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The top faculty honor was given to Dan Rogers, Cedar Valley College speech and drama instructor.

Contact: Ann Hatch
214-378-1819; ahatch@dcccd.edu

For immediate release — March 6, 2013

(DALLAS) — “Choose a job you love, and you never have to work a day in your life.”

Faculty, administrators and professional support staff who work for the Dallas County Community College District seem to know that simple truth by heart — even though it was expressed centuries ago by Confucius. Service to students is their top priority — from the DCCCD board of trustees to each college and location in the system. Working with students becomes a career, not a job.

A select group of DCCCD employees were honored recently for their dedication and service during a celebration titled “Sweet Success.” The event was hosted by Richland College at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas. During the ceremony, these employees’ creativity, innovation and devotion were acknowledged as college and location award recipients were recognized with districtwide awards for their work.

“We have a long-held tradition of honoring the outstanding educational and student service achievements of our faculty, staff and administrators from the system’s seven colleges and its district locations,” said Dr. Wright Lassiter Jr., DCCCD’s chancellor, to the awardees. “This award-winning field of innovative and inspiring accomplishments reflects the dedicated work and service taking place at our colleges and locations each and every day, changing lives and preparing our students for successful living and responsible citizenship.”

The top faculty honor, the Minnie Stevens Piper Excellence in Teaching Award, was given to Dan Rogers, who teaches speech and drama at Cedar Valley College. Rogers earned his bachelor’s degree in speech/theater arts from the University of Central Arkansas and his master’s degree from the University of North Texas. He began his career with DCCCD at Richland College in 1997 as a speech instructor and then joined the faculty at Cedar Valley College in 2001 as a speech and drama instructor.

Rogers received the Jean Sharon Griffith Student Development Leadership Award in 2006 when he created “Theater Helping Education Move,” and he was recognized as the district’s Innovator of the Year in 2007. He is the author of five murder-mystery dinner theater scripts. Rogers also is Cedar Valley’s representative to the first Cisco College Core Curriculum Conference; a founding member of the Student Ambassadors Organization at CVC; and co-founder of the college’s Toastmasters Club.

Other districtwide honors and their recipients were:

Adjunct Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award — David Newman, art, Brookhaven College;
Jean Sharon Griffith Student Development Leadership Award — David Morales, program services coordinator, Male ACCESS program, Mountain View College;
Administrator of the Year Award — Joan Becker, dean of nursing, El Centro College;
Innovation of the Year Award — “Historical Catalog Project,” Brenda Welcome, team leader; team members Tara Kirk and Cody Ridgway, District Office;
Full-time Professional Support Staff Employee of the Year — Brenda Welcome, instructional Web manager/catalog publications, District Office;
Part-time Professional Support Staff Employee of the Year Award — Alene Love, coordinator of workforce and continuing education, Brookhaven College;
DCCCD Retiree Hall of Fame Award — faculty: Eva Anderson, nursing, El Centro College; administrator: Dr. Vic Rizzo, business affairs, El Centro College; and Patricia Corbett, administrative assistant/president’s office, North Lake College.

Each college and location named winners in those categories as well; those nominees were considered for the districtwide awards.

College and location winners are listed below by the award they received:

Minnie Stevens Piper Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award

Dr. Claire M. Bambrough, chemistry, Brookhaven College;
Dan Rogers, speech and drama, Cedar Valley College;
Dr. Tammy Oliver, biology, Eastfield College;
Marilyn Sullivan, fashion marketing, El Centro College;
Dr. Doug Keenan, electronics and information technology, Mountain View College;
Marie Kohrmann, mathematics, North Lake College;
Dr. Sam Tinsley, mathematics, Richland College.

Adjunct Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award

David Newman, art, Brookhaven College;
Eric Nightingale, psychology and history, Cedar Valley College;
Barbara Carr, biology, Eastfield College;
Stella Payne, developmental writing, El Centro College;
Carol Bitner-Collins, aviation, Mountain View College;
Barry Warner, physics, North Lake College;
Patrick Simpson, history, Richland College.

Jean Sharon Griffith Student Development Leadership Award

Andrew Deibert, coordinator, service learning/civic engagement, Brookhaven College;
Office of Student Life (Lauren Anderson, Lewis Michael Giles, Harold Stinson Hankeson and Miyoshi Holmes), Cedar Valley College;
Dora Pacheco, administrative and enrollment services representative, Eastfield College-Pleasant Grove;
Toni Holloway and Brent Barnard, counseling and advising, El Centro College;
Veraina Boudreaux, district eCampus Help Desk manager, LeCroy Center;
David Morales, program services coordinator (Male ACCESS program), Mountain View College;
Adrianne Settles, coordinator of student development programs, North Lake College;
Diana Urrutia, associate dean, School of World Languages, Cultures and Communications, Richland College.

Administrator of the Year

Terri Edrich, executive director of human resources, Brookhaven College;
Marlon Mote, director of research, Cedar Valley College;
Georgeann Moss, director of Internet publishing, District Office;
Kate Kelley, associate vice chancellor of human resources/internal operations and services, District Service Center;
Rachel Barber Wolf, executive dean of arts, language and literature, Eastfield College;
Joan Becker, dean of nursing, El Centro College;
Alice “Becky” Stinson, manager of academic partnerships and Dallas Learning Solutions, LeCroy Center;
Dr. Quentin Wright, executive dean of communications and social sciences, Mountain View College;
Virginia Jones, director of health services/office of student life, North Lake College;
Martha Hogan, executive dean for the School of Engineering, Business and Technology, Richland College.

Innovation of the Year

Brookhaven College — CARE Team (Oscar Lopez, team leader, and Jason Brown, Carol Cinclair, Winifred Clarke, Nita Drescher, Terri Edrich, Shelia Gilliam, Mildred Kelley, Kellie Hickman, John Klingensmith, Kathleen Long, Mark Lopez, Monique Mannering, Beverly Neu Menassa, Julie Perez, Linda Reyna, Rick Tuman and Shirley Walker);
Cedar Valley College — Green Computing Power-Saving Initiative (Michael White, team leader, and Cathryn Adams, Paula Dennis, Suvarna Desai, Kezia Drake, Russell Haynes, Lisa Nightingale and Juan Ramos);
District Office — Historical Catalog Project (Brenda Welcome, team leader, and Tara Kirk and Cody Ridgway);
District Service Center — Historical Catalog Project (Cody Ridgway);
Eastfield College — Journey to Success Training Modules (Vivian Davis);
El Centro College Online New Student Orientation (Karen Stills, team leader, and Elizabeth Flash and Rick Walker);
LeCroy Center — Accessibility Software Service for Students with Visual Disabilities (Freddie Castillo, team leader, and David Chien and Leon Hart);
Mountain View College — Quality Enhancement Plan Writing Initiative (Dr. Geoff Grimes and Dr. Quentin Wright, co-leaders, and Moises Almendariz, Eileen Baland, James Behan, Rebekah Benavides, Joseph Brockway, Anthony Buenning, Taunya Dixon-Collins, Greg Elkins, Darius Frasure, Mariaelena Godinez, Ayre “James” Harris, Alicia Hinojosa, Tony Kroll, Heather Marsh, Richard Parra, Dr. Ryan Pettengil, Kumars Ranjbaran, Markay Rister, Ulises Rodriguez, Denise Shipley, Tamar Slider, Joyce Tarpley, Kevin Williams and Jonathan York);
North Lake College — Strengths Nurturing Academic Progress (team leader Sherry Boyd and team member Sonya Hopkins);
Richland College — Expansion of Campus Sustainability/Reduction of Energy Use and Cost (Jerry Owens, team leader, and Ron Foster, Kenneth Hart, Lucio Hernandez, Anthony Leand, Anson Ngo and Fermin Portillo).

Full-time Professional Support Staff Employee of the Year

Vikki Ethington, police officer, Brookhaven College;
Lysandra “Sandie” Harcourt, administrative assistant in business and technology, Cedar Valley College;
Brenda Welcome, instructional Web manager/catalog publications, District Office;
Anthony Archer, internal auditor II, District Service Center;
Lori Dann, student publications manager, Eastfield College;
Gilda Boersma, information desk representative/admissions, El Centro College;
Evelyn Wong-Nguyen, telecommunications information specialist for Dallas Colleges Online, LeCroy Center;
Randy Clower, college video/filmmaker, Mountain View College;
Aaron Stout, manager of multimedia production services/Wildfire Institute, North Lake College;
Maria Solis Houg, international student specialist II, Richland College.

Part-time Professional Support Staff Employee of the Year

Alene Love, coordinator of workforce and continuing education, Brookhaven College;
Eric Moore, coordinator of online tutoring, Cedar Valley College;
Beth Howard, facilities clerk, Eastfield College;
Ken Kornfeld, library department assistant, El Centro College;
Dee Anderson, communications and social sciences department assistant III, Mountain View College;
Andrea Ciminelli, facilities administrative assistant, North Lake College;
Julie Phillips, instructional associate/business office systems and support, Richland College.

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