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MCC Daily Tribune

Day 1 of our gratitude series: Kudos to you, MCC Faculty and Staff!

This semester has brought with it many opportunities and challenges, but as always, the MCC community has risen to the occasion! Based on the overwhelming number of submissions for our semi- annual request for kudos, we will be highlighting faculty and staff from across the College every day for the next 10 days. Below is just a taste of some of the great work happening at this institution. Thank you, MCC, for all you do for your students and each other.

-Amanda Colosimo and Terry Shamblin
Interim co-coordinators, Teaching and Creativity Center

From faculty/staff to faculty/staff:

  • Nomination: The MCC Faculty
    Dear Faculty,
    Thanks for being wonderful this semester! We know you have been through many changes from moving online during the pandemic and learning many new technologies, and now the recent transition to Brightspace. It's been a lot. We know it was the worst possible timing and the majority of you spent your entire summer learning and training on Brightspace. You have also spent countless hours updating and reviewing your courses.
    We would like to give a special thank you to our summer Brightspace pilot faculty. You let us learn along with you so our team could also figure out what we were doing.  Thank you for jumping in and helping to be advocates in your departments. We appreciate all of your creativity to make the best of what Brightspace has to offer. You are all doing a phenomenal job!
    Thank you to all of our faculty teaching in the fall semester with Brightspace.  We have been so happy that many of you have jumped right in to learn all of the new features of Brightspace to enhance your teaching. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we have had many setbacks with SUNY along the way. Thank you for helping and supporting each other and for modeling kindness to your students. We are all figuring this out.
    A change is not easy. We have enjoyed supporting you through the transition and know we still have your back as we move into the Spring semester. We appreciate your awesomeness to try new things, even if it's just being able to log in and manage your course for now. We will all get there together. Your students are lucky to have you as their professors. Know that we appreciate all that you do. Keep up the good work and stay positive!
    -From Your Virtual Campus Team
  • Nomination: Andrea Gilbert, Virtual Campus
    Andrea is the MVP of the campus. She is always helping everyone with Brightspace issues. She never stops working, rarely takes her lunch, but is always sweet & professional.
  • Nomination: Natasha Chen, A/H/P/S
    The diversity, equity, and belonging work Natasha Chen does is nothing short of inspirational. She is a fierce advocate for all people, but especially bipoc students, faculty, and staff. Her tireless mission to confront systemic racism and stereotypes in all venues of her life is a model for how we can live out the mission of MCC and continuously work towards social justice. 
  • Nomination: Rick Costanza
    Rick has been working tirelessly as the new EDU/HUM department chair. Yet, he has consistently made time to debrief classes with me, make suggestions, and share materials. I want to recognize how much time he is generously committing to supporting adjunct faculty. 
  • Nomination: Brenda Klein
    Our small yet mighty department went through a wave of staffing changes as of 9/1/22. Brenda was the consistent port in the storm, offering endless suggestions, support, and information about how processes have done in the past. While some in new leadership roles may find this to be unwelcome, Brenda's input was welcome, valued, and needed more than she even knew! As we prep to go through another wave of short-term transitions, she is again standing strong, assisting new staff with processes and protocol, and making sure everyone is able to work towards the goal of lowering the drop out rate for students in RCSD

From students to professional staff:

  • Nomination: Cindy and Oksana, Downtown Tutoring Center
    I'm an adult foreign student returning to school after many years, and with me taking the math 099/104 class online, this has been pretty challenging. I had the pleasure working with Ms. Cindy and Oksana with tutoring help. Working with them makes math fun and enjoyable. I worked with Ms. Cindy for most of the time. I wish I had known about the program early (most especially the walk-in which fitted into my schedule pretty good). It would have helped me a lot. Cindy is very involved, dedicated, and caring. I really appreciate all the assistance she gave me. I'll definitely continue getting assistance next semester(spring) for math to keep on track.
  • Nomination: Julie Arnold, Downtown Advisement
    I really want to thank Mrs. Arnold for making spring registration so simple and easy. She is really informative, resourceful, and prompt to reply to emails, not delaying in her replies. She took away all the stress of registration from me, and also helped another student that I recommended her to. She can relay information to students easily, and make you comfortable, and made sure you understood the information she was providing, breaking it down for me easily, and helping me as a foreign student who doesn't really know everything. Our meetings were productive, lessened my anxiety, and encouraged me multiple times in my academic endeavors. I really look up to her, and I'm thankful that she was the one I met that day to assist me in registration. If I could talk to her every week, my motivation to go to school and do well would be even higher. She didn't turn me away to go and ask elsewhere for help. Not everyone is dedicated like that. There are people who work, and then here are people who try their best without even exerting any effort. I just truly appreciate her! 

From students to adjunct faculty members (part I of III):

  • Receiving 2 Nominations: Ebony Brown, Criminal Justice
    • ​​​​​​​She goes above and beyond for her students. I can ask her any question and she will gladly answer it. I have so much fun in class because of her. She teaches very well, full of stories and information that I have never heard of. I can tell she really cares for her students and has kept her promise of keeping her classroom a safe place.
    • Professor Brown has made class more than enjoyable. She made the class fun to be in and the material easy to follow.
  • Receiving 2 nominations: David McLuckie, English
    • ​​​​​​​With so much going on in my life and this being my first semester he just takes so much of a load off my shoulders. He's kind, understanding, and goes over and beyond to help me make sure I am successful in his classroom. Sometimes when people go through things and having a professor that shows nothing but support and care makes it to were I don't give up and I never do because I know I have someone there rooting me on. I love his personality and how he runs his class. I'm so grateful to have started back to school and to have him as my professor. I hope he is recognized because it is soooo important to show appreciation to who deserves it
    • Mr. McLuckie has been a huge help, he is very kind and helpful. He always responds to emails even on the weekends. He will also stay after on zoom whenever anyone needs extra help. Very professional and explains in detail how to do every assignment along with videos and slide shows. I’m so glad he is my professor.
  • Receiving 2 nominations: Michael Rhoda, Mathematics
    • ​​​​​​​Professor Rhoda has displayed nothing short of excellence. He is beyond patient and kind. I dread every 9am lecture, but not his. He's always positive and ready to do things at the students' pace. During this semester, I haven't once felt as if material was poorly explained or that my need for deeper understanding was a nuisance. If I could have him for every class, I would. It's hard to find the words to express my gratitude, but I truly appreciate all that's done!
    • Michael Rhoda is a one-of-a-kind professor. He always makes sure that every student in his classroom understands what is being taught. If someone doesn’t understand, he will take the time to keep going over the problem and even show different ways to do it. He’s a very respectful, kind, caring professor. Professor Rhoda is just an amazing professor to have. Very thankful to have him.
  • Receiving 3 nominations: Nelya Pomayda, Mathematics
    • ​​​​​​​The reason I would like to nominate Professor Nelya Pomayda as being remarkable because the questions or concerns that I had about different math problems she took the time to clarify certain problems and helped me to understand certain math methods.
    • Professor Pomayda is very dedicated to her work. She tries to always explain in a way I and others can understand. I feel she does great and goes beyond for any student. If you need help she is willing to stay after class to discuss anything you need or she will mention she gets to college early and she can help. I feel this is a great professor and I would love to be in her class again. 
    • Professor Pomayda is amazing!! She took time to help us understand the work. Even with a difficult student in the class she was extremely patient & always remained professional. 

Amanda Colosimo
Teaching and Creativity Center
12/05/2022