Two Waukesha County Technical College instructors earn National Institute for Staff and Organization
NISOD, or the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, is a membership organization committed to promoting and celebrating excellence in teaching, learning and leadership at community and technical colleges. The American Association of Community Colleges named NISOD the country’s leading provider of professional development for community college faculty, staff and administrators.
The NISOD Excellence Awards recognize men and women each year who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment and contribution to their students and colleagues.
Award recipient Bucci has worked at the College since 2001 and serves as a writing instructor in Academic Support. Her focus is on precollege writing, helping students strengthen their writing skills, and learn to apply the rules of proper grammar, mechanics and sentence structure to their written work.
Bucci said it is rewarding to help students improve their communication skills since they are critical to school, work and personal correspondence.
“I have found that it is not always the highly visible things you do as a teacher that make the most difference, but it is the quiet, little things you do every day that build up to have a lasting impact on students,” she said.
Jim Nowak, director of WCTC’s Academic Support and Development Education Services, nominated Bucci for the award.
“Janel is extremely dedicated and committed to WCTC and strives for student success. … She is always willing to step up and goes above and beyond to support students and her colleagues. Janel sets a standard of excellence in teaching and learning for all students,” Nowak said.
Award recipient Wolfe, who has been teaching at the College for 17 years – 10 in the Corporate Training Center and the last seven as the lead faculty in the Quality Management associate degree program within the School of Business. Currently, she teaches Intro to Continuous Improvement, Intro to ISO, Six Sigma Green Belt and Six Sigma Black Belt.
As an instructor, Wolfe enjoys inspiring and encouraging students to pursue their passion for quality management and continuous improvement concepts.
“It is extremely rewarding to see students’ achieve of their associate degree or desired credential that will help advance their careers and influence their lives in such a positive way,” Wolfe said. In addition, I find collaborating with such a talented group of professional educators at WCTC to be one of the most rewarding aspects of each day on campus.”
Jon Koch, associate dean of Marketing and Supervisory Management, nominated Wolfe for the award.
“Brenda’s commitment to student learning, student career readiness and institutional continuous improvement is remarkable. As a certified Black Belt, she is a significant asset to the continuous improvement efforts of WCTC and to her department for various process improvement projects. … Simply put, Brenda makes WCTC a better place to work and a better place for our students to learn,” Koch said.
Bucci and Wolfe will be honored for their achievements at an awards dinner held during the NISOD International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence in Austin, Texas, this May.