MASON CITY -During the 2012-13 academic year graduating students receiving an award from NIACC were invited to provide comments about an instructor they had in class who made a positive impact in their life and educational experience. Students voluntarily responded to a survey and were told their comments would be used to nominate a teacher for NIACC’s “Excellence in Teaching” award. A volunteer committee convened to select this year’s recipients.
Instructors were chosen from three divisions on campus: Arts and Science; Career/Technical and Adjunct Faculty.
The winning instructors are listed below followed by comments from their students.
· Arts Science: Lori Quinlan — “I used to hate math, but this instructor is an amazing teacher. She would use examples all can understand. She always had a smile and is truly awesome.”
· Career/ Technical: Doug Morse — “He is friendly and very easy to talk and get along with. His real-life experiences are very helpful. He is by far the most influential teacher I had while at NIACC.”
· Adjunct Faculty: Bennett Smith — “He has so much passion for education and learning. It was like being right there with some of the people we studied in class. It was an awesome experience. He is so intelligent, but so kind.”
Dr. Lyn Brodersen, Vice President for Student and Academic Affairs, presented the awards during the NIACC All-Staff meeting August 19 and 20. “These instructors deserve this recognition. We are so proud of their work and the impact they have on student success and completion,” she said.
NIACC is a great school. Kids get a good education. Business and industry get a good training partner and all of north Iowa gets to enjoy terrific concerts too.
I took several night classes at NIACC back in the 70’s to further my education in business and all the teachers were absolutely first rate, including members of the community who were not teachers by profession. I’m glad to hear NIACC still rates so high in the nation in education. Our area is very fortunate to have this institution.
Congratulations to these instructors!! It is wonderful that we can get an excellent education right here at home. NIACC is also ranked 14th in the nation for academic success for community colleges….Way to go!!