SIC celebrates, recognizes employees
HARRISBURG - The Southeastern Illinois College family recently tuned into a virtual presentation for the annual SIC Employee Recognition.
The event was "hosted" by SIC's own Dr. Tyler Billman, veterans and international students adviser, and Paul Cummins, director of forensics, and is available for viewing on SIC's YouTube channel.
This year's Loren P. & Velma Dallas Outstanding Faculty of the Year award was awarded to Kim Martin, SIC mathematics instructor for 25 years. Ben Ross, distance learning specialist, was awarded the Living the Mission award for demonstrating the spirit of SIC's mission and vision. Outstanding Achievement in Assessment was awarded to Gina Sirach, executive dean of academic services.
As the COVID-19 pandemic impacts SIC on every level, President Jonah Rice and vice president Karen Weiss agreed that champions and heroes of the transition deserve recognition. Upon this agreement, the COVID-19 Transition Hero Award and the COVID-19 Remote Best Practices Champion Award were created.
The COVID-19 Transition Hero Award recognizes an individual for going above and beyond, being creative, being other-oriented, and/or displaying exemplary service in a noninstructional area during the COVID-19 transition period in mid-March. For the 2019-2020 Recognition event, network administrator James Carlton and Gary Jones, online learning and educational technology support staff, both received the honor.
The COVID-19 Remote Best Practices Champion Award recognizes those demonstrating amazing instructional and student-oriented remote learning opportunities that can be replicated by others for effective educational practice. The recipient of this honor was distance learning specialist Ben Ross.
Special recognition was given to Lolita L. Mack, president of Illinois TRIO Association. Mack is also the student support services director at SIC. Also, specially recognized was Paul Cummins for his newly elected role as Comptroller of Phi Rho Pi National Forensic Executive Board.
Just as SIC recognized outstanding feats of current faculty and staff, the institution was thankful for the years of service from its retirees. Turning in their timecards for relaxation in retirement, this year's retirees are Randy Daniels (media/graphics technician), DeeDee Droit (events facilitator), Karen McConnell (nursing instructor), Pam McCuan (records specialist), and Gina Sirach (executive dean of academic services).
"Karen really cared about her students," said Gina Sirach, of retiree Karen McConnell. "She worked very hard to ensure that they had all of the information and experiences they needed to pass to become a nurse but also be the best nurses they can be."
Sirach herself celebrated a milestone 30 years of employment with SIC. She shared such recognition with Dr. Jonah Rice.
"These two are dimes a dozen, true friends, they're just the best," said Billman, then lightheartedly daring co-anchor Cummins to verify his claim via Freedom of Information Act. Antics were aplenty, as was adoration.
Marking 25 years of service were Kim Martin (mathematics instructor), Greg McCulloch (chief information officer), and Ellen Prince (Mary Jo Oldham Center for Child Study preschool lead teacher). Three more members of the SIC family celebrated 20 years of service: Paul Cummins (communications instructor), Robbie Lindhorst (diesel technology instructor), and Kimberly Rapp (administrative systems analyst).
Ed Fitzgerald (director of environmental services), Shawn Smith (English/philosophy instructor), and Amy Spivey (admissions specialist) celebrated 15 years with the college. Observing 10 years with SIC were Dr. Tyler Billman (academic adviser), Sherry Milligan (environmental services secretary), and Amber Wheeler (MJOCCS toddler lead teacher). Cory Garmane (music instructor) and Ben Ross (distance learning specialist) were both recognized for five years thus far with Southeastern.
Ten individuals rounded up the Greenies of 2019-2020. Welcomed warmly into the SIC family were Rachel Atkins (cosmetology instructor), Tyler Bourland (communications and relations specialist), John Corum (academic adviser), Alison Edmund (biology instructor), Amy Hicks (nursing instructor), Mariah Holder (TRIO/SSS retention specialist), Michael Intravaia (food service manager), Lori Olson (grant accountant), Sabrina Stout (nursing instructor), and Gareth York (theater instructor).