Faculty Senate’s 2022-23 Faculty Awards

Adjunct of the Year Award Winners (2022-23) 

This is the second year Nashville State Community College’s Faculty Senate has chosen Adjuncts of the Year based on colleague nominations. The awardees received enthusiastic and glowing nominations summarized below. The awardees exemplify the importance of our adjunct faculty to the success of our students and programs.

School of Arts and Humanities 

Lori Giblin, Adjunct Instructor, English as a Second Language (ESL) 

Lori’s knowledge of the ESL field is top notch and Lori stepped up to help with ESL testing and placement during the pandemic and the recent retirement of the previous ESL Coordinator. Again and again, ESL full-time faculty wrote of their appreciation of Lori’s commitment and flexibility, helping the ESL Department survive these transitions. Lori was also a founding member of the Senate Adjunct Subcommittee and served in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

School of Business and Professional Studies 

LaTasha Thomas, Adjunct Instructor, Paralegal Studies 

LaTasha has taught technology based paralegal classes for the last four years and has gone above and beyond to keep updated with the ever-changing technology and ensure students have access to the most recent developments. LaTasha finds creative ways to make these technology-based courses engaging and relevant, changing the course to match the unique needs of students.  

School of Business and Professional Studies 

Sean Bentzen, Adjunct Instructor, Political Science 

Teaching political science courses at Nashville State for more than five years, Sean created the general education assessment for POLS 1030 American Government an important course offering in the College’s Social Science general education core. Sean also gathered valuable course resources for a successful course redesign. Sean was a founding member of the Senate’s Adjunct Subcommittee in 2021-22.  

School of Health Sciences 

Lynne Warf, Adjunct Instructor, Occupational Therapy 

Lynne provides high-quality instruction and mentorship as an occupational therapy fieldwork educator. Lynne is an excellent communicator and collaborator, working closely with other faculty members to develop and implement new curriculum and teaching methodologies. The success of our Health Science programs depends on dedicated and caring fieldwork adjuncts like Lynne.  

School of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

Heehyun Kim-Son, Adjunct Instructor, Math Learning Support 

Heehyun was one of the math adjuncts who helped the College roll out the previous math learning support emporium model, jumped in to support the co-requisite model, and now is helping pilot seven week learning support. In addition, Heehyun tutors math in the Learning Center. Students seek Heehyun out each week. Heehyun shows how important adjuncts are to the academic support of students. 

Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award (2022-23) 

Each year, Faculty Senate awards one full-time faculty the Outstanding Faculty of the Year.

Rachel Lewis, School of STEM, Instructor, Biology 

While at Nashville State, Rachel has taught BIOL 1010, BIOL 1020, BIOL 1110, BIOL 1120, BIOL 1215, BIOL 2010, BIOL 2020. Rachel is the only full-time biology faculty on the Humphreys County and Dickson campuses. Rachel has taught on-campus, online, hybrid, and virtually. Then take into consideration that like the rest of us she managed to switch to online and virtual learning in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, but in a rural area where internet access was not a guarantee. Then just as the pandemic was easing up, in fall 2021, Humphreys County was hit by a catastrophic flood that affected Rachel personally and professionally. The Humphreys County campus experience extensive damage and was closed due to renovations. Rachel then taught at the Dickson campus for the Spring 2022 semester before The Renaissance Center, which was owned by Freed-Hardeman, was sold in the summer. Nashville State had to pivot for the fall semester, but was provided a short-term home at TCAT Dickson. Without lab space in Dickson or Humphreys County for fall 2022, Rachel designed a hybrid that put virtual labs online and the lectures in-person. Now, the Dickson campus is seven-week terms only in fall 2023, and Rachel is shouldering that change in teaching style for the biology department. Nashville State is fortunate to have dedicated and multitalented faculty like Rachel serving its extended campuses.