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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Congratulations to the 2009 NISOD Award Winners!


The Faculty Senate is proud to announce that the following individuals have been recognized for their outstanding contributions to the Monroe Community College community with the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Award. They have consistently and passionately gone beyond their job requirements to make our college a better place in which to learn and to work.

We are fortunate to have so many gifted and caring individuals at MCC. The brief descriptions below represent only a small part of the work done by these faculty members.

We would also like to recognize the other nominees, each of whom serves MCC with distinction. Finally, thank you to the nominators who worked so hard to put together outstanding packages to honor their colleagues.



William Dunning, Assistant Professor of English/Philosophy

Professor Dunning started his career with Monroe Community College in the fall of 2003 as an instructor. Most of Bill’s time at the college has been focused at the Damon City Campus where he is an energetic, enthusiastic, and dedicated presence for both his students and colleagues.

He has been instrumental in numerous initiatives including chairing the TCC at Damon, Honors, and Learning Communities. Bill’s innovation, the Teachable Moments Interactive DVD, has been used by multiple departments at MCC in their hiring process.
Additionally, other higher education institutions have expressed interest in using the DVD for their faculty hiring process.

As a colleague, he has been instrumental in nurturing dozens of new faculty through the creation of supportive workshops. Over the past three years alone, Bill has helped develop over 50 workshops and seminars for faculty.

Professor Dunning is most importantly an inspirational and creative teacher who connects with a diverse population of
students, modeling respect and appreciation for human uniqueness at all times.


Bethany Gizzi, Assistant Professor of Sociology

Professor Gizzi has been a full-time faculty member at MCC since 2002. In that time she has compiled a distinguished record as a teacher, colleague, and community member. Students continue to benefit not only from her teaching skills, which demonstrate an enormous capacity to connect with and impact learners, but from her initiatives in promoting Sustainability, not only in her own classes but in helping lead the Faculty Green Group.

She has been untiring and generous in encouraging and assisting faculty in other departments to incorporate sustainability initiatives into their courses.

As a colleague, she has consistently focused on promoting a positive and vital culture that unifies the various disciplines in her department, whether it be in curriculum development, creating an adjunct handbook, starting a departmental Calendar of Events, or chairing any number of committees.

Bethany has also been an active faculty council member from the beginning of her career at MCC. She has served on the past two contract negotiation teams, and is currently grievance chair as well as a member of faculty council’s executive committee and the union management committee.



Steve Kilner, Assistant Professor of Mathematics

Professor Kilner has been a full-time mathematics faculty member since 2001, during which time he has creatively, and
energetically worked to increase exposure not only to mathematics but to mathematics-related activities.

Steve’s colleagues in the Math department regard him as the "go to" person for collaboration in solving difficult problems and discussing difficult concepts. 

His grasp of the subject matter is inspiring: Steve teaches 16 different courses from developmental algebra to post-calculus mathematics – and does all of them well.  He was also the co-creator of a successful new course, MTH 172 – Technical Discrete Mathematics, helping make Discrete Mathematics accessible for students in the technologies. He has enhanced online courses by recording and embedding videos, and chairs any number of departmental committees.

Steve’s impact on students extends far beyond the classroom. He resurrected the long-defunct
MCC Math Club and has continued as its chair since 2005. He has also chaired the Math Department’s contest committee, which coordinates MCC students’ participation in state and national math contests since 2004. In 2007-08 the MCC math team won the New York state competition.


Sherry Tshibangu, Assistant Professor Business Administration/Economics

Professor Tshibangu began her full-time career at MCC as an Instructor in the Business Administration/Economics Department in 2003. She is completely committed to MCC and to our students. One of the many things she does in the classroom is to creatively incorporate
Service-Learning into her course work. In the past she has not only worked with the CASH program, which assists low-income families to build money management skills but with RochesterWorks! to conduct a usability study for a regional entrepreneurial website.

Sherry has excelled through the establishment of the Emerging Entrepreneurs Scholarship Program which was successfully launched in July 2008. As director of this program,
Sherry was involved in every aspect of its development: name selection, website and marketing plan development, candidate recruiting and selection, preparing quarterly reports, and many other tasks too numerous to mention. The program and several students have been featured in the Democrat and Chronicle. Over a fourteen month period almost 400 applications were received and 135 students awarded scholarships.

Sherry continues not only to work with that program, but extends herself to organize events such as the April 2009 Student Entrepreneurial Expo and the November 2009 Pathways to Entrepreneurial Success resource forum.

The NISOD winners will be honored at the International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence on May 30-June 2 in Austin, Texas. Congratulations to all!

Carmen Powers
Faculty Senate Professional Development Committee
12/14/2009