Faculty Excellence winners named

Nicole SpeelmanNicole Speelman (click for high-resolution version)TRAVERSE CITY — Science and English instructors were named the 2019 winners of NMC's annual Faculty Excellence awards at commencement ceremonies May 4.

Chemistry instructor Nicole Speelman is the Imogene Wise Faculty Excellence Award winner.

English instructor Cathy Warner is the Adjunct Faculty Excellence Award winner. Chosen by a student selection committee, criteria for both awards include teaching excellence, rapport with students, innovation in the classroom and a sense of dedication.

Both joined the NMC faculty relatively recently. Of Speelman, who began in January 2018, students said:

  • This instructor has gone above and beyond, holding study sessions every week even coming in on Saturdays to give extra help before exams.
  • She is very good at connecting with her students. She also uses a flipped; classroom as a style of teaching. We would watch the lecture videos at home as homework and use class time to go over concepts that we were struggling with. I found this incredibly helpful.
  • I never was thrilled to take a chemistry class, but after this semester I would definitely take another. I couldn’t thank her enough!

Cathy WarnerCathy Warner (click for high-resolution version)Of Warner, who began in August 2017, students said:

  • This instructor gets to know every one of the students so we don’t just feel like another face in the room. Our teacher understands the students’ strengths and weaknesses, and accommodates material for every one of the students to have success in the class.
  • The instructor has us use Moodle, concept maps, and explains difficult concepts on the board. Also, the instructor uses YouTube videos to the class’ advantage.
  • Our instructor is very caring and relates the material to real life events happening in our media to drive the points across.

The Imogene Wise award was first bestowed in 1971. The adjunct award was created as a companion in 1999.

Release date: may 10, 2019

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Diana Fairbanks
Executive Director, NMC Public Relations, Marketing & Communications
dfairbanks@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1019

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