5 IVCC faculty awarded tenure
Five faculty members representing nursing, welding and mathematics were awarded tenure by the Illinois Valley Community College Board of Trustees this month.
Department recommendations presented to the Board praised their dedication and acknowledged their contributions to the college and the community, and student endorsements underlined their unwavering advocacy.
College President Dr. Tracy Morris congratulated the faculty at a small reception Thursday. “The granting of tenure is a tremendous milestone for our faculty. It is a process that is rigorous, but also allows the faculty to showcase their expertise as educators and their knowledge of their field. This group of faculty has been extremely dedicated both inside and outside the classroom and we could not be more proud of each of them!” she said after the event.
Faculty members include Theresa Molln, Welding instructor; Chrissy Boughton, Nursing instructor; Cathy Lenkaitis, Nursing Laboratory instructor; Samantha Whiteaker, Nursing instructor, and Emily Morgan, Math instructor.
Molln was described in her recommendation as becoming “the very essence of what she most admired about IVCC as a student – a faculty member who cares and will invest the time a student needs.”
In paying tribute to her care and compassion, the recommendation noted she “even went as far as making sure students do not go hungry” by establishing a food cabinet in the department.
Molln currently coordinates the welding program, which she joined full time in 2021 after serving as lab assistant and part-time instructor. She earned praise for developing course content and redesigning and improving the welding lab, for her community leadership, and for using her welding talents to create keepsakes to support fundraisers, community activities and to present as gifts.
In 2021, the same year Chrissy Boughton began her full-time career at IVCC, she was nominated by students and awarded the Outstanding Part-time Faculty Award. Her association with IVCC began as a student and continued as a part-time faculty member.
The Student Nurse Association that she advises has flourished and has been active in blood drives, health fairs, and other on-campus and community events. She earned praise for helping anchor a close-knit program and for community involvement which included volunteering at area Covid-19 immunization clinics.
In her recommendation, supervisors praised Boughton’s “knowledge and passion for her profession (and) her continued drive to learn and grow with her students. IVCC is lucky to have her.”
A student described Cathy Lenkaitis as “an open book with great knowledge” and her supervisors label her “indispensable” in the Nursing Skills Lab she supervises. Since she began her career at IVCC in 2021, Lenkaitis has provided additional hands-on training through that lab, and overseen development of a new simulation lab. She is vigilant in her search for ideas and improvements.
“Students feel comfortable and supported while in the skills lab,” Dean of Health Professions Heather Seghi wrote in her recommendation. Lenkaitis organizes blood drives and food and supply drives for the area and created a “scrubs closet” in the lab to help defray clothing costs to student nurses and colleagues.
Since returning to IVCC in 2021, Samantha Whiteaker has organized charity diaper drives, flower sales and a student-led landscaping project at a women’s center and has been active with the Women’s Health and Wellness Student Group. She had been a tenured faculty member in 2013-2016 before leaving IVCC for a time.
Students admire the hard work she does inside and beyond the classroom and praise her: “You inspire me to be a better nurse and patient advocate,” noted one. Her supervisors note she uses hands-on skills and non-traditional skills assessments, and collaborative teaching and learning techniques.
Since joining the IVCC faculty in 2021, Emily Morgan has taught developmental and college level mathematics with a student-centric approach and a passion for the subject that developed when she was a first-grader.
“She has helped me develop math skills in every possible way she can,” noted one student, while others appreciate her teaching style. “Emily’s idea is to get her students to think about the topic at hand in a new way,” supervisors noted in their recommendation, and reinforces her lessons with “a very good questioning technique and group work.”
Morgan is active in her community through civic and sporting events.