May 25, 2011

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.

Kathleen Doherty, Ph.D., psychology professor at HACC’s Harrisburg Campus; Suzanne O’Hop, Ph.D., associate professor in English for the Virtual Campus; and Marian Yoder, Ph.D., assistant professor in reading at the Lancaster 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, May 29-June 1.

All were selected by a committee of HACC students, faculty and administrators for their commitment to students, teaching and counseling, professional growth and college service.

Doherty of Mechanicsburg has been a member of HACC’s psychology faculty for 11 years. Her primary goals in teaching are to “challenge students, require them to understand the material rather than memorizing it and help them develop a passion for learning.”

Student evaluations of Doherty are consistently high while class observation reports from various deans note her challenging, engaging, active and dynamic classroom environment.

Doherty developed online and blended – both classroom and online learning – course materials for the psychology curriculum and piloted a course delivered via video conference to meet student needs across HACC’s regional campuses.

She was president of the Faculty Organization for two terms and now serves as vice president. She also is the faculty chair of the psychology department.

O’Hop of Ephrata has taught classroom, blended and online English at HACC for five years for the Virtual Campus. Students in her classes consistently give O’Hop high marks for her teaching abilities.

“Dr O'Hop is a master teacher, balancing academic rigor and development of critical thought on the part of the students with a supportive and engaging, comfortable learning environment, enhanced and enriched with seamless integration of technology resources," said Diane Thompson, dean of academic affairs for HACC’s Harrisburg Campus.

In addition, O’Hop is active in developing curriculum and assessing programs including being department chair for the education department, assisting with development of 23 new courses that would articulate and transfer with four-year colleges; serving as assistant chair for the Lebanon Campus English department for four years; co-chairing a college wide General Education Assessment Committee; serving as a member of HACC’s Strategic Planning Committee; being a newly elected officer in the Faculty Organization; and participating in the Honors Program Revision Committee.

At HACC’s Lancaster Campus, Yoder of Leola spent five years teaching as an adjunct instructor before becoming a full-time faculty member in 2006. Student assessments say Yoder has an excellent rapport with students, has enthusiasm for the material and energy in the classroom. Her students also say they value her breadth of coverage and that they benefit from her exams and assignments.

Yoder has developed an English course that offers students in developmental reading the opportunity to complete the sequence more quickly. She has also piloted a paired course offering of English and psychology where she adapted her English course to support her students’ work in a psychology class. Now Yoder continues to bring college course content into her reading classes to boost student interest and retention.

Meanwhile Yoder shares her time working on HACC’s Developmental Education Advisory Committee, which develops new curricula, assesses programs and plans long-range strategy to better serve HACC students.