• Keith Geekie Wins FA Leadership Award
Posted by Maureen Fitzpatrick– 8/14/14
The highlight of Thursday’s faculty meeting came at the very end when faculty association president Deb Williams awarded English Chair Keith Geekie with the FA faculty leadership award. The award, established a decade ago, has been awarded only once before. Keith was nominated by Division Dean Larry Reynolds and the award was enthusiastically endorsed by the FA executive committee.
The presentation of the award was a surprise for the whole faculty and for Keith. As Deb began listing the award recipient’s activities and involvement on campus, every faculty member sitting in the English section began to grin in recognition. The last to catch on was, of course, Keith herself. When her name was announced, Keith (as moved as I have ever seen her) worked her way to the stage to the sound of thunderous applause and a standing ovation.
Diane Davis expressed the opinion of the department in an open email to Keith, writing “Several of your colleagues, while leaving the meeting today after the announcement you had won the faculty leadership award, commented they couldn’t imagine anyone more worthy of this award than you, and even before the name was announced, their certainty that is had to be you. You are a person who advocates far more for others than yourself, and who graciously deflects praise and shines the spotlight on the rest of us. I can’t tell you how much it means to us, then, to witness the entirety of our college community united in their appreciation of all you do. For the countless hours you spend often behind the scenes looking out for our students, our faculty, our curriculum, our courses, our department, division and discipline, I thank you. Most of us will never know how often you have pulled this group together, fought to keep our division intact, unified us and strengthened us. I’m delighted the spotlight is on you, where it belongs.”
• Andrea Broomfield Wins Burlington Northern Teaching Award!
Professor of English Andrea Broomfield has been selected to receive a BNSF Railway Award which identifies her with a prestigious group of educators. The award judge, Dr. Daniel Phelan, was impressed with the outstanding quality of the individual portfolios. Other recipients of the award this academic year are: Colleen Duggan, Beth Edmonds, Janalee Isaacson, and Bill Robinson.
Andrea will be honored at the BNSF Railway Awards Luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday, May 2nd, 2014 in Regnier Center.
Congratulations, Andrea!
• Lorie Paldino Wins the 2013-2014 Lieberman Teaching Excellence Award!
Congratulations! Adjunct Professor of English Lorie was selected to receive a Lieberman Teaching Excellence Award. The award judge, Dr. David J. Cook, was impressed with the outstanding quality of the individual portfolios submitted by adjuncts at JCCC, the best of which was Lorie’s.
Also selected for recognition was Adjunct Professor of English Amy Pace, who was one of five additional nominees to be singled out as having submitted a great portfolio.
The Lieberman Award is one of the most significant honors given at Johnson County Community College. Lorie and Amy will be celebrating their achievements at the Adjunct Faculty Awards Dinner at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 8, 2014, in the Regnier Center, where they will be honored with award presentations. This recognition also includes a cash award.
• Kathryn Byrne is Innovation of the Year Award Recipient
Kathryn Byrne, JCCC Writing Center Director, and Libby Corriston, of the Math Resource Center, have been named recipients of the 2014 Innovation of the Year Award sponsored by the League for Innovation.
Their winning innovation, the Supplemental Instruction Embedded Tutors (SIET) program, is a means to embed peer mentor/tutors in developmental and gateway courses such as ENGL 106 (Introduction to Writing) and MATH 171 (College Algebra). These tutors model effective student behavior in class sessions, mentor students who have questions about the material being covered, and give students another venue for getting assistance in- and outside the classroom.
SIET tutors also host unique study sessions outside regular class meeting times, which focus on real-world problem solving, and a more thorough exploration of topics that are most challenging to students. The SIET tutors are a low-cost option for the college to enhance the student experience at JCCC—they create another layer of support for students in the formative stages of their college career, and have helped realize 15-20 percent gains in retention and persistence in target sections.
Others nominated for the award are:
Mobile Device Pilot, Brenda Edmonds, Ron Palcic, Stu Shafer, Eve Blobaum, Donnie Byers, Dan Eberle, Barbara Millard, Jim Hillen, Alicia Bredehoeft, Nancy West
National Higher Education Benchmarking Institute, and their project titled “Maximizing Resources for Student Success,” Darcy McGrath and Patrick Rossol-Allison
One Billion Rising Event, Gina Egan and Diane Kappen
Early Alert assisted by Student Engagement Ambassadors, student ambassadors, Rick Moehring and Keith Davenport
Peer Response Model, Kathryn Byrne and Amy Pace
Congratulations to Kathryn and also to Amy Pace!
Established more than 25 years ago, the League’s Innovation of the Year competition was devised as a way to recognize significant innovations at alliance member colleges. These innovations reflect capstone achievements and the continuing renewal of the spirit of innovation and experimentation upon which the League was founded.
• Farrell Jenab Wins the Lieberman Award
Congratulations to Farrell Jenab for winning the Lieberman Teaching Excellence Award. Congratulations also to other E/J Division winners: Amy Pace and Gretchen Thum
To win the award, Farrell prepared a complex portfolio documenting the quality of her work as well as her vision. The award judge, Dr. Donna Estill, was impressed with the outstanding quality of the individual portfolios and has selected the following recipients:
$750.00 recipient: Farrell Jenab
$250.00 recipients: Amy Pace, Gretchen Thum, Helene Perriguey-Keene, Ashley Vasquez, Mark Foster.
A gift honoring George and Floriene Lieberman was made to recognize outstanding performance by adjunct faculty at Johnson County Community College. The program was initiated in 1997, and the first awards were given in 1998.
• Nathan and Lorie are named NISOD Excellence Award recipients
Nathan Jones and Lorie Paldino, two English Department faculty members, were selected for the 2013 National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) Excellence Award.
This award was established to recognize faculty members, administrators and administrative staff who epitomize “the importance of excellence in teaching and leadership in open-door settings” by keeping their focus on helping students succeed. These are the individuals who do great things in the classroom, or go out of their way to ensure student learning, success and leadership, and are innovative within the roles they serve on campus. Since its inception in 1978, the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) has emphasized the importance of teaching and leadership excellence in institutions of higher education.
The JCCC staff and organizational development department will provide full travel support for Nathan and Lorie to attend the NISOD Conference, scheduled for May 26 – May 29, 2013, in Austin, Texas. The conference focuses on celebrating teaching and leadership excellence with outstanding individuals sharing their best practices. All award recipients will be recognized during the final conference session
• Dave Davis and Marilyn Senter Win Distinguished Service Awards
Dave and Marilyn are two faculty members among the ten who received the 2013-2014 Distinguished Service Award recognizing excellence in job performance.
Way to go Dave and Marilyn!
• JCCC Students Earn Prizes in National Student Literary Competition