Spartanburg Community College announces Educator of the Year Award recipients
January 21, 2016
Spartanburg Community College has chosen exemplary faculty and staff members to receive South Carolina Technical Education Association (SCTEA) awards. Each year, SCC’s faculty and staff submit nominations for colleagues who have demonstrated a commitment to excellence and dedication to the College. The following recipients were chosen for 2016:
SCTEA Educators of the Year Awards
Administrator Award – Jay Jackson, director of Evaluation, Accreditation & Planning
Faculty Award – Renee Trammell, program director, Administrative Office Technology
Staff Award – David Barber, Maintenance supervisor
“Each year the College recognizes outstanding individuals who uphold the College’s mission and values in everything they do,” said Henry C. Giles, Jr., SCC president. “They are chosen by faculty, staff and students based on quality of instruction, student instructor relationships, and professional college and community support. We are grateful for their continued commitment to education, their dedication to our students and the wonderful examples they set for others at SCC and in our community.”
Jay Jackson, director of evaluation, accreditation and planning, and his team are responsible for leading SCC’s faculty and staff through a variety of initiatives each critical to the college’s future and the continuation of SCC offerings. In addition to managing an extensive evaluation and planning process each year, Jay also manages the college-wide re-accreditation process that occurs every 10 years through the Southern Association of Colleges-Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC) and Schools, which without, SCC could not operate as a viable institution of higher education.
Mr. Jackson’s award nominator says, “Jay put in an enormous amount of work to complete the SACS COC compliance report by the deadline. That the off-site review committee found only minor issues, or noted lack of compliance in areas we had already identified, is testimony to the effort he put forth and the quality of his work. He manages a large number of cyclical processes (planning, assessment, strategic plan development), all of which are in the process of being revise. Jay has led the to process to update the college’s strategic plan and he has taken the lead on developing a request for proposal for a new college-wide planning, assessment, accreditation and credentialing solution. Jay is very deserving of the outstanding administrator award.”
Renee Trammell, SCC’s program director for the administrative office technology program, is the recipient of this year’sFaculty Award. Her nominator says she’s often heard Ms. Trammell share that she was “called to teach,” and it is obvious Renee lives her calling everyday in SCC classrooms. “Renee is a very caring and enthusiastic instructor with high expectations for her students, and she believes that encouraging students and being a good role model are just as important as knowing content.”
Renee teaches in and outside of the classroom taking “students on a lunch field trip every semester so they can practice effective business etiquette principles. She also sets up on-campus mock job interviews for students because she believes it is important for them to visualize themselves as polished professionals in the workplace, successfully attaining their educational, career, and personal goals.”
In addition, Renee has served her community by being on the SCC Speakers Bureau for years, and she’s a frequent speaker at internal SCC faculty-staff development workshops offering classes on business etiquette bingo, email etiquette and customer service techniques.
SCC’s staff of the year award recipient is David Barber, maintenance supervisor in SCC’s campus operations.
Mr. Barber’s nominator says, “SCC has five campuses, three with multiple buildings, and David oversees the physical facility needs of every one of them. He works with a skeleton crew, often dealing with very unhappy (and often very vocal) people, but I’ve never seen him angry or flustered. He deals with both SCC family and community members in the same calm, in-control manner. I respect his knowledge and his integrity, and I admire the way he represents SCC to the many entities that are on our properties, either for a few hours or long-term. I am astonished at how David manages to stay on top of all the things that can and do go wrong, with only a handful of physical plant technicians. If I ever quit doing what I do now, I would be happy to work for him. He deserves recognition.”
Award recipients will be recognized at the 2016 annual SCTEA conference in February in Myrtle Beach, SC. SCTEA was organized in 1974 to offer enrichment and professional development for individuals working in state institutions for technical education.
