Six JCCC faculty members chosen for Distinguished Service Award
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — To recognize and reward excellence in job performance, a judge has chosen six Johnson County Community College faculty members for the Distinguished Service Award for 2016.
After reviewing applications and supporting materials, Dr. Beth Chance, professor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, chose:
Diane Davis, associate professor of English. Davis has served the English and Journalism division since 2006. In the last two years, she has served as vice-chair of the Educational Affairs Committee, chair of the AA and AS Degree Study Committee, participant of the strategic task force and member of many other college and departmental committees. In March 2015, she presented a paper at the Conference on College Composition and Communication in Tampa, Florida.
Melanie J. Harvey, associate professor of chemistry. As an instructor for Principles of Chemistry, she has incorporated research-based teaching methods using a flipped-classroom model. She provides research opportunities for students, and she took the leadership role in collecting and summarizing data from that class and submitting it to the assessment office. She was a member of the General Education Assessment Task Force, and she served the faculty senate as both representative and secretary.
Jim McWard, professor of English. McWard has taught at JCCC for 20 years. He also is an adjunct instructor in the journalism department. Recently, he developed a new technology-focused Composition I course. In addition to serving on a variety of division and college-wide committees, Jim was secretary for the Faculty Association Executive Council and co-chair for the faculty team during the last round of contract negotiations.
Mark Raduziner, professor of journalism. In the last two years, Raduziner developed articulation agreements with several university journalism programs to strengthen transfer opportunities for JCCC journalism students. During his spring 2015 sabbatical, Raduziner researched more than 80 community college journalism programs across the country, resulting in a clearly defined vision for the college’s journalism program in the digital age.
Heather Seitz, associate professor of science. Seitz has been researching and assessing a “flipped” classroom model in both face-to-face and online learning environments and generating data to evaluate if this teaching model is beneficial to students. She has delivered workshops and created a group, called GAMES, on campus to help develop and learn more about active learning in biology classroom. In addition, Heather has implemented the course-based research experience Small World Initiative in her microbiology classes. The Small World Initiative program seeks to crowd source the discovery of new antibiotics.
Lekha Sreedhar, associate professor of horticultural sciences. Sreedhar joined JCCC’s Science Division as a full-time member in 2006. Since then she has single-handedly developed and transformed JCCC’s horticultural sciences department into a reputable, growing, visible program placing JCCC in the spotlight, achieving 100 percent job placement for her students. She initiated the annual Horticultural Sciences Day in 2010, and today it helps recruit students to the Horticultural field, collects sponsorship for scholarships, provides information about job opportunities and careers in horticulture and brings together speakers from academia, business and government.
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