Summer 2001 - Wayne State College

Whitt Selected as Nebraska State Colleges’Teaching Excellence Award RecipientDr. Deborah L. Whitt, WSC professorof speech communication, has been selectedas the 2001 Teaching Excellence Awardrecipient by the Nebraska State Colleges’Board of Trustees. The system-wide awardrecognizes innovation and leadership inteaching; Whitt will be recognized for thisachievement at the annual NSC boardmeeting held at Wayne State in November.A Columbus Lakeview High Schoolgraduate and Wayne State alumnus, Whittearned her master’s and doctoral degrees inspeech communication from the Universityof Nebraska-Lincoln. She also served as ateaching and research assistant in UNL’sDepartment of Speech Communications andlater became an adjunct instructor at bothWayne State and the university. Whitt hasbeen a faculty member at WSC since 1987.During her tenure at Wayne, Whitt hasbeen the faculty club coordinator, anassociate forensics coach, chair of theCommunications Arts AssessmentCommittee, coordinator of the Principles ofHuman Communication, chair of therevisions of the language arts program, andcoordinator of the Communication ArtsDepartment.Her innovative thinking most recentlyled to the incorporation of service-learningcomponents into her classroom. Students inher class organized a fund-raising campaignTwo retiring faculty members were honored at springcommencement for their years of service to Wayne State College.Jogindar S. Johar, Ph.D., dean of the mathematics andsciences at WSC, has been a faculty member at the school since1968, serving as head of the mathematics and sciences divisionsince 1987. He was instrumental in developing the Rural HealthOpportunities program, a collaborative program with theUniversity of Nebraska Medical Center to identify high schoolseniors for health-care professions. He helped develop a similarprogram, Mid-America Rural Health Opportunities Program withCreighton University. In May 2000, he was presented with theJ.G. (Jack) Elliot Award by the University of Nebraska MedicalCenter for the difference he has made in health programs acrossthe state.Russell Rasmussen, Ph.D., has taught chemistry at WSC since1969. In 1961-’62, Rasmussen was a Fulbright scholar at the MaxPlanck Institut for Virus Research, Tuebingen, Germany. Amongthe honors he has received are a Burlington Northern FoundationFaculty Achievement Award for the 1988-’89 academic year andthe John Eisely Award in 1989, presented to one Nebraskan each6for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation andparticipated in a walk-a-thon to raise money.They also developed an advertisingcampaign and organized a press conferenceto present foundation executives with themoney raised.Whitt also helped develop a healthcommunication emphasis at the college in1999. She worked with faculty members inthe math and science division at Wayne Stateto reformat the general education speechcourse in a way that would benefit studentsgoing into health professions.She has been an advisor toundergraduate honor students and master’scandidates since 1988. Whitt also developeda new course for education in 1997, anddeveloped a two-day national conference onfamily issues in 1994.Last year, she was awarded a $2,000Teaching-Learning Grant to enhanceinstructor-student research collaborations.She also received a Distinguished ServiceAward from South Sioux City Schools forthe development and delivery of interculturalcommunication for English as a SecondLanguage teachers.Whitt lives in Wayne with her family.Her husband, Dr. Ron Whitt, is a WSCprofessor of communication arts. She is thedaughter of Ferd and Germaine Libbig ofPlatte Center.Dr. Deborah L. WhittRetiring Faculty Honored at CommencementThe Teaching Excellence Award is asystem-wide honor, and each state college– Chadron, Peru, and Wayne – forwardsone candidate for consideration by theBoard of Trustees. Other nominees thisyear were Dr. Michael Leite, associateprofessor of science at Chadron State andDr. Bill Snyder, professor of business atPeru State.The award, which has been givenannually since 1985, includes a $3,000stipend which is funded through anendowment by US Bank. The endowment,managed by the Lincoln CommunityFoundation, is in memory of GeorgeRebensdorf, a former member of the NSCBoard of Trustees.year whose teaching and writing has shown the blending of scienceand humanism. In 1991, he received the Nebraska State CollegeBoard’s FirsTier Teacher Excellence Award, and was named the1993 “Nebraska Professor of the Year” by the Council forAdvancement and Support of Education.Dr. Sheila Stearns, center, with WSC retiring faculty membersDr. Russell Rasmussen, left, and Dr. Jogindar Johar.WSC Magazine Summer 01610/2/01, 2:48 PM