A group of six outstanding staff members at City College are being awarded with the Faculty Excellence Award this year.
Since 2003, the Academic Senate and Faculty Recognition Committee have recognized prominent people who have made a positive impact on their peers, colleagues and students alike.
Annually, the committee sends e-mails to the staff asking them to nominate exuberant colleagues who have gone above and beyond their expectations.
The committee then suggests the nominees to the Academic Senate and the winners earn a certificate with their names engraved in the excellence award plaque.
The winners of 2011 are Dixie Budke, School of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management, Cindy Bower, Associate Professor in Nursing, Steven Conti, Disabled Students Programs and Services, Pam Guenther, Mathematics, Paula Congleton, Physical Education, and Blake Barron, Biological Sciences.
“I try to be an engaged faculty member,” Associate Professor Barron said. “My love for nature drives my interest for biology and my enthusiastic, self-driven students make me passionate about my job.”
Barron has been teaching Biology full-time on campus since 1999.
He said that he challenged himself by building content into his own website that students use in his BIOL 102, Animal Biology, and BMS 136, Biology of Human Sexuality classes. The lectures are online and his hands-on labs are in the classroom.
He is also the Faculty Advisor for the Biology Club, which he said that he sees as a vehicle for collaboration, community outreach, and expanding educational opportunities. From camping trips to Monterey Bay to Naturalist-led spider hikes on Halloween, Barron has taken the learning experience outside the classroom and into the real world.
Counselor Conti has taken his collaboration skills and extended them beyond the campus through frequent participation in conferences like the California Association on Higher Education and Disability.
“I spent twelve years working with employers in the job market area. Combining this with my experience at SBCC gives me a unique perspective on economic and social challenges for students with disabilities,” Conti said.
More than four decades of experience with counseling and more than 25 years as a DSPS counselor speak to his dedication.
“I’ve always felt that I was really lucky to work here,” Conti said. “I believe in the mission of this college, that everybody gets a chance. It makes a big difference that all the DSPS counselors have the same goal, helping the students succeed.”
The award ceremony will be held in the beginning of fall, Friday, Aug. 19.
