Chattanooga State Community College recently announced the recipients of the annual Excellence Awards. Lulu Copeland, Lorraine Crouch, Shirley Kilgore, Doug Ledford and Betty Zmaj were named the 2010 – 2011 Excellence Award Winners. Each winner was awarded $500 from the Chattanooga State Foundation Board. In addition, winners received a trip to the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) annual conference held at the University of Texas at Austin, May 29 –June 1, 2011. The Professional Staff Excellence Award winner, Lulu Copeland, is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a bachelor’s degree in engineering. Copeland began her career at Chattanooga State in 1996 working with the Business and Community Development Center. Now working as manager of technical training in the Engineering Technology Division, Copeland finds grant opportunities and develops training classes to meet the needs of local businesses and industry. The professional staff award is bestowed upon an employee in a non-faculty position, who has demonstrated outstanding achievement.

Loraine Crouch, an employee of Chattanooga State since 1995, received the Support Staff Excellence Award. The award is presented to employees categorized as clerical or support staff at the College. Crouch, who attended Chattanooga State, works in the records department. She was selected because of her infinite patience and personable manner when working with students.

Shirley Kilgore, associate professor of nursing, won the Excellence in Advising Award. Kilgore has worked at Chattanooga State since 1985. A recipient of a BSN from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, she completed a Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.) degree from the University of Tennessee in 1986. The advising award is given for expertise in counseling students in the selection of their courses and the direction of their career path.

Doug Ledford, senior instructor of Surgical Technology, won the Excellence in Teaching Award for the Tennessee Technology Center. Ledford trained for a career in surgical technology through Adult Basic Education from 1983 to 1984. He began his teaching career with Chattanooga State as an adjunct faculty member in 1991. He became a full-time instructor in 1996. Ledford is a certified surgical technologist and a member of the Association of Surgical Technologists. He was chosen for his outstanding abilities as an instructor and mentor for his students.

Betty Zmaj, assistant professor of nursing, won the Excellence in Teaching for the Technologies Award. She came to Chattanooga State with 28 years of nursing experience in various roles. Zmaj, who earned her B.S.N. from the University of Wisconsin, started as an adjunct clinical instructor in 2003. She accepted a full-time position in 2004. Zmaj team-teaches nursing fundamentals and level one medical surgical nursing in the Division of Nursing and Allied Health. Her master’s degree in Nursing Education, earned from Southern Adventist University in 2007, included emphases in both Medical Surgical and Community Women’s Health Nursing.

The Excellence Awards for Teaching are open to all tenured faculty members except those who have won the award in the last five years. Nominees must have an adjusted score of 4.3 or higher for Excellent Teaching on IDEA, an evaluation done by their students in the fall 2009 and spring 2010 semesters. Emphasis is also placed on what the nominee has done to enhance teaching and student learning at Chattanooga State.