Beverley Shelton (Golden), did not question that her college education would begin at Kilgore College after she graduated from Sabine High School in 1988.
“My sister went there. My mom was a huge fan of the Rangerettes so we went to games all the time. That was a known – that was where I was going,” she said.
The unknown was what a difference KC would end up making in her life, setting her on a path where she would become Associate Vice President of Strategic Communications & Media Relations at The University of Texas at Tyler.
Golden stepped into KC instructor Bettye Craddock’s journalism class following a summer workshop at the campus – and said she was hooked immediately. This interest opened the door to a new world through her involvement on the college newspaper, The Flare.
“I met people I would have never had the opportunity to meet if I had stayed in my bubble, with my like-minded friends,” Golden said, remembering that at The Flare, “we laughed a lot.”
From her days as a P.E. student in karate, posing for a photo in the 1989 Ranger yearbook, to being named “Who’s Who” among KC students and receiving runner-up for Most Representative student in the Spring 1990 semester, Golden was constantly finding herself “totally out of my comfort zone.”
“Kilgore gave me so many social opportunities that I would not have taken for myself otherwise,” she said, adding editor of the Phi Theta Kappa newsletter and Presidential Scholar to her list of accomplishments.
The self-confessed introvert recalled when Dr. Bert E. Woodruff became the sixth president of KC, following the death of Dr. Stewart H. McLaurin.
“Mrs. Craddock told me and (editor) Charlotte Smith we needed to get a quote from Mr. Woodruff,” she said.
Golden went to one door of the administration building and Smith went to the other to see which was open.
“We saw him going down one entrance, then he shifted and went down another but we were there too, so it looked like we double-teamed him.
He said, ‘You’re just going to get me no matter what.’
“At first, I didn’t want to bother anybody, but you can’t be a journalist if you’re afraid to ask questions or get the story. So learning that in those moments was invaluable,” Golden said.
Being assertive and confident plays into how she leads her department now, 30 years after beginning her first professional job in the media department at UT Tyler as the assistant to the coordinator of news and information.
Golden had planned to go into speech, and maybe teaching like her mom, when she enrolled at UT Tyler in Fall 1990. She completed her bachelor’s degree in speech communication with a minor in journalism, then stayed and got her master’s in interdisciplinary studies, with speech, journalism, and theater as her three emphases.
“I thought I was going (one way), but journalism kept calling me back. And I love it. I’m glad that it did.”
When Golden began working for UT Tyler, it was a commuter school offering only upper-level courses.
“We had no residential students. We had a snack bar. There were no dining options. It was really just, you come, take your class, and you go,” she said.
In 1998, it became a four-year institution, with more students and activities.
“I witnessed the development of campus life. I remember we had no traditions. We had a mascot, but we didn’t have athletics, and we didn’t have Greeks; we had to build all of that and it was hard because it had to be more than going to class. It had to be the whole experience,” she said. “I remember as we were helping develop campus life at UT, I looked back and realized, ‘I’ve had this before – at Kilgore.’”
Golden also picked up leadership training at KC. Currently, she oversees communication and media relations for five campuses – including satellite campuses, charter schools and the UT Tyler Health Science Center.
But even under such a large umbrella, Golden doesn’t mind getting her feet wet.
“In my position now, half of us have journalism backgrounds, so we treat our weekly meetings just like we’re working at a newspaper,” she said. “I am fortunate to lead, but I have never considered myself greater than anyone else working, because I can’t do it all by myself. Everyone’s important. So, I get the privilege of leading the team, this amazing team. And we work together. Nobody works for me; we are all doing the same thing. I wouldn’t ask them to do anything I wouldn’t do, or haven’t done. And I find myself running it like Bettye Craddock would, and that’s why it works. Kilgore definitely taught me how things could be done.”
KC also taught her how to share her passions.
“As I’m telling the story of UT Tyler, and finding ways we can appeal to our community, I’m always asking myself, ‘Why should someone care?’ and ‘What does this mean to the community and prospective students?’ It’s how we pitch our stories,” she said. “This is a basic journalism principle that I learned at KC, and it’s just one of the lessons I use every day.”
Along the way, Golden hopes her story help others.
“At both KC and UT Tyler I have had the whole experience — including the opportunities for personal growth. I want to be a part of telling that story to other people like me who weren’t quite sure where to go, who felt more comfortable close to home, and who still want to get a great education.”
At a recent KC Board meeting, the partnership between KC and UT Tyler was spotlighted concerning its
co-enrollment programs.
According to Dr. Tracy Skopek, KC’s vice president of Instruction, 704 Kilgore students joined the UT Tyler family between 2016 to 2022. For the Fall 2022 cohort, 83 KC students were admitted to UT Tyler with a 62.7% first-year retention rate.
“I love that we continue to find ways to be partners,” Golden said. “It means the world to me that these two institutions that mean so much to me work together combining the strengths of both,” she said. “(UT Tyler) wouldn’t be where it is today had it not been for community colleges. There’s no way we couldn’t keep that relationship alive – and grow it.”
Golden loves that everyone’s goal is for the student, and the cooperative spirit that’s alive in East Texas makes her happy to be home.
“I don’t have a preference one way or the other for whether you go to a four-year university and start out as a freshman or if you start at community college,” she said. “But for me, KC was the best thing.”
-article and feature photo by Rachel Stallard, KC Communications/Public Relations
