Congratulations to CODAA member Barbel Thoens-Masghati on winning the College-Wide Outstanding Part-Time Faculty Award for the 2011-2012 year! Barbel, a German instructor in the Liberal Arts Division, received her B.A. in German/French from Hope College and her M.A. in German Languages and Literature from Wayne State University. She has been teaching a variety of German classes at the College of DuPage since 2005. She will receive a $500 award from the College of DuPage Foundation, formal recognition and a personal plaque during fall orientation activities, and will be recognized at the 2012 Part-Time Faculty Recognition and Reception in August. Unlike the department awards given at the Recognition Reception, all nominees for this award are nominated by students.
Barbel goes above and beyond to help her students succeed: she holds extensive office hours, gives generously of her time to offer extra help to students, writes recommendations for her students to help them earn scholarships, admission to transfer schools, and other opportunities; she engages students in extracurricular cultural activities and attends and takes leadership roles in many community and campus events. She keeps in touch with some of her students over the years and continues to mentor and encourage them. Her support for language learning and global education at COD and in the community is exemplary.
One of Barbel’s greatest strengths is that she actively cultivates student success and community engagement both in and outside the classroom through cultural programming. She also demonstrates outstanding leadership for students and community by being actively involved and positively oriented. She says, “I love what I do,” and it shows.
Barbel is involved in a variety of activities at College of DuPage; whether it’s coordinating the CBYX (Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange) program for COD, organizing the weekly German Stammtisch, the German conversation table, hosting film nights for her students so that they can engage both the language and culture in a social/academic setting, or organizing and leading extracurricular trips for students and community members, you will always find her doing the most she can to impact students and their learning.
These CODAA members were also nominated:
Sue Ahern (Phlebotomy & EKG) Ellen Ranck (Math)
Josephine Cammallarie (Math) Timothy Ratliff (Speech)
Carol Grelck (A&P) Rebecca Reinke (Psych)
Robert Gutierrez (Welding) Jack Taha (Health & Sci.)
Cathleen Hohner (Bus. & Tech.) Donna Wagner (Cul. Arts)
James Magrini (Phil.) Kenneth White (Chem.)
Anne Malone (Eng.)
Also nominated: Ari Ariyaratne (Anthro)
Jim Ryan wins 2011-2012 College Wide Outstanding Part-Time Adviser Award
As an Academic Advisor in the Student Affairs Division, Jim Ryan specializes in Health Science programs. After many years in hospital administration, Jim joined the COD community to share his knowledge with students interested in careers in the health sciences. This student comment captures the special support that he provides: “I would just like to say that you have been a wonderful asset in my slow but determined journey to acquire my pre-requisites for the COD nursing program; thank you!. . . I have mentioned this before to another advisor [and it] was no surprise to her. They must get a lot of compliments about you!” Jim has provided a truly exceptional student experience for this student and many others.
Congratulations to All!