HARRISBURG – Three faculty members at HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, have received national recognition from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) for their professional accomplishments.
Heather Burns, assistant professor, health careers counseling, at HACC’s York Campus; Katherine Leonard, associate professor of nursing at the Harrisburg Campus; and Jason Rosenberry, assistant professor of mathematics, at the Gettysburg Campus will be recognized with the NISOD Excellence in Teaching Award at NISOD’s annual International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence, held at the University of Texas, Austin, in May.
All were selected by a committee of HACC students, faculty and administrators for their commitment to students, teaching, professional growth and college service.
Burns systematically implemented an approach to helping students choose their career path in health care, introducing “parallel paths” at each step of the enrollment process that gives students the flexibility they need when deciding on a health career field.
In the classroom Burns takes a student-centered approach teaching foundational level courses in Human Development – College Success and Career Development and Decision Making. She engages students in activities that promote active learning and critical reflections. Burns also presents student success workshops each semester, on such topics as study skills, test taking skills and addressing math anxiety.
Burns will often meet with students on Saturday and volunteer to help a number of Student Government Association and student club events and service projects.
“HACC’s York Campus has become more student-friendly and much more conducive to student success because of changes that have resulted from causes actively supported by Heather,” said Peter Oscsodal, Ph.D., York Campus dean of student affairs.
Leonard teaches second-year nursing students at HACC’s Harrisburg Campus. In the last 19 years, Leonard has made it her priority to assure HACC’s students are successful. She works beyond the regular lectures and makes herself available to her students and provides supervision for clinical experience 16 hours a week.
Leonard coordinates the annual flu clinic with Holy Spirit Hospital that provides a service for the community and also an opportunity for HACC nursing students to participate in a community-based nursing activity while refining their skills administering medication. She will be recognized with an award for demonstrating the qualities seen in professional nursing – caring, compassion, advocacy and commitment to the care of patients.
At HACC-Gettysburg Campus, Rosenberry commonly receives feedback from students who say he is “the best instructor I’ve ever had.” He is student-focused in the classroom and able to bring course content to the students’ learning level. He continues to use and promote technology in his classes to remain effective in his teaching.
The technology comes in the form of podcasts, where Rosenberry’s Statistics course was recognized as “New and Notable” and a “Featured Course” by iTunes U. His podcasts and those of fellow mathematics faculty have been among the most popular math downloads at iTunes U – not just from HACC but students taking classes at other colleges or studying on their own.
