SBVC Recognizes Outstanding Faculty and Staff During Spring Opening Day

SBVC rang in the start of the new year with its second Virtual Convocation Week, which consisted of three days of professional development trainings for staff and faculty.

More than 300 staff and faculty members then gathered for Spring Opening Day, where President Diana Z. Rodriguez reflected on a resilient 2020, and looked ahead to the future on on-campus instruction and the rollout of a COVID vaccine. President Rodriguez also announced the winners of the 2020 Outstanding Faculty and Classified Employees.

The 2020 Classified Employees of the Year were Judy Rodriguez and Cedric Wren, while Bethany Tasaka and Margaret Worsely won the Outstanding Faculty awards, and Mary Lawler won the Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award. President Rodriguez then introduced the virtual event’s guest speaker Nzingha Dugas, Executive Director of the Umoja Community Education Foundation (UCEF).

Dugas urged attendees to continue encouraging the academic engagement, student leadership, professional development and matriculation success for underserved students. She emphasized “empowering the powerless”, fittingly quoting from Martin Luther King Jr. on his birthday.