Albany Technical College has appointed two new program chairs. LaTonya Harris will serve as the new program chair for the Medical Assisting program, while James Miller will serve as the chair of the Automotive Technology program.

Beginning her education in Albany Tech’s Medical Assisting, LaTonya Harris received a diploma in Certified Medical Assisting and an associate’s degree in Health Studies from ATC in 2007. She began her career as a Registered Phlebotomy Technician with Phoebe Health Systems in 2006 and served through 2010. Prior to her time with Phoebe, she worked as a Medical Assistant at Medical Associates of Albany.

Harris returned to Albany Tech in 2008 to serve as an instructor in the Medical Assisting program. In this role, she assisted students and the former program chair in ensuring optimal medical assistant training and education in preparation for them to become certified, as well as many other duties within the program. In 2014, she left ATC to take a position with the Naval Branch Health Clinic at the Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, where she assisted physicians with physical exams, vision screenings, and performing electrocardiograms. She also entered data into electronic medical records, restocked exam rooms, and pulled medical records. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Education from Valdosta State University in 2016.

“I am ecstatic with the opportunity to return to where I initially began with my career in education,” said Harris. “As the program chair, I will prepare our students to become certified medical assistants through quality curriculum, instruction, practice, and assessment.”

Stressing the importance of engaging student learning in the program, Harris said that she plans to embrace collaborative learning and will establish a positive teacher-student relationship. She went on to say that her goal is to make student learning more meaningful and foster a sense of competence, while maintaining the consistency of the philosophy and mission of the college.

Also a graduate of ATC, James Miller received his diploma in Automotive Technology from ATC in 2011, as well as his diploma in Welding and Blueprint in 1998. He worked as a Loom Technician for Flint River Textile from 1989 until the plant closed in 2003, where he operated and performed maintenance on various types of looms, including air jets and sour looms. From 2003 to 2009, he was employed by Cooper Tire and Rubber Company as an Extrusion Operation, where he operated machinery to fabricate parts used in tire assembly, among other duties. In 2009, he worked at Bill Chambers Motors in Albany as a part-time mechanic inspecting engines, transmissions, and other automotive components, as well as performing diagnostic testing to resolve issues and assisting with repairing mechanical issues.

Prior to coming to ATC as the new program chair of Automotive Technology, Miller worked as a Maintenance Mechanic on the Humvee, LAV and LVSR lines for the URS Federal Services division at the Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, where he was responsible for all stages of the build-up of vehicles in addition to repairing and modifying vehicles after identifying causes of malfunctions, among other duties.

“I want to energize the automotive program at Albany Tech by partnering with local experts in our community,” said Miller. “My teaching method will be a mixture of textbook, hands-on, and real world experience to produce highly qualified graduates going into the industry motivated and willing to put their knowledge to use.”