Dr. Maegan Collins Receives 2024 Julie and Ben Rogers Community Service Award

11/15/2024

Dr. Maegan Collins, General Education and Developmental Studies Department Chair, has been named a recipient of the 2024 Julie and Ben Rogers Community Service Award. 

The Julie and Ben Rogers Community Service Award was established in 1979 to acknowledge faculty and staff who make a lasting impact on the Southeast Texas community through an outstanding record of service and volunteer work. The recognition honors those who give their time and talents to the community and encourage others to volunteer. Each year four recipients, one each from Lamar University (LU), Lamar Institute of Technology (LIT), Lamar State College-Port Arthur, and Lamar State College-Orange, are chosen. Since 1980, 93 awards have been presented.  
 
Collins has served LIT for nearly a year as the General Education Department Chair. Her career in education began in 2016 as an undergraduate academic advisor at LU. In 2018, she became a career consultant at LU, advising College of Fine Arts and Human Development students in career and professional development. That same year, she was promoted to Assistant Director of Undergraduate Advising. Collins then moved to full-time faculty within the Department of Political Science, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses. In addition to being a full-time instructor, Collins served as a Cardinal Communities professional mentor for several years, advised many student organizations and was an education consultant for major higher education initiatives. She was also the co-chair of the Community and Leadership Committee within the College of Arts and Sciences.  
 
She attained all three of her degrees from Lamar University, graduating in 2016 with her Bachelor of Science in Political Science, 2018 with her Master of Public Administration and 2023 with her Doctor of Educational Leadership. Her dissertation “Perceptions of First-Generation College Retention Post-Vertical Transfer: An Interpretive Phenomenological Study.”  was named Dissertation of the Year in 2023 by the Texas Association of College and University Student Personnel Administrators and Dissertation of the Year 2024 by the Texas Council of Professors of Educational Administration. 
 
Beyond her professional roles, Dr. Collins has impacted her local community by serving as a board member for the Junior League of Beaumont, Dancing with the Stars of Southeast Texas committee member and a mentor for S.O.A.R. (Student Occupationally and Academically Ready). She is a committee member for Our Non-Profits Elevated (ONE) and a wish granter for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Texas, Gulf Coast, and Louisiana. She is also a member of the Texas Association of College and University Student Personnel Administrators, where she served as webinar chair and contributed to the research and marketing committees. 
 
During her time at LU, she served as the Greek Council Advisor for the Multicultural Greek Council from 2020-2021 and the Cardinal Community Service Day Coordinator for Cardinal Careers. She was also an active LU Alumni Association board member, serving on the Distinguished Alumni Selection Committee.  
 
Collins has also been honored with the 2024 Pioneering Women Award, recognized as a 2020 Honoree for Southeast Texas 40 Under 40 and named the 2018 Provisional of the Year by the Junior League of Beaumont.  
 
Julie and Ben Rogers Community Service Award Honorees were recognized at a ceremony in the Lamar University Setzer Student Center on November 14, 2024.