Adjunct Faculty Making ‘Super’ Contributions to MSCC

Mid-South Community College recently recognized seven adjunct faculty members for extraordinary contributions during the fall semester to our mission to change the educational landscape of the Arkansas Delta. Nakeisha Griffin, Daphne Jones, Murat Kavuncu, Roxanne Lee, Angela Payne, Darlene Smith, and Amy Ware received certificates and financial incentives for their above-and-beyond efforts to encourage our students.

Lee is the “dean” of the honorees with service to the College dating back to 2002. She served as a part-time instructor for us beginning in June of that year and continuing through July 2008 before taking a break to pursue additional higher education. She returned as an MSCC “regular” in January 2012. Lee has served as an educator since 1994, working at Memphis Catholic High School, Marion High School, Christian Brothers High School, Wonder and East Junior High Schools, and West Memphis High School.

Ware has worked with us since August 2005. Her higher education experience includes stints with Rhodes College (assistant director of Career Services), the University of Georgia (assistant director/career consultant for the Career Center), and the University of Memphis (Career Services intern and Student Activities graduate assistant).

Payne, a lifelong educator, came on board in June 2008. She began her teaching career at Mississippi County Community College (now Arkansas Northeastern College) in 1993 and continued through 2004. Payne served as an assistant professor at Columbia State Community College for three years before joining the staff at Southwest Tennessee Community College in 2007. She started as an assistant professor and earned associate professor status in 2012. Payne also has community college roots as a graduate of Phillips County Community College (now Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas).

Kavuncu joined our teaching staff in August 2009. He has been associated with Mid-South since 1999, first as a student and then as a graduate (associate of arts in 2002) before hiring on as an adjunct. His professional experience includes Continental Traffic Service Inc. of Memphis (transportation analyst), Kavland (partner/owner/manager), and Sundial Systems and Technology, LLC. In addition to English, he speaks and writes fluently in Turkish.

Griffin came to us in spring 2010. She brings a wealth of professional experience with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, Memphis City Schools (taught seven years), HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital and FedEx.

Jones also joined the MSCC family in spring 2010, and the long-time educator (she started in 1994) has experience from the Little Rock School District, Memphis City Schools, Tennessee Department of Education, and the Grizzlies Academy.

Smith, the “newest” adjunct faculty member of the bunch, started at MSCC in August 2011. She is another lifelong educator and has been teaching since 1974. Smith has worked at East, West, and Wonder Junior High Schools and West Memphis High School. She also taught a year of kindergarten at First Baptist Church.

Obviously the educational and professional backgrounds of our Super Adjuncts is enough to impress almost anyone, but to earn special recognition, instructors must meet exacting criteria. Like their students, Super Adjunct candidates are “graded” based on a specific set of guidelines (a rubric) for each of six areas: professional development, use of technology in instruction, prompt and accurate response to administrative requests, loyalty to and support of MSCC, use of instructional strategies to increase student learning, and adherence to MSCC procedures. The highest mark in each category is a four, and honorees must earn at least a three in every category.

While we have singled out these seven honorees for their Herculean efforts, we recognize that all of our part-time instructors are “super.” Their help is vital to our effort to truly make a difference in our region because we can’t afford to hire the mass of humanity it would take to meet those diverse needs. Our part-time instructors understand the special needs of community colleges, and they go to great lengths to help our students succeed. For every Super Adjunct, we have 12 or 13 others who are just as devoted to their profession and our mission. We can’t pay them what they’re worth, but we can certainly express our appreciation for what they are doing to make the world a better place.