Roger Barrentine’s long career at Jefferson College will come to a close when he retires at the end of this month.
Barrentine, the college’s director of public relations and marketing, said he has worked for the college for 33 years, 32 of those full time.
He currently earns a $97,968 annual salary at the college.
Barrentine, 54 and a Jefferson College graduate, said he has enjoyed promoting the institution over the past three decades.
“I would personally like to say thank you to the hundreds of students and families I’ve had the opportunity to be in contact with during my career, and I am so proud that Jefferson College is the crown jewel of Jefferson County,” he said.
Despite his 30-plus years with the college, Barrentine said he is not its longest-term employee.
“I’m close, though,” he said.
Of all his many fond memories at Jefferson College, one stands out, Barrentine said.
“One of the things I’ll take with me is the election night in the 1990s when we passed the college’s first-ever tax levy. It was a significant boost in terms of being able to better serve students with a higher quality of education. The college had tried several times before and failed to pass its tax levy.
“So, working with Bill McKenna, who was president at that time, to cross the victory lane, was very gratifying.”
Barrentine said the college, which is based in Hillsboro, eventually opened other campuses in the county, as well as student housing at the Hillsboro campus, which were obvious signs of the institution’s growth.
“I have been here when there was no Viking Woods (student apartments),” he said. “There was no Jefferson College Arnold. We didn’t have a campus in the northwest part of the county, which we once had in the 2000s.”
The college also has a campus in Imperial where the Law Enforcement Academy and EMT-Paramedic programs are based, but that campus will close after an addition and renovations are completed at the Arnold campus.
Those projects are expected to be finished before the start of the 2024-2025 school year, and the Law Enforcement Academy and EMT-Paramedic programs will be relocated there at that time.
After graduating from Jefferson College, Barrentine went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in communications-public relations from Mississippi State University.
His entire professional career has been at Jefferson College.
“My very first job was called public information assistant. It was limited primarily to writing press releases,” he said. “That title changed to my current title of director of public relations and marketing.”
He said his job changed a great deal over the years.
“When I first started in the early 1990s, there were about four or five ways you would reach out to students and the community,” he said. “These days, with the prevalence of social media, multiple satellite TV channels and hundreds of satellite radio stations, media has become so fragmented, making the challenge of communications much more difficult than in the early days.
“I don’t think it’s been difficult to adapt to the new media so much as you’re trying to invest resources over 30 different media channels.”
Barrentine and his wife, Dana, live in Hillsboro. They have three children – daughters Samantha, 22, and Landry, 20, and son Bobby, 18.
He said he has considered retirement for some time, but only recently decided it was the right time.
“I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work with great men and women who have been devoted to the mission of the college in our community,” Barrentine said.
“I feel the college is a great treasure for our county and our community.”
He said he is still deciding what he will do during the next phase of his life.
“Initially, I plan to take a respite and spend some time with my immediate family and extended family,” he said. “I’m mulling a number of possibilities for my next step.”
Jefferson College President Dena McCaffrey praised Barrentine for his contributions to the institution.
“Roger will be greatly missed, but I’m excited for him and this next chapter in his life,” she said. “Not only has Roger been an asset to the college, but he has been an integral part of the community. His dedication, knowledge and historical perspectives are unmatched. I wish him the best.”
McCaffrey said college officials will soon start looking to fill the job.
“We have not selected anyone for Roger’s replacement and will likely be conducting a search in the near future,” she said.