Distinguished Faculty & Staff Awards
About the Awards
A graduate of the Class of 1921, Clarence Dissinger was a violinist, varsity football player, and president of the student council during his years at North Central College. From 1924 to 1959, he was director of music at Lyons Township High School in LaGrange, Ill. He died in 1969. In 1977, Dissinger's sister, Ruth C. Dissinger Althaus ‘22, and her husband, Dr. Carl B. Althaus '21, endowed the Clarence F. Dissinger Memorial Award recognizing distinguished service for junior and senior faculty members. Ruth was active in her church, school, and in the community of Lawrence, Kan., where her husband taught at the University of Kansas for 24 years. Upon her death, her husband endowed the Ruth C. Dissinger Memorial Award to recognize distinguished service for administrative managers and support staff.
The Distinguished Performance Award for Support Staff honors one support staff member who has distinguished their service and North Central College by their performance of a job "above and beyond the call of duty." The selected staff member will receive a monetary award of $2,500 and a plaque to memorialize the award. Open to all support staff who will have completed two years of service at the College and who have not won the award within the past five years.
The Distinguished Performance Award for Administrative Staff honors one administrative staff member who has distinguished their service at North Central College by their performance of a job "above and beyond the call of duty." The selected staff member will receive a monetary award of $2,500 and a plaque to memorialize the award. Open to all administrative staff who will have completed two years of service at the College and who have not won the award within the past five years.
Distinguished Teaching Awards ($2,500 each) honor one junior and one senior faculty member who have distinguished themselves and North Central College by their excellence in teaching and their performance of a job “above and beyond the call of duty.”
The Distinguished Service to Students Award for Staff recognizes the essential contributions of administrative and support staff members in the lives of undergraduate and graduate students, and the valuable role they play in students’ persistence, achievement, and future success. The selected staff member will receive a monetary award of $1,000 and a plaque to memorialize the award.
The Innovation in Administrative Function Award recognizes outstanding creativity in generating a novel and valuable idea and using the idea to develop new or improved processes, methods, systems, programs or services. The selected staff member will receive a monetary award of $1,000 and a plaque to memorialize the award.
The Distinguished Team Accomplishment Award recognizes outstanding performance by a group of employees, promoting the spirit of teamwork within departments or across functions, toward the achievement of institutional goals. Each member of the selected team will receive a Certificate of Recognition and will be showcased on The Hub, North Central’s intranet.
Additional faculty awards:
The Distinguished Service Award for Senior Faculty ($1,000) is given to one senior faculty member to recognize both sustained commitment and extraordinary periods of intense service by campus citizens who have shouldered important responsibilities, balanced multiple roles, added tremendous value to departmental or institutional initiatives, and embodied a spirit of collegiality and the mission of the college.
The Distinguished Mentoring Award ($1,000) for junior and senior faculty members is part of a wider strategic effort to build an engaging and supportive academic environment. Although dedicated faculty mentor for altruistic reasons and derive enjoyment and personal gratification from seeing their mentees’ success, it is important to have an award that recognizes the essential contributions that faculty members make outside of the classroom as mentors of undergraduate and graduate students and the invaluable role that they play in students’ persistence, academic achievement, and future success.
This is a self-nominated award.
Distinguished Scholarship/Creative Work Awards ($1,000) celebrate the diverse contributions of our faculty, which infuse intellectual and imaginative energy into the campus community. Their pursuit of a vigorous program enlivens their teaching and mentoring, models lifelong learning to our students, and makes a significant impact in their field. These awards recognize work produced in the past two calendar years. The junior award is for faculty who are emerging in their fields and establishing a strong record of contributions. The senior award is for faculty who have earned recognition in their fields and have established a strong record of contributions.
This is a self-nominated award.
Distinguished Contributions by a Visiting ($500) and Part-Time ($500) Faculty Member Awards recognize excellence in teaching and demonstrated dedication to student success as well as other aspects of the faculty member’s performance in the areas of mentoring, service, and scholarly and creative work. Nominations are sought from department chairs/program coordinators, shared with the deans who advance two recommendations in each category to Provost’s Council, which selects the winners. This award is open to all returning visiting and part-time faculty members.
CAFÉ’s Blended and Online Education Excellence Award ($500) spotlights innovative course design and effective pedagogy in a blended or online learning environment. The North Central College Strategic Plan calls for the integration of technology to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning in support of a dynamic educational experience in and out of the classroom. The selection committee will utilize the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Rubric in their review. Winning courses will demonstrate best practices in four major areas: Course Design, Interaction & Collaboration, Assessment and Learner Support. The winner will also receive a Certificate of Recognition and will be showcased on the Hub. This award is open to all returning full-time and part-time faculty members who have taught a blended or online course at North Central in the past year.
This is a self-nominated award.
The Dr. Marti Bogart Award for Distinguished Collaboration ($1,000) is presented annually to recognize a faculty member or academic administrator for their collaborative and visionary efforts to bridge the important academic and student development functions of the College. Named after Dr. Marti Bogart, former associate provost and dean of academic services and associate professor of economics emerita, the award honors Dr. Bogart for her unabashed collaborative spirit. During her nearly 36 year career at North Central College, Dr. Bogart established and elevated new benchmarks for collaborative institutional work between faculty and units of all types, particularly student affairs, across the landscape of the institution with an unwavering focus on student success. Her unique ability to assess any challenge from multiple perspectives, coupled with deep institutional insights and a keen sense of collaboration, made her an exemplary and well respected leader who always operated with the best interests of the College’s students in mind.