Spring is the time colleges celebrate their graduates. At Virginia Peninsula Community College, it’s also the time of the year to honor faculty and staff with its annual employee awards celebration.
More than 150 faculty and staff gathered in the Dr. Mary T. Christian Theatre on Friday, April 24, to recognize more than 75 employees.
Four professors received the highest honor, the Vanguard Award, which came with $1,000 for each recipient. Winning the Vanguard Award in Teaching were Adrianna Hardage, Daliborka Padon and Nina Mun. The Vanguard Award in Service went to Pengfei Song.
Eight faculty members received $500 for winning a Faculty Focus award. They were Brittany Garcia (Student Success), Jamie Mead (Collegiality and Teamwork), Sharon Cotman (Culture of Care), Amy Schmidt (Culture of Care), Dionne Redding (Service), Rebecca Jaderquist (Teaching Effectiveness), Sofoklis Hiotellis (Institutional Responsibility)andLucinda Spryn (Institutional Responsibility).
Among the most sought-after honors is for Faculty Rewards, which are based solely on student nominations. The winners were:
Learning Environment bronze: Daliborka Padon (English), Laura Stephens (Math), Lynsey LeMay (Geology), Jennifer Martin (Biology), Kerry Markey-Cote (EMS), David Nonnulla (EMS), Karen Townsend (English), Jamie Mead (Biology), Desmond Osborne (Business), Ashley Nelson (Biology), Amy Anderson Horton (Legal Ed), Linda Dunn (Psychology), Teresa Frazier (Early Childhood Education), Ian Taylor (Economics), Tariq Jawbar (English), Amy Schmidt (Math), Elizabeth Kelso (Math), Kimberly Zahn (Biology), Catherine Meadows (Early Childhood Education), Kristen Coolbear (Geology), Riham Mahfouz (Chemistry), Shauna Hewitt (Math), Claire Edmonds (Nursing), Moira Offord (Biology), Alandra Giron-Simmons (Language), Olufunke Olagunju (Chemistry), Marseillaise Maxey (Education).
Learning Environment Silver: Joshua McDonald (Philosophy), Pengfei Song (Biology), Jacqueline Fitzgibbons (Biology), Rebecca Jaderquist (Nursing).
Learning Environment Gold: Shaheem Abrahams (Biology), Mary Dorsey (Nursing),Kimberly Shakallis (English).
Faculty Reward nominees: Khaliah Wilson, Lucinda Spryn, Lynsey Lemay, Caitlynn Layton, Mark Burge, Daliborka Padon, Dionne Redding, Pengfei Song, Sharon Cotman, Nina Mun, Rebecca Jaderquist, Amy Anderson Horton, Adrianna Hardage, Sofoklis Hiotellis, Brittany Garcia, Amy Schmidt, Jamie Mead, Helen Bevan.
Two other prestigious awards went to Caitlynn Layton for Outstanding Teaching Faculty and Leisha Hibbett for Outstanding Adjunct Faculty.
OTHER AWARDS
Outstanding part-time staff: Jesse Dennis
Outstanding full-time staff: Gary Preston
Outstanding Administrative Professional Faculty: Franz Albertini
CSSA Person of the Year: Geri Mathey
Gator Great CARES award winners (They embody the College’s Culture of Care principles): Shiekema Queen, Janeen Fortune, LaRhonda Johnson Horton, Christina Pasko and LeRon Lewis.
Special recognition for educational or professional success: Tracy Munoz, Kristian Thomas, Janeen Fortune, Chief Todd Coxe, Dr. Kerry Ragno, Tracey Wright and LaRhonda Johnson Horton.
Service awards: In addition, those celebrating anniversaries of one, three, five (among them Dr. Brannon), 10, 15, 20 and 25 years also were recognized.
