Pellissippi State Community College recently welcomed two new campus deans who have weathered both a pandemic and a ransomware attack since their start dates.

Dean Stella Bridgeman will lead the college’s Magnolia Avenue Campus; Dean Priscilla Duenkel will lead the Blount County Campus. Bridgeman joined Pellissippi State on Dec. 1, 2021. A native of Roane County and threetime graduate of Tennessee Tech University, Bridgeman’s 20-year career in higher education includes being an academic advisor in the College of Education at Tennessee Tech, assistant director of the Student Success Center at the University of Tennessee and, most recently, director of FirstYear Programs at the University of Tennessee.

Duenkel joined Pellissippi State on Sept. 1, 2020, when the college was still primarily working and learning from home due to the pandemic. A native of Sweetwater and a graduate of Lee
University in Cleveland, Tenn., and McKendree University in Illinois, Duenkel most recently served as assistant director for Student Success at Roane State Community College, where she was accountable for the supervision and performance of 15 success coaches as well as advising students in academic course selection, financial aid and career counseling. She previously worked at Tennessee Tech and King University.