More than 30 Florida College System faculty from across the state will attend the 2012 Florida Master Teacher Seminar June 17-21 at Pensacola State College. The seminar emphasizes innovation and excellence in classroom teaching. The focus of discussion and activities for the entire week will be best practices and instructional innovation in undergraduate education.
Dr. W. Terry Whisnant, professor of Behavioral Sciences at Southside Virginia Community College and a veteran of national and international teaching programs, will direct the seminar. Whisnant was selected by the American Association of Community College Trustees as a southern regional Faculty of the Year in 2001 and as a national finalist for Faculty of the Year in 2002. In2007, he received the NISOD Excellence in Education Award; in 2008, the Lifetime Membership Award from the Virginia Community Colleges Association; and in 2010, he was a charter recipient of the Dana Hamel Award for Leadership from the Virginia Community College System.
Whisnant will be joined by a staff of experienced faculty facilitators. Pensacola Statefaculty members Lisa Sims, Sociology, and Chad Smudde, Mathematics, have been selected to join Dr. Whisnant’s staff in leading the seminar.
The original Master Teacher Seminar was established in 1962 at Westbrook College in Portland, Maine. Since then, it has evolved into a national movement with more than a dozen annual seminars held coast to coast and an international movement with seminars in Canada and China. The sole aim of the seminar is practicalexploration of ways to improve teaching in all disciplines.
For more information, contact Brenda Kelly at (850) 471-4627, bkelly@pensacolastate.edu.