By Scott Donnelly, Director, Center for Teaching Excellence
This year's Teaching Excellence Award (TEA) recipients for both adjunct and full-time faculty were announced at the 2015 Professional Development Day (PDD) on Feb. 13, but I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate both Luis Martinez (Adjunct Faculty, Mathematics) and Stephen Moore (Professor of English) as this year's worthy recipients. Your commitment to excellence in the classroom is to be commended and emulated.
Though only one Teaching Excellence Award is given annually at each level, the talent pool of the TEA finalists is impressive. I'd like to again recognize those worthy and deserving faculty who were TEA finalists. Thank you for your service and dedication to your chosen craft:
- Melissa Behunin (Prof. of Family Studies & Psychology)
- Dahwei Chang (Prof. of Mathematics)
- Reetika Dhawan (Prof. of Mathematics)
- David Burris (Prof. of Philosophy)
- Ashley Wilks (Adjunct Faculty, Sign Language)
And congratulations are to be extended to this year's divisional NISOD (National Institute of Organizational and Staff Development) Excellence Award recipients, Martha Martinez (Professor of Spanish) and Renee Macaluso (Professor of Mathematics). Your noble efforts in advancing language acquisition and mathematical concepts were recognized by your peers and are a testament to your commitment to excellence.
[President Mayle adds: "Stephen Moore will be recognized at the Yuma County Education Foundation Teacher of the Year Banquet on April 21. One of Stephen's award responsibilities is selecting a student who is a high school senior or a student already attending AWC for a scholarship. The funding for this scholarship comes from the President's budget, covering in-state tuition and fees. It may be renewed for three consecutive academic-year semesters (for a total award of up to four semesters). The student scholarship recipient must be a resident within the AWC District of Yuma or La Paz County and must be a U. S. citizen. The Stephen Moore Presidential Teacher of the Year Scholarship has the potential to change the life of a student."]
Photo courtesy of Stephen Moore (Stephen Moore and his dog Tickle)
