dental Association, the Kansas Dental Association, and the Southern District Dental Society. He was a founding member of the Create Dentistry Study Club chapter of the Seattle Study Club. He served as President of the American Society of Dentistry for Children Kansas Chapter, a Family Life Services Board of Directors for 10 years and as a board member and Chairman of the Board for Delta Dental of Kansas.

Currently Alan has transitioned, now working with Blueline Tracking LLC teaching law enforcement tracking and participating in tracking events and with Burden Police Department as a Reserve Officer. Alan volunteers with Cowley County Emergency Management.

What Alan values most is his 33 year marriage to Yvonne and his three children Cosette, Manon, and Brennon, two son-in-laws, Nathan Marsh, and Keene Czaplinsky, along with grandchildren Shamonique and Tyson Marsh. All three of his children have credit hours from Cowley County Community College and Yvonne has taught interpersonal communication and Speech along with directing Theatre productions for Cowley County Community College.

He feels his experience can make him a valuable asset in serving on the Cowley College Board of Trustees.

Bob McGregor

Bob McGregor

Bob McGregor was elected to the Board in January 2022. His term will expire in January 2026.

Bob McGregor was raised on several Kansas farms and graduated from Dexter KS High School. After a tour of duty in Viet Nam he returned to Kansas and enrolled at Cowley as a student. He completed his BS at Oklahoma State University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.  Later he completed a Master of Science in Management.  He spent over 40 years in engineering and management with employment in companies such as Rubbermaid and Boeing as well as several small and start-up companies. Although retired, Bob continues to provide manufacturing consulting and design consulting for several high-tech start-up companies in Oklahoma.  Bob has a small ranching operation that fills the excess time from his other interests.

Bob and his wife Nancy have been married 50 years and have two children and 3 grandchildren. They live across the road on Nancy’s family farm from where Nancy was raised.

David Stanley
David Stanley

David Stanley was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Dr. Harold Arnett in August 2022. His term will expire in January 2024.

David Stanley was raised in Arkansas City. He is a graduate of Arkansas City High School (1983). He holds degrees from Cowley College (A.A. Pre-Edu), Kansas State University (B.S. Elem Edu), Central Seminary (M.Div.) and National University (M.A. Human Resource Management).

David is currently the Lead Pastor at First Baptist Church in Arkansas City and has worked in the ministry field for 30 years. Previous employment stints of an Admission Counselor for Cowley College and a middle school teacher for USD 357 Belle Plaine school district have formed David’s passion for education.

David and his wife, Jodie, have been married for 34 years and have 4 adult children and 1 grandchild. David is an avid cyclist and loves kayaking with his wife making it his goal to kayak in as many states as possible. One of his favorite spots to kayak has been the sea caves at La Jolla Cove in Southern California.

Gary Wilson
Gary Wilson

Gary Wilson was elected to the Board in January 2018. He was re-elected in January 2022. His current term will expire in January 2026.

Gary Wilson was elected to serve a 4-year term on the Board of Trustees, starting in January 2018. His current term expires in January 2022.

Gary graduated Arkansas City High School in 1968, then continued his education at Cowley County Community College, graduating in 1970. In 1970, Gary represented Cowley County Community College and Area Vocational Technical School at the Kansas Legislature. After Cowley, Gary worked as a heavy equipment and diesel mechanic and became a certified GM technician. He spent 10 years a reserve Deputy Sherriff before starting the steel fabrication business, Good Time Productions, in 1990 which built products for the worldwide market. Gary worked at Good Time Productions for 22 years.

In addition to his long career, Gary served on the Cowley College Welding Advisory committee for roughly 11 years. He spent 3.5 years on the ACHS school board and served 3 4-year terms as a Cowley County District 2 Commissioner.

Gary and his wife Sharon have been married for 36 years and have one daughter, Stacy, who resides in Kansas City.

Glennis Zimmerman

Glennis Zimmerman

Glennis Zimmerman was elected to the Board as the Sumner County representative in January 2018 for a two-year term. She was re-elected in January 2020. Her current term expires in January 2024.

Glennis is a graduate of Ellsworth KS High School, and has a BS from Kansas State University and MSEd and additional hours leading to building and district administrator licensure from Wichita State University. She spent 26 years in public education as a math teacher and administrator, retiring in 2009 from the Winfield KS Public Schools, where she was Assistant Superintendent for Business & Finance.

Current civic involvement includes Sumner County Fair Board member, Wheat Capitol Quilt Society past president, Community Church of South Haven secretary, Happy Hustlers 4-H fiber arts and sewing leader. She also served on the South Haven USD 509 School Board for 8 years. Today Glennis substitute teaches and volunteers as webmaster for South Haven Schools.

Glennis and husband Jay farm north of South Haven. They have four children and eight grandchildren.

Contact Information

Dr. Steve Abrams
steve.abrams@cowley.edu

Brett Bazil
brett.bazil@cowley.edu

Dr. Alan Marcotte
alan.marcotte@cowley.edu

Bob McGregor
bob.mcgregor@cowley.edu

David Stanley
david.stanley@cowley.edu

Gary Wilson
gary.wilson@cowley.edu

Glennis Zimmerman
glennis.zimmerman@cowley.edu

Dr. Michelle Schoon
President
michelle.schoon@cowley.edu
W: 620-441-5204
125 S 2nd St
Arkansas City, KS

Tiffany Vollmer
Board Clerk
tiffany.vollmer@cowley.edu
W: 620-441-5234
125 S 2nd St
Arkansas City, KS

David Andreas
Board Attorney
dwalaw@andreaslaw.kscoxmail.com
W: 620-221-1610
104 ½ West 9th
Suite 303
Winfield, KS

*Disclaimer*
The Kansas Open Meetings Act states that the majority of the Board cannot participate in interactive communications outside of a public meeting. Emails or text messages sent to individual trustees are allowed; however, please do not send an email or text message, or reply to an email or text message that will be sent to a majority of the Board.

Last updated March 4, 2023.