Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

2022 NISOD Excellence Award Recipients

Posted by matt.coleman1

NISOD’s Excellence Awards recognize folks each year who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment and contribution to their students and colleagues; nominations were made by supervisors and colleagues.

We are proud to announce our recipients of the annual NISOD Excellence Awards. The 2022 honorees are:

• Tinah Bazin-Quintana – Nursing Faculty. Tinah is the ultimate example of providing every opportunity to give students a way to succeed. She meets with them to give further instruction as needed and allows an adequate remediation to assist the students in learning the material better. She includes information about equity throughout healthcare and ways to decrease disparities.
• Leslie Mestman – Community Education Director. Leslie has supported student success through systems change and has played an integral role in the development and successful implementation of CEDARS – the new non credit registration system. Leslie approached and designed these projects with the student at the center and with the primary intention of making the student experience better. She has also provided resources to the instructors in Community Education and has worked to improve communication and address systemic issues. She is a visionary, steady and effective leader.
• Alicia Adams – International Office of Student Services Manager. Alicia has worked hard to increase the visibility of international students at PCC at recruitment fairs, meeting and talking with prospective international students and their families at all hours of the day, due to the international clock. Because of her efforts, our international student application numbers have actually increased since last year! More international students have the opportunity to study at PCC and achieve equitable student success thanks to Alicia’s dedication and relentless commitment to our students and PCC.
• Kaela Parks – Director of Disability Services. Kaela promotes opportunity and equitable student success for students with disabilities, and also for all students and staff. She uses her participation on various PCC committees to promote Universal Design principles that benefit all: captioning, flexibility in attendance, recording lectures, creating accessible built environments to name a few. As a result, many of these practices have allowed not only accessibility, but increased participation and retention of students. Kaela views disability as a part of diversity and continually works to get the college and community to also view disability as a natural part of life. By “normalizing” disability, Kaela has created awareness for the PCC community and opportunity for students with disabilities to have equitable access to education.
• Linda Degman – Office of Planning and Capital Construction Director. Linda’s commitment to students is seen in how Linda prioritizes equitable, accessible, and innovative spaces. Linda believes in pursuing healthy, resilient buildings for the PCC community. In addition to that, Linda leads a team that goes one step further; they execute quality planning processes and deliver rich projects through the use of an equity lens. She guides her team to plan and deliver spaces that provide students with similar experiences and connection with resources across the college district.to help. Linda has helped PCC address the high rates of housing insecurity among community college students as well as in the larger community, by advancing conversations regarding affordable housing on college campuses through partnerships with housing agencies.
• Todd Nashiwa – Academic Advising Coordinator. Todd has elevated programming for advising and career services by using data and technology to undergird strategy and procedures, providing ongoing support of Student Success Management Systems, by providing training curriculum for division-wide student success management systems with emphasis on student-centered practice,to support achieving student equity. Todd works on cross-functional teams to improve integration with disparate systems and data sources to support and impact delivery of services.
• Tyler Duncan – Library Technician. Tyler has supported students and staff during COVID and remote operations as well as the sustained re-opening process. They contributed a good portion of their time to create activities for team-building in times when seeing co-workers in person wasn’t possible. This helped keep the spirit of the team going and allowed us to stay in a good mental state and to serve our students the best way we can. Learn more about Tyler’s journey.
• Zita Podany – Practicum Lead and Supervisor, Teacher Licensure. Zita consistently goes above and beyond in helping students reach their goals. Zita is an instructor who wants everyone to succeed and works hard to ensure that students have the information and support to be successful.

You can learn more about how the award recipients will be celebrated in 2022 by visiting NiSOD’s website.

About NISOD

The National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) is a membership organization committed to promoting and celebrating excellence in teaching, learning, and leadership at community and technical colleges. For community and technical colleges that want to make the most of their professional development dollars, NISOD provides budget-friendly, high-quality, and faculty-focused programs and resources. For over 40 years, NISOD’s customer-focused approach has helped align our wide array of benefits with the needs of our members, which explains why the American Association of Community Colleges named NISOD, “The country’s leading provider of professional development for community college faculty, staff, and administrators.” For more information about NISOD, visit nisod.org.