Three Faculty Members Receive Endowed Teaching Chairs

AVON PARK, Fla.–May 14, 2015–At a meeting of the SFSC Foundation’s board of directors on May 12, 2015 Endowed Teaching Chairs were presented to Joanne Foote, professor, Nursing, Darlene Saccuzzo, professor, Dental Education, and James J. Moye, professor, Mathematics.

Moye received the Carol Emery Endowed Teaching Chair, which was established by a former SFSC mathematics instructor and designated for math faculty. Although the endowment is not tied to a specific project, Moye plans to use it to expand the use of technology in his math classes. He said the award was especially meaningful, since he is one of Emery’s former students.

Foote is devoting her Endowed Teaching Chair in Nursing to facilitating professional development and promoting improvements in health care. Part of that effort will be directed toward establishing an SFSC chapter of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, which offers free online courses to students and health care providers through its Open School. Courses are related patient safety, improving the delivery of health care, and professional development for health care professionals and could be integrated into all of SFSC’s Health Sciences programs.

Saccuzzo’s Endowed Teaching Chair in Dental Education is helping to install new technology in the Dental Education Clinic that will make it easier for students to watch her demonstrations of the proper use of dental hygiene instruments. A camera with zoom capabilities is being installed at Saccuzzo’s station in the center of the clinic so that she can broadcast her demonstrations to 12 dental hygiene stations. Students will be able to see Saccuzzo’s work close-up and follow along while she and other instructors answer questions and supervise their work. The new technology should be in place by the fall term.

“Until now, students gather around my station and try to watch what I’m doing,” Saccuzzo said. “This new technology should be able to cut down on remediation time and increase our students’ success in their state board exams.”

The Endowed Teaching Chairs in Nursing and Dental Education are funded by the Highlands County Health Facilities Authority.

Endowed Teaching Chair appointments are highly competitive. Recipients are chosen by a selection committee and the college faculty as a whole. Selections are then confirmed by SFSC President Dr. Tom Leitzel. Each $5,000 endowment is awarded over a period of two years with half going toward for projects or improvements related to the professors’ profession and half being an honorarium.

“The Endowed Teaching Chair program has enabled to the SFSC Foundation to show its appreciation to outstanding faculty members at SFSC,” said Donald Appelquist, the foundation’s executive director. “We presently have five named teaching chair endowments and the pledge of a sixth.  Being able to make these awards allows the college to help attract and keep the very best educators with the ultimate benefit redounding to our students.”