This year six Sinclair Community College professors won the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) awards, signifying excellence in teaching and leadership in higher education institutions.
This year’s winners are Robert Chaney, mathematics, Dennis Brode, management, Kelly Joslin, art, Robert Leonard, communication, Tom Singer, mechanical engineering technology and Beth Zickefoose, respiratory care. Chaney also won an American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges Teaching Excellence (AMATYC) award.
NISOD is based out of the University of Texas at Austin and the winners are recognized at the NISOD Conference every year, held in the Austin Convention Center. NISOD has been around since 1978 and Sinclair awarded its first NISOD award in 1991.
According to Kathy Rowell, director of the center for teaching and learning, teachers must put in an application to be considered for the award. Required in the application is the student evaluations given at the end of each quarter and a letter of recommendation from a colleague and from the department chair. Once the teacher has those, then the NISOD Academy–made up of a panel of the last 2 years worth of winners–scores each applicant with a rubric. The top 2 scores in each division are selected for the award.
“This year there were only six applicants,” Rowell said. “Two divisions had two award winners, and two other divisions only had one.”
NISOD is the biggest internal award given for teaching at Sinclair, Rowell said. At some other colleges the NISOD award is also given to non-teaching staff members but at Sinclair only professors are given the award. Also, only professors with more than five years worth of experience can be NISOD applicants.
Other organizations that hand out awards from Sinclair are the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education (SOCHE), the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Ohio Association of Two-Year Colleges (OATYC). Also, awards for Honors Faculty Member of the Year and Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Member are given out, among others. Sinclair award winners are honored at the Annual Faculty Recognition Reception each year. This year’s event occurred on May 14th.