PC staff honored for excellence

Published 11:19 am Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Five Peninsula College faculty members recently received the John and Suanne Roueche Excellence Award in Chicago, Ill.

Tanya Knight, Renne Emiko Brock, Tara Martin Lopez, Michael Mills and Eve Wallis received the honor that recognizes innovators in their respective academic fields through The League for Innovation in the Community College.

“I am lucky to work at an institution that was innovative long before I arrived,” Mills, the associate professor of English and art at PC said. “With a background in creative writing and art, I know how important it is to work hard, pursue excellence and be innovative in both creative endeavors and in education. I’m proud of my students, who earned two Best Small Budget Literary Magazine awards in three years because of their own creativity and their pursuit of excellence.”

Wallis, who is a graduate student in the Master of Arts in Mathematics program at the University of Houston, received an associate’s degree from Peninsula College and a bachelor’s degree in math and English from the University of Washington. She has taught traditional, online, hybrid, flipped and emporium classes, and has developed curriculum materials for math, English and Student Success, including over 40 videos and assignments and some programming of math homework algorithms.

“I believe a good teacher must be humble and always willing to learn new things and adapt as necessary,” she said. “To me this award is recognition that I am doing something good and I should keep doing it.”

“My students are superheroes,” explained Brock, Multimedia Communications instructor at PC. “In class, I apply my research of color communication to express one’s mission and strengths through actual superpowers.” Developing a branding palette teaches students how to express integrity and their best selves by using color and the corresponding verbs to define what they contribute to a team, she said. Her team-building color exercises cultivate innovation, opportunity and creative expression by recognizing what makes each student a unique catalyst on a united team.

“In the classroom and beyond, I aim to create what sociologist Les Back describes as a ‘community of thought and space for dialogue and reflection,’” Martin Lopez, a sociology professor, said. “Therefore, I seek to promote student success that cultivates critical thinking through interactive lectures, discussion and service learning projects.”

Each League Alliance college or system determines its own eligibility criteria, procedures and selection protocol for the Excellence Awards. Only faculty, staff and administrators at League Alliance member institutions are eligible. Upon verification by the president’s office at each college, individuals whose names are submitted by the deadline will be recognized as John & Suanne Roueche Excellence Awards recipients.

Knight, who works as a professor of information technology, said her greatest reward is witnessing the light go on when the “aha” moment occurs for her students.

For more information, contact Kelly Griffith at kgriffith@pencol.edu.