Endowed Teaching Chair
2019 ACC Endowed Teaching Chair Award Announced
Alpena Community College held its annual staff recognition dinner on Friday, May 10 where the recipients of the Russell H. and Fromilda Y. Wilson Endowed Teaching Chair Award were announced. James Berles, a Math, Engineering, and GIS instructor, and Matthew Dunckel, a Geography, Anthropology, and History instructor collaborated to produce an interdisciplinary project that earned them the award.
The late Lucas E. and Janet G. Pfeiffenberger established the Russell H. and Fromilda Y. Wilson Endowed Teaching Chair Fund in 2005 with the creation of an endowment fund with the ACC Foundation. Their generous gift now provides a $5,000 annual award to a faculty member who has been selected by the Endowed Teaching Chair Selection Committee.
The Endowed Teaching Chair program recognizes and promotes academic excellence at ACC. The program honors noteworthy faculty members and provides resources for improving instruction, academic programs, and professional development.
Berles and Dunckel developed an Endowed Teaching Chair project that centers around geological and geographical research. For three weeks in June 2019 both instructors will participate in an archaeological research study at and around the buried Bronze Age city of Gournia, on the island of Crete in Greece, and on the island of Chrissi along the southern shore of Crete. They will participate in activities such as GIS mapping of the topography of three arch sites as they were in the Bronze Age, field and lab work at the Gournia archaeology site and coastal cliffs stratigraphic analysis.
The two instructors are enthusiastic about gaining knowledge and experience to enrich the curriculums in geography, anthropology, history, GIS math, and science at ACC. The award was presented to Berles and Dunckel by the Pfeiffenberger’s son John and his wife Lisa.
For more information on how to establish an endowed teaching chair fund with the ACC Foundation, please call Brenda Herman, Executive Director of the ACC Foundation at 989.358.7297.
Purpose
The ACC Foundation Endowed Teaching Chair Program seeks to recognize and promote academic excellence at Alpena Community College. The Program honors noteworthy faculty members and provides resources for improving instruction, academic programs, and professional development.
History
The original idea for the Endowed Teaching Chair Program emerged from a spring 2004 discussion between ACC President Dr. Olin Joynton and Lucas Pfeiffenberger, both of whom were interested in developing a program to recognize and reward demonstrated excellence in teaching at ACC.
In the fall of 2004, at the request of Dr. Joynton, the ACC Foundation established the Endowed Teaching Chair Program. The Foundation, Faculty Council, and president appointed the first Selection Committee, which in turn created the Program Guidelines. Lucas and Janet Pfeiffenberger inaugurated the Endowed Teaching Chair Program by funding the first endowment as a tribute to Dr. Russell H. and Fromilda Y. Wilson. Janet Pfeiffenberger served as secretary to Dr. Wilson, superintendent of Alpena Public Schools, for 11 years and during her tenure assisted Dr. Wilson with preparing the documentation necessary for the formation of Alpena Community College in 1952. This inaugural Endowed Teaching Chair awards an annual grant of $5000 through a joint funding agreement between the Alpena Community College Foundation and the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan.
Selection Process
The Endowed Teaching Chair selection process is administered by the director of the ACC Foundation. The director oversees the Selection Committee, which solicits applications from ACC faculty. Each year, the Selection Committee reviews applications and selects the Endowed Teaching Chair recipient(s) in a manner appropriate to the terms of each award. Selection is determined by a simple majority or plurality vote of all voting Committee members.
Each faculty candidate must submit an application portfolio to the ACC Foundation director. The portfolio consists of 1) an application form, 2) a limited summary of the applicant’s experience relevant to the proposal, 3) two brief letters of recommendation (at least one from an ACC faculty colleague), and 4) a brief narrative and outline of his/her proposal. The candidate may submit up to eight pages of additional relevant material to support his/her application, but this is not required. In addition to reviewing and evaluating the content and form of applicant proposals, the Selection Committee may interview applicants to seek clarification of proposal elements. The Selection Committee may also interview relevant ACC personnel to determine applicability and appropriateness of proposals as they relate to program realities, needs, and plans.
Faculty members interested in applying for an Endowed Teaching Chair award may pick up the application packet from the ACC Foundation director or download it from the ACC website prior to the advertised submission deadline.