It's Award Season at Thomas Nelson

Over 180 teaching faculty, part-time and full-time, were nominated for awards this year.

The close of the semester always is an exciting and busy time for faculty as well as students. This year, however, it's even more so for Thomas Nelson assistant professors Michelle Alexander and Stacey Schneider. They are co-chairs of the College's Faculty Reward and Recognition Committee, which started rolling out its list of winners in mid-April.

"We have seen the quantity and the quality of these applications really improve (from past years)," Schneider said. "They come from every single division. We give out a lot of them and recognize a lot of people."

On April 17, the first round of four Learning Environment Award winners were announced. The second round was released April 24, and the third May 1. The final one will be announced May 8. All teaching faculty, including adjuncts, are eligible. Winners receive a certificate, and there is no limit to the number. In years past, these awards were given out at monthly meetings.

"The Learning Environment awards are solely student-nominated, just a way to recognize a professor who is going above and beyond for you," Alexander said.

Alexander, Schneider and a "cadre of people" on the committee have been overwhelmed by nominations. Alexander said an email for nominations went out to students on a Friday, and three days later, more than 400 names had been submitted.

"Over 180 different teaching faculty, part-time and full-time, were nominated for these awards," Schneider said. "That's pretty substantial."

What made it more special, according to Alexander and Schneider, was students did not do this for a grade or extra credit.

"It's just them appreciating their instructors," Schneider said. "I'd have to say that was a jaw-dropper, to see how many of them volunteered their time to brag on their instructors."

Four other awards, totaling more than $16,000, will be announced soon. These include the Faculty Vanguard Award (formerly the Spirit of Thomas Nelson Award), with 12 winners at $1,000 each; the Faculty Focus Award, with six winners at $225 each; the Gator-Aide Awards, with five winners at $100 each; and the Character of Thomas Nelson Award, with three winners at $1,000 each. The Vanguard and Focus awards are for full-time faculty. The Gator-Aide Award is for all classified and P-14 staff. The Character of Thomas Nelson Award is for administrative and professional faculty.

"Our goal is to announce them somewhere around May 8 or a little bit later," Alexander said. "We're still working on the logistics of that. We're not doing an award ceremony, but we're kicking around the idea of doing a Zoom session with the teaching faculty to announce those awards."

Alexander explained the teaching awards have been around for about five years, and are based on the College's faculty professional development and evaluation plan. She said all 23 schools within Virginia's Community Colleges (VCCS) had to adopt a faculty evaluation plan several years ago, and as a part of that, there had to be a reward and recognition program.

"These awards are based on that," she said. "It was a policy created by the VCCS, and then each campus had to create their own plan based on the model plan that the VCCS provided."

She added her committee was tasked with revamping the reward and recognition part of that plan. The money for the awards comes for Thomas Nelson's Human Resources budget, but that's determined in part by the VCCS plan.

"It is based on the number of faculty that you have," Alexander said. "And that dictates, every year, how much you put toward reward and recognition."

Said Schneider: "The ratios for those are really precise."

The College can reward no more than 10% of its full-time faculty with the Vanguard Award. With the Character Award, which is in its first year, no more than 10% of administrative and professional faculty can receive the award.

A lot of time and effort go into the awards each year, but Alexander and Schneider are particularly proud of the work their committee did in regard to adjuncts and support staff. Because of the way the VCCS plan is set up, adjuncts are not eligible for the Vanguard or Focus awards. However, the committee thought they should be rewarded, also.

"Good teaching is good teaching, right?" Schneider said.

The committee is working on more opportunities next year for reward and recognition for adjuncts.

The Gator-Aide Award also came about because of a need to reward a group of employees.

"Sometimes it's easy as a teaching faculty member to get in your bubble," Alexander said. "Sometimes it's easy to not realize how hard other people are working on this campus to make things work for you and your students."

To show appreciation for the work that is done outside of teaching, the Gator-Aide Award (name compliments of Schneider) was created.

"The name, if you think about Gatorade, is a drink that fuels you," Alexander said. "We were thinking most faculty couldn't do the work we do without our staff. So that's how we came up with that."

Last year, the Gator-Aide Award was funded from faculty donations because the idea for the award came after the budget was in place. This year, funds for the award were put into the Human Resources budget.

"It was the best part of the award ceremony for me last year to be able to present those awards," Alexander said. "We have to continue to recognize the work our staff do to keep us glued together on this campus. I'm most proud of that award. I love celebrating any of our people, and our teaching faculty are amazing and do really cool things. But the Gator-Aide Award is the thing that excites me the most."

What Alexander and Schneider like about all the awards is they can provide inspiration not only to the winners, but everyone on campus.

"I've noticed that not only does it re-energize the person that wins the award, it kind of sets a fire to the people who are watching," Schneider said. "It really can invigorate them too."

Alexander agreed: "I think it also encourages me and other faculty to learn more about what our peers are doing."

After a difficult academic year at the College (staff reductions in the fall and the move to online classes in the spring), these awards take on extra meaning for many.

"We could not end our academic year without doing something," Alexander said. "We just thought after all we've been through, we had to end the academic year on a high note."

Dr. Susan English, vice president of Academic Affairs, said too, these awards are coming at an important time.

"If you think about so many of the faculty, this online thing is new for them too," she said. "We've really developed a great community of students and employees at Thomas Nelson this semester."