Western Piedmont Names Tonya L. Coates Alumnus of the Year
Each year, Western Piedmont Foundation recognizes an Alumnus who has given unselfishly of his or her time and talents to advance the mission and goals of Western Piedmont Community College (WPCC) and the local community. Tonya L. Coates was recently named the 2015 Outstanding Alumnus at the College’s graduation ceremony.
As a Western Piedmont instructor, Ms. Coates strives to continually learn and grow in her personal and professional lives. In fact, she describes herself as a “lifetime student.” Our honoree knew early on that accounting was her area of interest. She came to WPCC right after high school, completing her Associate in Applied Science degree in 1993.
Upon returning to Burke County after a few years in Florida, Ms. Coates completed her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Gardner-Webb University in 1999 while working full-time at Burke Mills in Valdese. In spite of being born into a family of educators, she had not experienced the call to teach until this time. After working as a part-time Accounting instructor at WPCC during the Spring semester of 2000, she began her full-time teaching career in the Fall 2000 semester. Always wishing to grow her skills, Ms. Coates again embarked on advancing her education by completing a Master of Science in Accounting from Appalachian State University in May 2003. She recently completed her journey to the esteemed title of Certified Public Accountant, successfully passing all four parts of the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Exam.
In the classroom, Ms. Coates is known for the compassionate, honest advice she gives to her students and for the ethical standards guiding her daily decisions. For these reasons, she was recently selected to serve as a Master Advisor on campus, further demonstrating her outstanding ability to relate to students by helping direct their educational and career paths. Her dedication to students was recognized in 2007 with the Excellence in Teaching Award from Western Piedmont.
Her devotion to WPCC is evident. She has served as Director of two national Service Learning grants and played an instrumental role in the development of the service learning and civic engagement programs that exist today at the College. Her dedication continues as she plays an active role in these efforts through her service on the Educational Initiatives Committee and the Service Learning/Civic Engagement team.
In addition to her commitment to supporting the College and advancing the education of its students, Ms. Coates gives of her time and talent in providing service to the community. She coordinates the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance or VITA program at WPCC, a program that offers free tax assistance to low-income taxpayers in the community. This program is offered in conjunction with the capstone course for the Accounting program. As the Accounting program coordinator, she is responsible for managing a group of more than 20 students and community volunteers within an authentic tax preparation environment. Each volunteer is required to successfully pass a series of Internal Revenue Service examinations to become a certified volunteer. Ms. Coates initiated this program here and has been instrumental in its continued growth and success over the past ten years. The VITA program provides students with invaluable real world experience while also offering a tremendous service to the public.