Dedication separates these teachers

Endowed Teaching Chairs are awarded to nine faculty members at Miami Dade College.

Each year, Miami Dade College recognizes faculty members by awarding them Endowed Teaching Chairs, which funds a stipend to mark continued excellence.

This year, MDC will grant the Endowed Teaching Chairs to nine people. The award recipients will be honored at a celebration at 6 p.m. Oct. 27 in the Chapman Conference Center at the MDC Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave.

MDC President Eduardo Padrón said this year's recipients were being honored for ``their dedication to teaching the next generation of South Florida professionals.''

The instructors being honored represent five campuses and six academic disciplines. They were selected by a committee of their peers, following a process that requires evidence of student retention and success, effective teaching strategies and professional growth.

The Endowed Teaching Chairs are:

• PATRICK BIBBY, recipient of the Gerrits Construction Company Endowed Teaching Chair, teaches mathematics at Kendall Campus.

Bibby chairs the college-wide Quality Enhancement Plan Oversight Committee.

Bibby led the development of the 2002-03 baccalaureate program in Secondary Mathematics Education and also recently received a Golden Apple Grant. He is a principal investigator for a shared National Science Foundation grant to incorporate mathematics into other disciplines.

The 31-year MDC veteran holds a master's degree from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. from the University of Florida. He lives in Kendall with his wife and son, two dogs and a cat.

• LOIS WILLOUGHBY, recipient of the Murray Sisselman & Peter H. Clayton Endowed Teaching Chair, has been teaching at the Kendall Campus Social Sciences Department since its inception.

She has been a faculty marshal at graduation for 25 years and Chief Marshal at Kendall Campus for five years. She is a member of several professional organizations, the FIU Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, and Delta Kappa Gamma, an international honor society of women educators.

Willoughby holds a bachelor's and a master of education degrees in history from Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. from Florida International University. She lives in South Miami with her husband and two children.

• MARTA MAGELLAN, recipient of the Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation Endowed Teaching Chair, teaches English at the Kendall Campus.

As faculty co-advisor to Miambiance, the Kendall Campus literary magazine, Magellan has helped many students receive national recognition for their writing and artwork.

She received a national award from College Media Advisors in 2004 for her own work on the magazine. She serves as a judge for a variety of national and local college writing contests.

The Brazilian-born Fulbright Scholar holds degrees from MDC and a master's in linguistics from the University of Florida. She lives in Pinecrest with husband James Gersing.

• IAN COBHAM, recipient of the Mary Pond Family and Friends Endowed Teaching Chair, teaches at the Homestead Campus Mathematics Department, where he heads a U.S. Department of Education Title III Planning Grant.

Cobham is the recipient of two National Institute of Staff and Organizational Development Awards, and the 2001 Pan American International Flight Academy Endowed Teaching Chair and is listed in Strathmore's Who's Who.

Cobham, who is a member of several mathematical societies, served as Events Coordinator at the 2002 Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics and Robot Showcase.

A native of Trinidad, Cobham holds bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Miami. He lives in Kendall.

• EMILY SENDIN, recipient of the Arthur H. Hertz Endowed Teaching Chair, teaches English, reading, and literature at the InterAmerican Campus and the Virtual College.

The writing professor, who includes service learning, earth ethics, technology, and women's studies in her courses, founded the Literature Invites Thinking club and coordinated the College's Online Literary Book Club.

Sendin is a recipient of three Golden Apple Learning Innovation grants, a 2001 ALA (American Library Association) Live! grant, and two Hispanic Education Telecommunication Systems grants in 2001 and 2002.

Sendin, who holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English from Florida International University, is a South Dade resident.

• DOMINIC BRUCATO, recipient of the Hank Meyer Endowed Teaching Chair, teaches at the Kendall Campus Social Sciences Department.

He is a co-author of Essential Elements of Effectiveness, the text used for the course Psychology of Personal Effectiveness at Miami Dade College.

After Hurricane Andrew virtually destroyed his place of business, Brucato began to teach more courses at the college, where he discovered that his skills as a practicing therapist could be put to good use in the classroom with students and college staff.

Brucato attended the University of Notre Dame and received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Kent State University. He lives in Palmetto Bay.

• BONNIE HAMMACK, recipient of the Jane and Van Myers Endowed Teaching Chair, teaches at the Medical Campus Nursing Department. She helms S.H.A.R.P. (Students Helping America's Retired People), a service learning project whereby 250 nursing student volunteers provide health screening to the elderly.

The active Air Force reservist serves as chief nurse at Homestead Air Force Base and is in clinical practice at the Miami Veteran Administration Medical Center. She is a recipient of Florida International University's 2003-04 Adjunct Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award and the United Way Green Family Foundation 2003 American Values Award.

Hammack holds bachelor's and master's degrees in nursing from the University of Florida. She lives in Davie with her husband Jay Hammack and one daughter.

• RENE IZQUIERDO, recipient of the Mitchell Wolfson Jr. Endowed Teaching Chair, teaches ESL & Foreign Languages Department at the Kendall Campus, where he reminds students that learning a foreign language can make it easier to land a job or to marry into a different culture.

At MDC, Izquierdo is a leader in Web-based testing and instruction; he has developed the use of computer- based testing and adopted a computer-based classroom program (WebCT) and extensive online support for his courses.

The Cuban-born professor holds a bachelor's in Fine Arts and Spanish literature from Queens College in New York and a master's and a Ph.D. in Spanish literature from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The 17-year veteran of the College lives in Kendall.

• LUIS LOPEZ, recipient of the Miami Police Department Endowed Teaching Chair in the Social Sciences, teaches at the Wolfson Campus Social Sciences Department. He has served as coordinator of the Emphasis on Excellence Program for a decade.

Lopez, who mentors incoming college students, is also active in programs that help high school students from the Wolfson Campus feeder area perform better on their standardized tests.

The 28-year veteran of the College holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Miami and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Florida International University.

He received a master's in sociology from the University of Pittsburgh. Lopez lives in South Miami.

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This is the 13th anniversary of the Faculty Endowed Chair Program, the highest recognition of MDC's faculty. Each recipient will hold his or her chair for three years and receive an annual award of $7,500.

The program is funded through the support of individuals, corporations and organizations that are committed to excellence in teaching. More than 200 Endowed Chairs have been awarded since the program's inception in 1992.

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