Press release:
Six Genesee Community College faculty members are recipients of the 2015 National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) Excellence Awards. Founded in 1978, NISOD is a consortium of community and technical colleges that share a commitment to supporting excellence in teaching, learning and leadership. It is part of the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin.
The excellence award celebrates instructors who are given the critical task of serving well all students who enroll through the doors of 'open access'. They have demonstrated an outstanding commitment and contribution to their students and colleagues.
Genesee Community College's 2015 awardees include:
• Deborah J. Thompson, of Lockport, who has been teaching at GCC since 2009. She is an instructor of health education at the Medina Campus Center.
• Gil A. Stern, of Rochester; He joined GCC in 2000 and teaches public speaking at the Albion Campus Center. He is also an instructor for College Today, a program that helps high school students prepare for the rigors of college coursework.
• Nancy G. White, of West Falls, has been teaching at GCC for 14 years. Nancy teaches Spanish at the Arcade Campus Center.
• Janet E. Schmidt, of Buffalo, joined GCC after 37 years in the manufacturing industry. She teaches engineering in the Computer Aided Drafting & Design (CADD) program at GCC's main campus in Batavia.
• Carol Q. Welsh, of Darien, teaches at both the main campus in Batavia and GCC's Warsaw Campus Center. Carol started at the college in 1986 and returned to teach Biology in 1992.
• Bruce W. Hilyard, Ph.D., has been officially retired since 2001, but has continued to teach online courses for GCC. Bruce came to the college in 1970 and taught Teacher Education at both the main campus in Batavia and through the College's inmate education program at the Attica Correctional Facility.
Recipients will be honored at the NISOD annual conference in Austin on Sunday, May 24. GCC will also recognize the winners during professional activity week in mid-August as a kick-off to the new academic year. Award winners receive a specially cast, pewter medallion.
"Recognizing those individuals who have contributed to student success and their colleges' mission is something we look forward to doing each year," said Edward J. Leach, Ph.D., NISOD's director and a GCC alumnus.
He earned his associate degree in General Studies at GCC in 1985 and in the early 1990s returned to the college for two years to teach Physical Education and work as an athletic trainer for the GCC Cougars.
"The extraordinary work of these men and women includes not only what they do for their students and colleagues, but what they do for the communities in which they live and work," Leach said. "We're honored to be able to play a part in celebrating their achievements."
The NISOD Award for Excellence Web site is: http://www.nisod.org/?q=how-excellence-awards-recipients-are-celebrated
