Four from SCC recognized by Missouri Community College Association

Published: 12/02/2016

Three faculty and staff members from St. Charles Community College, and one corporate partnership, were recognized for their achievements by the Missouri Community College Association at the 52nd annual convention in November.

Those recognized were chosen from thousands of peers across the state for their outstanding leadership, innovation and support of their community college campuses. 

SCC student, Miranda Ehrich, was recognized with the Student Leadership Award. Ehrich currently serves as president of the SCC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the service fraternity for community college students. According Christy Gant, PTK club advisor, Ehrich has been a leader in the organization since 2014, when the chapter lost its president to Lupus. The continued healing of the chapter owes a great deal to Ehrich’s spirit and commitment in her current post. She leads with strength and vision – organizing and contributing in service projects such as our Six Weeks of Giving campaign, Harry Potter Day, and in sending holiday cards members of the military overseas. Ehrich aspires to continue her work in the medical as well as the missions fields. Currently, she manages to work long hours at a hospital while balancing her schoolwork, service and club president commitments to our chapter and campus at large.

SCC President Barbara Kavalier, Ph.D. (left), and Miranda Ehrich, SCC student and Missouri Community College Association (MCCA) Student Leadership Award recipient.

Dawn Huffman, SCC faculty member, was honored with the Global Educator Award. Huffman has taught English as a Second Language students for 21 years, amounting to more than 16,500 hours of instructional contact with immigrants and internationals. She currently works as an assistant professor and chair of the Academic ESL Department at St. Charles Community College. She is pursuing a doctoral degree in Higher Education Leadership at Missouri Baptist University. She holds a master’s degree in teaching English as a Second Language from Southeast Missouri State University, a master’s in education from University of Missouri-St. Louis and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

SCC President Barbara Kavalier, Ph.D. (left), and Dawn Huffman, SCC faculty member and Missouri Community College Association (MCCA) Global Educator Award recipient.

SCC’s Theresa Flett received the Senior Service Award. Flett serves as a reference librarian at SCC and has had 20-year career at the college. Most recently, she helped launch a college-wide portal as part of the mySCC Portal Taxonomy Committee. She was a member of three long-range planning committees, and she has served as chair of the Annual Library Book Sale task force for years. She has made many contributions to the college both inside and outside of the library.

SCC President Barbara Kavalier, Ph.D. (left), and Theresa Flett, SCC reference librarian and Missouri Community College Association (MCCA) Senior Service Award recipient.

Component Bar Products received the Distinguished Business and Industry Award. In 2014, SCC partnered with Component Bar Products to host Manufacturing Day to showcase Component Bar’s manufacturing facility and raise awareness of careers in the manufacturing industry. This was the first of what became a very successful community-wide collaboration. In 2015, Manufacturing Day grew to host nearly 400 middle and high school students and another 200 members of the community.

The Missouri Community College Association’s annual convention is the largest professional development opportunity in Missouri solely focused on community colleges. Its four award banquets, nearly 50 breakout sessions and countless opportunities for peer-to-peer networking attract more than 500 attendees from across the state.

The Missouri Community College Association is a statewide organization through which Missouri’s community colleges work together to advance common agendas. MCCA brings the state’s 12 colleges together for advocacy, professional development, information and collaboration.

St. Charles Community College is a public, comprehensive two-year community college with associate degrees and certificate programs in the arts, business, sciences and career-technical fields. SCC provides workforce training and community-based personal and professional development as well as cultural, recreational and entertainment opportunities. For more information, visit stchas.edu.