TVCC press release
Trinity Valley Community College professor Donna Bennett has been named a recipient of the Outstanding Distance Learning Faculty Award by the Northeast Texas Consortium of College and Universities.
Recipients of the award are chosen by their individual college or university for contributing in the most highly creative ways to teaching, learning and technology.
Bennett, a former Henderson County district attorney, has been a full-time faculty member for four years. She is currently an instructor for criminal justice, government and legal assistant classes.
Prior to her full-time tenure, she served as an adjunct faculty member for several years.
Other recipients of the award were:
- Julie Mays, Angelina College
- Michelle Wilder, Kilgore College
- Heidi Wooten, Northeast Texas Community College
- Natalie Oswalt, Panola College
- Heather Olson-Beal, Stephen F. Austin State University
- Catherine Howard, Texarkana College
- Lynn Sitton and Claudia “Beth” Long, Tyler Junior College
- Shannon Cox-Kelley, UT Health Northeast
In addition, the Consortium presented a first time award in a new category, Career Achievement for Distance Learning. Larry Lowry of UT Health Northeast received the honor. Dr. Lowry was recognized for his decades of service to the University and to providing extended access to students both regionally and throughout the state with distance learning opportunities thanks to modern technology. He is a professor of Occupational Health Sciences and was integral to the development of a joint master’s degree program in Environmental Health between Stephen F. Austin State University and UT Health Northeast.
The Northeast Texas Consortium is a partnership among the higher education institutions with a mission to increase access to educational and rural health programs for the people of Northeast Texas through collaboration and technology. The Consortium’s most visible project, NETnet, is a wide-area broadband network serving more than 15 college campuses.
The awards were presented at the group’s annual distance learning conference with the theme, The Power of Online Learning, held at SFASU.