Edmonds CC 2015 Building Community Day: Experience and Explore your Community: Past, Present, and Future

05/29/15

Edmonds CC held its 19th annual Building Community Day (BCD) on May 8. This college-wide event is for all employees to attend professional and personal development activities. BCD also brings everyone together to learn and reconnect throughout the day. Part of BCD day is the award ceremony to recognize award recipients for excellence in education, full-time faculty, exempt employee, classified, and part-time faculty. This year’s award recipients are nothing short of extraordinary.

This year’s Excellence in Education award went to David Breed, instructor for High School Completion, Developmental Education, who started in the fall of 1998 as a part-time instructor and attained his full-time position in the fall of 1999. His nominators said he:

• “Puts his students first,”
• “Holds extra tutoring sessions, constantly works to improve processes and curriculum and has authored and co-authored at least three textbooks for Pre-College classes.”

The Echelbarger/Sherman full-time faculty awards are given to those who demonstrate exceptional service to their program or discipline. This year’s recipients were Patrick Averbeck, Patrick Burnett, and Marie Tran.

Patrick Averbeck, the Department Head for Math, has been with Edmonds CC since 2003.

Averbeck has: redesigned pre-college math, personally advised hundreds of students, and has been instrumental in creating and facilitating course coordinators to create consistent student experiences to boost student success across the program.

Patrick Burnett, the Department Head for Engineering, has been with Edmonds CC since 2010. Burnett has helped to double the size of the engineering department in four years, formed an Engineering council to create block class schedules to better serve the needs of approximately 800 pre-engineering students.

Marie Tran, Business Management instructor, has been with Edmonds CC since 2006. Tran has a great rapport with her students and spends many hours advising students about their courses, career paths, and life. Every year, Tran creates an Ethics Challenge workshop with Boeing where students analyze ethics cases and present their decisions for review. She is also the co-founder of Children of Vinh Son orphanage in Vietnam, and is an active member for PeaceTrees, Vietnam, a non-profit organization dedicated for landmine removal, risk education, survivor assistance and community-based projects in Central Vietnam.

Each year the Edmonds CC Foundation recognizes exceptional service from the campus community based on nominations from their colleagues for the following awards.

The Barbara Patterson Exempt Employee Award was given to Heidi Farani, Edmonds CC Director of Academic Advising and Orientation, who has been with Edmonds CC since 2009. Farani’s nominators said, “Heidi has gone above and beyond to create an advising program at Edmonds CC that increases student success and retention. She always makes everyone feel welcome in the advising center and builds a stronger sense of campus community.”

The Part-time Faculty Development Award went to Bess Bronstein, part-time faculty, who has been teaching in the Horticulture department for more than 25 years. “Bess has a unique gift of balance as a compassionate student partner and comprehensive instructor — an academic mentor with a rigorous intellect and a big heart. New faculty quickly gravitate to Bess as a seasoned interpreter of best practice and problem solving guide,” said Bronstein’s nominators.

The Sherman Classified Excellence Award was received by Vanessa Halverson, Administrative Services Manager in the Business Division. Halverson has worked for the Business Division since 1995. “Halverson is a technology innovator, can always be counted on to see the big picture, and follow through on the important details. The staff and faculty rely on her expertise, her encyclopedic knowledge of college procedures, practices, systems, and history to get things done in order to serve students and support the college,” said her nominators.