Communications instructor Connie Jason is Northwestern Michigan College's 2008 Imogene Wise Faculty Excellence Award winner. Math instructor Stephen Lockman is the 2008 Adjunct Faculty Excellence Award winner. Both were announced at NMC's 2008 commencement ceremonies held May 3.
Chosen by a student selection committee, award criteria includes teaching excellence, rapport with students, innovation in the classroom and a sense of dedication.
Jason, of Traverse City, earned both a bachelor's and a master's degree from Western Michigan University. She started at NMC as coordinator of special needs and reading technician in 1980 and became a communications faculty member in 1982. She currently specializes in developmental classes.
"I'm really proud of my students. They work so hard and their victories are just so sweet," Jason said, adding that her selection was a complete surprise.
"I was shocked and I was honored. It was just a thrill," she said. Both her children also attended NMC.
Lockman, of Williamsburg, earned a bachelors of science and a master's degree from Central Michigan University. He first taught at NMC in the summer of 1991 as a computer instructor for the Upward Bound summer program, and returned each summer through 1996. In August 2000 he started teaching math as an academic adjunct. He has also taught math at Traverse City Central High School for 20 years.
Lockman also said the award came as a total surprise. He said he enjoys teaching at NMC, where he follows in the footsteps of his mother. Loretta Lockman taught in NMC's licensed practical nursing program for 20 years in the 1950s and 60s, he said.
"It's really, really good for me. It's a different kind of student, a different motivation," he said of teaching at NMC. "They're here because they want to be here, and hope it's going to make a major impact on their life."
The Imogene Wise Faculty Excellence Award was initiated by a contribution from longtime NMC benefactors Harold and Imogene Wise in 1970 and first awarded to a full-time faculty member in 1971. The NMC Adjunct Faculty Excellence Award was created as a companion in 1999.
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