De Anza College and the Office of Instruction will offerstudents an opportunity to have a voice in honoring the instructorsthey learn from every day.
The Distinguished Educator Award is the brainchild of Judy Miner,De Anza’s vice president of instruction, and has been inplace for a little over a month.
“To me, it’s about the celebration of teaching and notabout establishing something that is overly bureaucratic,”Miner said. “Our core activity here is instruction, and wehave too few opportunities to acknowledge our faculty.”
With the first award to be issued on Nov. 1, the award uses anonline form that gives educators and students the ability to givetestimonies about their instructors.
“We would really like [students’] participation,”Miner said. “They can nominate as many as they wouldlike.”
The nomination deadline is on the first of each month.
Unlike the president’s award, which is only offered quarterlyto full-time instructors with 10 years of experience, theDistinguished Educator Award is open to all teachers regardless oflength of employment.
Students interested in nominating an instructor should visit theOffice of Instruction Web site below.