Mesa Community College (MCC) presented its first Endowed Teaching Chair Awards, which aim to recognize faculty who provide quality, innovative and effective teaching practices. 

“These awards allow MCC to recognize and reward faculty for providing world-class instruction, provide for professional growth opportunities above and beyond what the college makes available and make programmatic support available for faculty teaching developmental education,” Jared Langkilde, MCC’s executive director of development, said.

Among the awardees are MCC math faculty member Michelle Mazzucco, the inaugural recipient of the Endowed Teaching Chair Award for residential faculty. She will receive a $15,000 grant over three years. 

Another awardee is Julie Garner of the education studies department, who will receive $1,500 over two years. 

A team from the MCC Math and Computer Science Department is the first recipient of the Developmental Education Endowed Teaching Award and received $3,920 as funds for their pet project, the Developmental Math Modules Shared Assessment Redesign. The members of the team are Jennifer Caldwell, Shelley Ceinaturaga, Sam Crandall, Cindy Franklin, Roxanne Klassen, Michelle Mazzucco, Kim Norris and Melina Priewe.

The endowments are sponsored by the U. S. Department of Education Title III Foundations for Student Success, which aims to improve student outcomes by providing faculty professional development, classroom and course redesign, and student success strategy instruction.