Faculty, staff, students end year on high note
Ray Cornelius, chair of the School of World Languages and Speech at Daytona State College, is the 2013 College and University Instructor of the Year, as named by the Florida Foreign Language Instructors in Colleges and Universities, a member of the Florida Foreign Language Association.
In presenting the award at the end of November, FFLICU President Fernando Mayoral cited Cornelius’ focus on student-centered teaching and his innovative work in online instruction. Daytona State offers language courses in French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, as well as American Sign Language.
Also in November, Assistant Dean of Student Activities, Bruce Cook, was inducted into the Florida College System Activities Association “Hall of Fame.” Cook, who is also co-adviser of Student Publications at Daytona State, was honored by state colleagues for his long-term dedication, commitment to students and outstanding contributions to the state organization.
Professor John Connor is earning growing acclaim for his “Revelation Theory of Learning.” For over a decade, the soft-spoken professor has evolved a theory that learning is a multi-sensory experience, with visual perception the dominant facilitator. Connor has honed his years as a K-12 teacher, school psychologist and professor in Daytona State’s School of Behavioral and Social Sciences into a learning theory that maximizes students’ ability to understand and retain knowledge. Connor’s “Revelation Theory of Learning” has drawn critical acclaim, particularly in Europe, Canada and numerous U.S. states. His book on the subject, “Frames of Learning,” was published in 2012, by Kendall Hunt Publishing and received high marks by reviewers.
Meanwhile, Daytona State placed in seven categories in the Association of Florida Colleges Communications and Marketing Commission’s 2013 Awards of Excellence competition, including three first-place awards. The awards were announced in November at the association’s 64th annual convention in Orlando. Daytona State competed in 10 of the 31 competition categories, coming away with three first-place and three second-place awards and one third-place award. The college’s internal micro-site, Falcon Central, earned top honors for Best Website. This unique approach to communicate news, announcements and events to college faculty and staff on a daily basis originally launched in 2011, after Daytona State President Carol W. Eaton tasked the department with a challenge to enhance internal communication.
Also honored recently was Becky Nero-Wall, transition specialist for Alternative Student Services. She received the honor of the VIP (Very Impactful Person) Award from One Voice for Volusia at its December meeting. Nero-Wall was nominated by Dorothy Maddox from the Housing Authority, City of Daytona Beach, who noted her service on the Program Coordinating Committee for the Housing Authority and her help to secure trainers for a program.
Maddox said her passion for her work is exceptional: “Becky is so helpful and represents the college very well. She is truly one of our unsung community heroes.”
Not least, an inaugural group of 50 students in the College of Education were inducted into DSC’s newly formed Alpha Eta Beta chapter of the Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education.
“This is a significant milestone for our program,” said Les Potter, chair of the College of Education. “KDP is a very prestigious fraternity that requires interested colleges to apply for admission.”
The new DSC chapter inductees were chosen through Kappa Delta Pi criteria including leadership abilities, a commitment to the field of education and a GPA of 3.0 or better.