Tri-County’s Social Sciences Department Head serves on AACC Faculty Advisory Council

Tri-County Technical College’s Social Sciences Department Head has been selected from faculty across the country to serve on the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) 10-member Faculty Advisory Council.

Penny Edwards will serve a three-year term on AACC’s new Faculty Advisory Council that will provide input to the association on several key AACC efforts. The council will provide strategic advice to AACC President Walter Bumphus and staff about the role faculty leadership can play in accelerating and scaling up efforts around academic and career pathways (particularly around AACC’s new Pathways Project); developing a national credentials framework; and adapting the core principles for redesigning developmental education.

AACC may seek advice from the faculty council for professional development offerings for adjunct and full-time faculty. The council also may provide content and suggestions on the design of professional development with a faculty leadership focus at future AACC conventions and programs, Dr. Bumphus said. All of these efforts are connected to recommendations of the AACC 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges.

Founded in 1920, the AACC has become the leading proponent and the national “voice for community colleges.” It is the primary advocacy organization for community colleges at the national level.

“We’re excited to launch this new initiative to more closely involve faculty members with AACC,” Bumphus said. “The work of faculty members in our community colleges is perhaps the most difficult work in America. They are instrumental in making the magic in our classrooms,” he said.

“Dedicated leadership is essential to the continued success of community colleges and to our association,” said Dr. Bumphus. “We are sure that Penny’s insights and leadership will significantly contribute to the association staff’s decision-making process and its ability to serve the interests of all AACC member institutions.”

Edwards attended Lander University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. After graduation she began working as a research technician at Greenwood Genetic Center. She later worked as a counselor with Lutheran Family Services and as a mental health associate at Springbrook Behavioral Health. After earning a master’s of science from University of Florida’s Clinical and Health Psychology program, she embarked on a career teaching at Tri-County Technical College where she has been for a decade. Edwards was named Social Sciences Department Head in August 2015.

Last year Edwards graduated from the Leadership Pickens County (LPC) Program. The purpose of Leadership Pickens County, sponsored by the Chambers of Commerce and the Leadership Pickens Board of Regents, is to organize and implement a framework of experiences for emerging community leaders to become better informed and more actively involved in the decision-making processes of their communities.

As part of her class’s leadership project, they worked on a beautification project for the Hagood Senior Center and through fundraising were able to donate $2,500 to the senior center. Graduating from the LPC Program led to Edwards being named to a three-year term on its Board of Regents. “Thanks to the LPC program, I’ve learned additional leadership skills and have established enduring connections with community partners. Not only am I maintaining those connections through my service on the Board of Regents, I am building new ones,” said Edwards.

She conducted a team-building session for the new 2016 Leadership Pickens class, assisted with the education session in December and will be involved in the Recreation and Tourism session in May. “It has been an honor to be part of such an amazing group of people and program,” she said.

Edwards will continue on in her passion for helping students and championing for faculty by serving on the AACC’s Faculty Council.

“I am excited to see what opportunities lie ahead for me to support not only Tri-County’s faculty, but all faculty in higher education. I’m thankful to the faculty at Tri-County for their nomination and I am honored to have been selected by the AACC,” she said.