Members of the Alta senior leadership team, campus presidents, deans and honorees gathered for a special ceremony in Denver on April 22 to recognize outstanding faculty members for their dedication to excellence. Our annual Excellence in Education awards honors top educators both at the campus and the national level in six categories: Community Service, Committee Service, Program Leadership, Faculty of the Year, Provost and Dean of the Year. Our winners embody the vision of the ideal educator, one who adds value through contributions not only to students, but also to the campus, the entire institution and the community.
Top honors went to Ovetta Peete for the President’s Award, and Kathleen Fon for the National Faculty of the Year Award.
The prestigious President’s Award recognizes a faculty member who stands out through his or her contributions in teaching, community service and recruitment. The recipient, Ovetta Peete, is a faculty member in the Criminal Justice program at the Chicago River Oaks campus. Ms. Peete began her career with Westwood while also working as a police officer with the Chicago Police Department. During her career as a police officer, she received numerous honorable mentions and department awards. She has also held positions in several divisions including patrol administration, the tactical and gang unit, extraditions, reporting and statistics.
Ms. Peete demonstrates and understands the diverse learning styles of students and often provides valuable opportunities for hands-on teaching and learning. She constantly invites her students to think outside of the box. She never passes up an opportunity to teach students something and attempts to make learning fun by encouraging students to participate in class debates and open discussion.
The National Faculty of the Year winner, Kathleen Fon, has been a full-time faculty member for the School of Design at the Los Angeles Wilshire campus since 2000.
The National Faculty of the Year award recognizes instructors who encourage cooperation and communication among students and honors teaching styles that focus on launching students’ careers. Additional criteria for this award include contributions that improve the student experience, providing support for colleagues and new faculty, promoting campus growth and engaging in professional development activities.
As this year’s recipient, Ms. Fon approaches each day as an opportunity to prepare her students for work in the graphic design industry. She runs her classroom like a small design firm and has many contacts in the professional design world which she utilizes to make the educational experience richer for her students. Field trip activities and real world emulation are just a few of the techniques she uses to deliver information to the students. She also frequently has students work in groups, as they would in a design office on a large project.
In addition to holding students accountable to very high standards in the classroom, Ms. Fon also encourages them to engage in the design community directly through volunteer activities, entering competitions and attending networking events. She works closely with each student to make sure they are taking advantage of all opportunities to get prepared for a design career.
Other top honors included National Faculty of the Year First Runner-Up, Thomas Perrino. Mr. Perrino is a full-time faculty member in the at the Virginia Annandale campus. The National Faculty of the Year Second Runner-Up was Susan Allen. Ms. Allen is the Externship Coordinator for the School of Healthcare at the Houston South campus.
The Provost’s Award was awarded to Tim Guerrero, Academic Dean at the Denver Redstone Campus and the Dean of the year Award went to Dillon Rasmussen, Academic Dean at the Chicago Loop campus, in recognition of their outstanding achievements in leadership and service.
We would like to commend all the nominees for the Excellence in Education awards for their dedication to teaching, to Westwood and Redstone College, and most of all, to the students. Please click here for a complete list of honorees.