Biology professor honored as outstanding part-time faculty

Biology instructor Donald Leynaud was recently selected by colleagues as the winner of Illinois Valley Community College’s 2025 Outstanding Part-Time Faculty Award.

“A teacher is first made from the heart and soul, and God has blessed me for choosing the right career,” Leynaud said. Borrowing a biology theory, Leynaud explained the symbiotic nature of teaching: “The teacher can help the student learn, and the student will make the teacher a much better and continually effective teacher.”

In her nomination, Leslie Crum said she and her classmates benefit from Leynaud’s enthusiasm and encouragement. “His humor and kindness are what make him a great instructor and it should not go unnoticed. I fully believe an instructor can make or break a student’s learning experience, and he truly made mine.”

Leynaud’s teaching techniques made it easier for Crum to retain complex information and his patience helped students become comfortable in the lab setting, she wrote.

Leynaud is a graduate of LaSalle-Peru Township High School who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biological studies at Eastern Illinois University. Leynaud retired in 2013 after 34 years as a full-time instructor of life sciences at Illinois Eastern Community Colleges/Wabash Valley College in Mount Carmel. In 2016, he became a part-time instructor at Illinois Valley Community College, where he teaches various life science classes and is an instructional lab assistant.

Leynaud has also been active as a community volunteer, teaching science to adult basic education students, serving at local hospitals and facilitating a mental health support group.

Leynaud and many of his IVCC colleagues will be honored Thursday, April 3, at IVCC’s employee recognition reception at Senica’s Oak Ridge Golf Club.