Vance’s first CCAF counselor open for business

  • Published
  • By Joe B. Wiles
  • 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Sheila Sellers, Vance's first Community College of the Air Force counselor, began work at the Education Office Jan. 5. She came to Vance from the Education Office at Ramstein AB, Germany, with her husband, Chaplain (Capt.) Randy Sellers, in August 2009.

A graduate of Southwestern Christian University at Bethany, Okla., Mrs. Sellers has worked in the education field since 1984. She completed a master's degree in Human Relations through the University of Oklahoma while at Ramstein AB.

"My job here serves the enlisted people at Vance who haven't completed their CCAF degree," Mrs. Sellers said. "Through the schools represented on base and the local area and through distance learning, they can complete the general education requirements."

The CCAF counselor job is a contracted position. Mrs. Sellers applied for the position because "it fit me and I fit it," she said with a smile.

"Our enlisted Airmen at Vance seem very interested in education, but they get very busy with their Air Force jobs and don't always realize the education resources available to them. That's where I can be very helpful," Mrs. Sellers said.

She is also excited about a new program offered through the Air University at Maxwell AFB, Ala. The Air Force has taken enlisted education one step further with the establishment of a program designed to help enlisted Airmen with a CCAF associate's degree obtain a bachelor's degree related to their Air Force specialty.

"My job is to increase the percentage of associate's degree graduates," Mrs. Sellers said. That will open the door for their participation in the Air University Associate-to-Baccalaureate Cooperative program.

Mrs. Sellers is clearly a strong advocate of education. Her oldest child is also a graduate from Southwestern Christian University. Another is a freshman at the University of Central Oklahoma at Edmond and the youngest is a senior at Oklahoma Bible Academy in Enid.

The CCAF office at Vance is open Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m., and Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 4 p.m. For more information and to make counseling appointments, call Mrs. Sellers at 213-7388.