It is my pleasure each June to inform the Peninsula College Board of Trustees of the Exceptional Faculty award recipients. These competitive awards are given for research, professional development, and/or the development and launch of a new curriculum, initiative, or project that support the college’s mission and strategic plan.
Thirty years ago, the State of Washington made funds available to our system colleges that required a match of private funds, in an effort to strengthen partnerships between communities and their colleges. We must thank our earliest Foundation Board members for putting every available dollar toward this match. It is with these funds that Peninsula College Foundation makes these awards.
$20,000 was awarded this year to eight successful applicants.
- Rae Rawley received a stipend for her project titled “Reframing the Capitalist Economic System.” Rae is writing a book from her research on U.S. economic systems, reframing the language in layman’s (not academic) terms. She will be incorporating material from this research into the courses she teaches in the college’s Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Management Program. Perspectives from this research will better prepare students for successful employment in management.
- Ritu Lauer received a stipend for her 2020-21 Sabbatical, as she attends academic conferences and visits prominent space centers and museums while researching global governance and the politics of outer space. She plans to develop her research into conference presentations and incorporate the material into the political science courses she teaches at Peninsula College.
- Michael Paul Miller secured funding for receptions at the PUB Gallery of Art and for student awards for the annual juried PC Student Exhibit and the new Olympic Peninsula High School Student Art Exhibition. His continued work through the PUB Gallery of Art increases student and community access to and engagement in the arts.
- Erin-Kate Murphy was awarded a stipend and materials to design a cross-cultural composition section of accelerated ENGL 90 to meet the needs of students from diverse linguistic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Professor Murphy plans to integrate U.S. and international students in a course designed to address the needs of both student groups while promoting intercultural understanding and preparing students for college-level work in English composition.
- Kate Reavey received course fees and a research stipend for her work to develop “Indigenous Language and Place-Based Pedagogies.” Kate will study the Irish language to seek a complex understanding of the learning differences (if present) between teaching a revitalized language (such as S’Kallam) and one that is indigenous but not threatened. She will work with language teachers from the Quileute Nation and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe to better understand and offer strategies for teaching and learning, and further the goal of including language and culture in certain humanities offerings at the college. She will offer recommendations regarding local, revitalized languages at PC. Reavey also received funds to present Teatro Milagro, a favorite Studium Generale performance group, in a live-streamed format as part of the Studium Generale lecture series. The group will present a bi-lingual theatrical production that emphasizes indigenous and Latinx perspectives, languages and contributions. The production can be accessed via Zoom by our community, who can participate in a dialogue afterward that is led by the actors.
- Jill Snyder received conference fees and travel for the purpose of revising and improving the Business Administration Program curriculum, particularly around trends and changes in accounting rules, technology and business practices.
- Matt Teorey was awarded a research stipend, and will incorporate new material into Humanities courses, particularly his IS-105: Pop Culture Course. His specific area of research will be the 1970s radio program “Chickenman” and its connections to the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Dr. Teorey plans to use the connections between these works to help students consider issues in our current culture and engage in deeper philosophical analysis. Dr. Teorey will also write and publish a scholarly paper to present at Studium Generale and at future conferences.
Congratulations! It is our honor to support you.
Getta Rogers Workman has been with Peninsula College for 10 years, the past 6-1/2 as Executive Director for the Foundation. She has worked in the nonprofit sector for 30 years—here and in Kona, Hawaii, where she lived before moving to Port Angeles in 2004.
In her time with Peninsula College Foundation, Getta has directed efforts to increase support for the needs of Peninsula College students and programs, now and for the future. During her tenure the Foundation has experienced a 400 percent increase in total funds and a nearly five-fold increase in endowed funds.
