Abel wins award
By JJ Ossola
IV Leader Staff, Dec. 9, 2004
Nursing instructor Kim Abel was recently awarded the 2004 Illinois Professor of the Year, out of a group of nearly 400 professors in the United States.
Abel, who has been an instructor at IVCC since 1979, teaches two classes a semester, but spends long hours at the hospital for clinical practice and lectures.
Abel said that the key to distinguishing herself from the other instructors at IVCC might have been her role on the Diversity Committee and sponsoring multiple student groups, including People Of the World End Racism.
She received endorsements from IVCC president Jean Goodnow, vice president Harriet Custer, colleague Pam Mammano, lab instructor Laura Hodgson and several students.
Abel said, “My strengths as a nursing instructor include my belief that people learn best with real issues in real life settings and my wide-ranging interests — in politics, culture, religion and current events — all of which have a tremendous impact on health.”
Goodnow said, “We at Illinois Valley Community College are very proud of Kim Abel. Kim’s commitment and dedication to our students is unsurpassed, she is a vital member of our faculty.”
Abel went to Washington D.C. to receive the award on Nov. 18 and said, “It is a great honor, to be recognized for just doing my job!” She also said, “I do what I do because I enjoy it and that is really the big reward.”
The U.S. Professors of the Year program was created in 1981 and is the only national initiative designed to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring. Campus provosts or academic administrators nominate the professors and current and former students, colleagues and peers from other institutions send letters of support. The finalists are selected by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Abel is the second IVCC instructor to receive the Illinois Professor of the Year. Rose Marie Lynch was the first.