Napa Valley College: Celebrating Our Newly-Tenured Faculty Fall 2021

Press release from Napa Valley College:

2021-09-13

At the September 9, 2021 Board of Trustees meeting, the Board honored nine faculty members who successfully completed their evaluation in spring 2021 and have achieved tenured status as of fall 2021. Dr. Doug Marriott, senior dean, career education & workforce development; Bob Van Der Velde, senior dean, arts & sciences; Bob Harris, senior dean, health & safety; Dr. Alejandro Guerrero, interim senior dean, counseling services and student success, introduced the faculty. Congratulations to Nicole Carrier, Tyler Downie, Ricardo Guzman, Jaime Huston-Sylvester, May Jong, Ida Logan, Eric Martinez, Claudette Shatto and Lauren Winczewski.

Dr. Sara Parker, assist. superintendent/vice president, academic affairs, kicked things off: “It is my pleasure to recognize and congratulate nine faculty members who recently achieved tenure, and who begin the 2021-22 academic year as Professors at Napa Valley College.  Tenure is a four-year process that involves peer review, student feedback, and evaluation. These faculty members have demonstrated not only strong teaching skills, but also contributed to the college as committee members, program coordinators, mentors, innovators, community partners and more.”  Dr. Parker thanked the peer review teams who helped carry out the coaching model, and the Academic Senate for helping to facilitate this model and invited the senior deans to say a few words.   

“I spotted Nicole from across the Library quad the day I met her. I can’t quite pinpoint what it was, but I just knew when I saw her that she was our newest Spanish teacher. I welcomed her with a big hug! And here we are four years later witnessing her earned tenure status.  I have been fortunate to witness Nicole’s teaching style. Her students love her. Brilliantly, she implements incentives for students to participate, which can be challenging in language classes, except for Nicole. I love the love you have for the Spanish language and its diverse cultures –  and I know that our program is in great hands. Your students are fortunate to have such a smart, dedicated, and caring person as their teacher. And we, at NVC, are lucky to have you. Felicidades, Nicole y mil gracias por todo lo que haces por nuestro programa y por nuestros estudiantes dentro y fuera del aula.” 

– Maria Villagomez, senior dean, library, language arts, social sciences, distance education

“Tyler started at Napa Valley College in 2017 as an adjunct DSPS Counselor, hired as a full-time leave replacement later in 2017 and then full-time tenure track in 2018. He taught Counseling 097 four years running and is a member of the campus’ CARE Team. Alongside Sandy Barros, DSPS specialist, Tyler has headed up our DSPS outreach, working with local High Schools to help usher students with IEPs or 504 plans into NVC. We are fortunate to have in currently serving in an administrative position, as acting dean of DSPS and testing position.”

– Dr. Alejandro Guerrero, interim senior dean, counseling services and student success

This press release was produced by Napa Valley College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.