Carmen Shurtleff
Instructor of Sociology and Social Work
Department: Social Work
Phone: 903-434-8307
Email: cshurtleff@ntcc.edu
Office: H-128C
Carmen Shurtleff is a lifelong resident of Texas. She graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School in 1996 and went on to attend East Texas A&M University, where she earned her Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Work. She returned to her alma mater to further her studies in Sociology, completing an additional graduate hour in the field.
Carmen currently serves as a full-time faculty member at Northeast Texas Community College, where she teaches courses in Sociology and Social Work. She also serves as Faculty Advisor for the Social Work Club. In 2019, she secured the Innovation Solutions for Hunger Relief and Student Success grant, supporting students experiencing food insecurity. This work resulted in the development and institutionalization of the CARE Center at Northeast Texas Community College.
Her professional experience includes roles with Texas A and M University–Texarkana as an Academic Advisor, as well as multiple positions at Northeast Texas Community College, including CIS Coordinator, Director of Student Activities, and Grant Coordinator. In her work as a Grant Coordinator, she has secured over 2.1 million dollars in funding to support institutional initiatives. She also serves as an Adjunct Instructor for East Texas A&M University at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Carmen brings over 21 years of experience in higher education.
Carmen’s professional focus centers on supporting first generation college students and addressing basic needs insecurities, particularly food insecurity, in higher education. She has presented her work at national conferences, including “A Holistic Approach to Addressing Food Insecurity in Higher Education” at the League for Innovation Conference in 2022; “Barriers to Equity: Where is the Social Justice in Food Insecurity for Community College Students?” at The Council for the Study of Community Colleges Annual Conference in 2022 in Tempe, Arizona; and “Mentoring First Generation Students to Success” at the 10th Anniversary First Gen Summit at MIT in Boston, Massachusetts in 2022. She also delivered a presentation titled “Addressing Basic Needs, Fostering Belonging: The Northeast Texas CARE Center” at the Universities Fighting World Hunger Summit in 2024.
Carmen is the author of From Food Pantry to CARE Center in a Rural College: Our Journey, published in New Directions for Community Colleges (2024). Her work highlights the growing need to address basic needs among community college students, particularly in rural settings, and explores the development of holistic support systems that improve student outcomes.
Carmen is committed to service, professionalism, and continuous growth. She values hard work, integrity, and lifelong learning. In her personal time, she enjoys traveling, studying language, and maintaining a balanced lifestyle.
Dixie Anders
Associate Faculty
Department: Social Work
Phone: 903-434-8255
Email: danders@ntcc.edu
Hello!! My name is Dixie Diane Anders. This is my twenty-fifth (wow!!) year at NTCC. I am a part-time, associate professor. I recently retired from my twenty-two year, full-time employment at Pittsburg High School where I taught sociology, special topics, psychology, U.S. History, World History, World Geography, and even one year of Spanish I. Before P.H.S. I taught sociology and social problems for two years as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas A & M at Commerce. I have not been a teacher all my life ~~ I changed careers midlife. I worked for fourteen years in law enforcement as a dispatcher and report writer for two police agencies in southern California. Before that ~ I assisted the Fire Marshall and taught CPR, emergency first aid, conducted inspections, and helped set-up fire escape plans in homes and businesses for two fire departments.
I was born and raised in southern California. My father was stationed in Orange County as a gunnery sergeant with the Marine Corps (Oo-rah!!) and my mother worked as a civilian with the military. I have an older brother (who very recently passed away) and a younger sister who I nick-named "Wonder Buns" (long story!!). I was a flower child of the 1960's. I still love to wear flowers in my hair and I still have my many strands of "love-beads"!! All of my public education was in California, as well as my first two years of college completed at the California State University at Fullerton. I moved to Texas thirty years ago to recover from cancer treatments and to be closer to family. I finished my college education at the University of Texas A&M at Commerce where I earned a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in sociology. I also earned four different, life-term teaching credentials. I currently live in Leesburg on land I inherited from my mother and her parents. I live with six cats, 2 dogs (my guardians!), and more squirrels and rabbits than I can count.
I've never been married...…….but I've been engaged three times!! Which means I have some lovely rings since the break-ups were never my fault. The cancer meant no children, hence, the furr-babies. I suppose I have two claims-to-fame. One is that for two years I worked at Disneyland in Anaheim, California as I finished high school and started college. Fun fact, Disneyland and I premiered to world the same month and year ~~ August 1955. The other claim is that in 1978 I went on the game show "Hollywood Squares" in Los Angeles, California. I won over 35,000.00 plus prizes, which, at 23 years of age, was a brilliant experience.
I thoroughly adore working with my students. Especially when many of them say to me, at the end of a semester, that they have come to enjoy the science of sociology!!!!!
