Chattanooga, TN --- The recipients of the 2014-15 Mathematics and Sciences Division Excellence Awards at Chattanooga State include Mrs. Toni Fountain, Dr. Evelyn Mobley, Kathleen Majoras, Jana Herron, and Jane Bustabad. In April 2015, Dr. Mosunmola George-Taylor, former division dean, announced the award winners who were selected from a pool of nominees by members of the Division Excellence Award Committee.

Awarded the Full-Time Faculty Division Excellence Award in Mathematics, Mrs. Toni Fountain is the course developer for MATH-1710 redesign and created instructional videos for the course. She taught a section of the fast track MATH-1710 as well as MATH-1720 in Spring 2015. She is very involved with the department’s Early College Hybrid Online (ECHO) program with local high schools. She chairs the MATH-1030 curriculum team. In order to be adequately prepared for the co-requisite remediation mandated by TBR effective Fall 2015, Mrs. Fountain submitted three course revitalization grants for the department (MATH-0030, MATH-0530, MATH-1030). The grants were funded and the funds were used to compensate faculty who worked extra hours to develop these courses. She serves on the curriculum advisory board with STEM High School and collaborated with a colleague to present the ECHO program at ICTCM (national conference) and TMATYC (state conference). She is a dedicated faculty who always look for ways to improve student success and is never short in ideas on how to improve processes in the Mathematics Department.

Dr. Evelyn Mobley engages in one-on-one mentoring/development of individualized study plans for struggling A&P students. She participated in QEP (W.E. Succeed) development /pilot. She serves as a member of Teaching and Learning Academy (TLA), which is now the Faculty Center Committee. She worked on the implementation of Argos and AIM for SLO assessment. She collaborates with Hamilton County STEM School. Dr. Mobley was a 2013-14 Maxine Smith Fellow (Her project analyzed use of Argos for assessing SLOs in Anatomy and Physiology I & II courses.) She authored 2013-14 A&P Revitalization Grant and upon funding piloted the grant project with two colleagues. She serves as the A&P Coordinator effective 2014-15. Additionally, she authored a successful application for funds to purchase A&P models to be made available in the Chattanooga State Library for student study and review. She was the 2014-15 Faculty Senate Vice-President. Dr. Mobley has positively impacted her students and her discipline, department, division, and the College in many ways. This award is just a small token to celebrate all she has done and achieved.

Mrs. Kathleen Majoras is a long-time adjunct faculty in the Mathematics Department. She is dedicated to the success of her students, who admire and respect her ability to relate to them. Last Spring, one of her former MATH-0810 students told his advisor that it was imperative that he registers to take Mrs. Majoras MATH-0820 in the Fall; he indicated that he would wait until he knew which section she was teaching. Without a doubt she wins the respect of her students with her humble spirit. She always has a smile and loves teaching.

Mrs. Jana Herron took the lead in the development of the fully online BIOL-2010 and BIOL-2020 courses. She expended countless hours into developing these online courses that closely mimic the on-ground experience. She created effective videos for students within the courses to assist them in the learning process and further enhance their chance of successful completion of the courses. An initial examination of the grades in these courses is consistent with the rigor of the on-ground experience. In addition, this is a new platform compared to the current publisher and an adjunct faculty has taken the lead in becoming an expert in the software. She consistently has positive student evaluations and online students appreciate her timely, detailed emails, and instructions. The courses she has taught in the Life Sciences Department include online Nutrition, both on-ground and online Anatomy and Physiology I and II, including lecture and lab. She also has served as a guest lecturer for the Forensic Science class. She works well with other instructors to make sure they are providing a consistent environment to support student learning. She became a part-time instructor in August 2008 and since that time she has been a responsible, dedicated instructor. She supports her students and their success while maintaining high expectations of them. Mrs. Herron’s colleagues consider her a pleasure to work with. She is collegial, has a good attitude, and has a gift for teaching. Mrs. Herron, though an adjunct at that time, completed all of these with minimal guidance. She is now a full-time faculty member on tenure track appointment effective Fall 2015.

Awarded the Staff Division Excellence Award, Jane Bustabad always goes out of her way to make sure that students get the best laboratory experience possible. She makes her expectations clear and is willing to help students in any way possible. Whenever a student misses a lab, she goes out of her way to contact the student and remind them that they need to make arrangements to make up their lab. She works with them and makes herself available to help. She truly takes the extra step to ensure that her students (and students of other instructors) are successful in the chemistry laboratory classes. She plays a huge role in the preparation for Science Olympiad tournament events. Some of the faculty members involved in the tournament rely on the chemistry lab technicians to prepare their events for them. Not only does she help prepare events for Science Olympiad, but she herself either is in charge of an event or comes in on the Saturday of the tournament to provide extra help. Science Olympiad would not be as organized and prepared as it is without her assistance behind the scenes. She goes out of her way to help her students succeed. When extenuating circumstances come up, she has been known to stay late or re-prepare a lab so that students would have the opportunity to make up missed labs. She provides a place (her office and laptop), for students to have access to our Late Nite Lab online program. She is a problem solver and always wants to learn new and better ways of doing things or how various lab equipment works. She has a great working relationship with her colleagues who admire her tremendously.

Dr. George-Taylor introduced the Mathematics and Sciences Division Excellence Awards in 2006. Annual winners each receive a plaque and restaurant gift card.

For more information on classes in the Mathematic and Sciences Division, visit www.chattanoogastate.edu/mathematics-sciences.