News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 4, 2009
Community and technical college faculty honored
OLYMPIA, Wash. – Five Washington community and technical college faculty members received the 2009 Anna Sue McNeill Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Award during the Pacific Northwest Higher Education Teaching and Learning Conference, held in May in Wenatchee.
Award recipients were selected based on accomplishments in teaching, student learning and assessment; versatility and willingness to take risks; enthusiasm about their own learning; continued education and current research; and contributions to the teaching profession. The award was named in honor of longtime assistant coordinator of Assessment, Teaching and Learning at the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, who retired in early 2007.
Dr. Catherine Crain, Psychology and Education, is a founding member of the Cascadia Community College faculty. Crain has refined and directed efforts to establish meaningful program-level assessment. During a recent sabbatical, she described and documented core teaching, learning, and assessment frameworks at Cascadia. Her personal teaching practice embodies student-centered, active learning focused on student engagement.
Sally Gove, English, Clover Park Technical College, engages developmental writing students through collaborative learning activities, using creative techniques and technology to meet her students’ needs and prepare them for future study and work. For example, Gove created a Ning social network for her classes. She records and sends students MP3 files with her personalized feedback.
Dongwa Hu, Economics, Everett Community College, taught at both baccalaureate and community colleges over the last 18 years, but chose to teach at community colleges to help all students— including underprepared and multicultural students—reach beyond their perceived limitations. A native of China, Hu immigrated to the U.S. to study world economic systems. In her three years at Everett, she has expanded economics course offerings by 200 percent and added an online component to the economics department.
Becky Sproat, Library Science/Information Science, Tacoma Community College, has built information literacy into the college curriculum, developing an information literacy course now required for all first-quarter Nursing students. She created the library segment of the curriculum for the “college success” course required of most new students. Sproat led the charge to develop TCC’s collection of digitized educational resources, made available this spring.
Karla Sylwester, Dental Hygiene, Clark College, implemented the iRespond wireless response system in several classes, allowing tests to be used not only as assessment, but also as instruments of instruction. Because teachers in professional-technical programs need to connect with their professional peers, Sylwester got to know all the dentists in Clark’s service area over the last 17 years. Dental hygiene faculty from across the country come to visit her program.
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Contact: Janelle Runyon
360-704-4310 jrunyon@sbctc.edu
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