CMC³ Past Presidents

CMC³ Distinguished Service Awards

This annual award is given to a past board member who has dedicated years of service in the CMC3 organization.

CMC³ President's Award

This annual award is given by the president to a current board member who has been particularly helpful over the past year.

CMC³ Teaching Excellence Awards

• 2022

• Cheryl Jaeger Balm, De Anza College

  Cheryl is a passionate and innovative classroom teacher who is always willing to help students. She's approachable, knowledgeable, and patient. She brings a positive energy to any interaction. She is committed to student equity. She plans her courses carefully, keeping the students in mind, and consistently uses and builds open-source/free course materials. Cheryl is a strong advocate for all students on campus. She has led the development of new courses designed in response to AB 705. She has relentlessly pursued the development of non-credit courses at De Anza. As faculty senate president, Cheryl has consistently included student voices in the review and development of district policies and procedures.

• Nick Shaposhnikov, Laney College

  Nick has been at Laney long before his teaching career started. He contributed abundantly to Laney's tutoring program, Math Lab, and the development of OER course materials and curriculum/pedagogy at all levels of the math sequence. Nick has created and shared Desmos activities and demonstrations to engage and support student understanding. He has improve Laney's Canvas shells by sharing advanced features with step-by-step instructions with his colleagues. Nick is a proponent for asynchronous learning and online tutoring. His teaching practices are innovative and keep an eye on equity. Laney is lucky to count Nick among its ranks of tenured faculty.

• Leti Lovern, Mission College

  Leti Lovern has taught mathematics for 20 years and has been full-time at Mission College since 2012. Leti's main area of interest is connecting mathematical concepts to real-life situations that have meaning and context. As such, statistics is one of Leti's favorite classes to teach. Leti has served as a faculty advisor for Associated Student Government, represented Mission College as part of the Greater Bay Area Basic Skills Consortium, and manages textbooks for the department. She feels incredibly fortunate to work in such an enriching career and looks forward to many more years of teaching mathematics.

• Jaymes Michelena, Modesto Junior College

  Jaymes Michelena's educational background includes a BS in Mathematics from CSU Stanislaus followed by an MA in Mathematics from Cal Poly. He is currently in his 22nd year as a full-time faculty member in the Mathematics Department at Modesto Junior College. Jaymes is an outstanding and extremely dedicated educator who is committed to the success of his students. He is very responsive to his students' needs and has a long history of inspiring and impacting the lives of students over multiple decades at MJC. Jaymes embodies a spirit of graciousness and excellence in teaching. Jaymes is a dear colleague who goes above and beyond the call of duty at all times.

• Diane Van Deusen, Napa Valley College

  Diane Van Deusen is an excellent mathematics professor and a valued colleague. Her priority has always been set on student success, and she utilizes her expertise and knowledgeable social skills to find the most suitable individual teaching approach to promote deep understanding of mathematics concepts. Diane has a magnificent skill of igniting interest for mathematics in students' minds by making mathematics fun and approachable while assuring in-depth comprehension of the material. She forms incredible relationships with her students and colleagues by always being respectful, available, supportive, and understanding.

• Pat Hammer, San Joaquin Delta College

  Pat has taught Community College mathematics for 32 years (17 years at Butte College and 15 years at San Joaquin Delta College). She has collaborated with colleagues to develop co-requisite support courses for both statistics and precalculus and to create online mathematics courses that offer excellent instruction in a format that is welcoming, inclusive and supports active learning. Whether in person or online, Pat strives to create a welcoming environment where students feel comfortable interacting with her and their fellow students. She ensures that every student is treated with respect, kindness and understanding, and she begins every class with this goal in mind.

• Tracey Jackson, Santa Rosa Junior College

  Tracey Jackson taught classes at Santa Rosa Junior College starting Spring 2006 where she is well respected by her peers. She hobnobs with the mathematical elite at Sonoma State University while working full time and courted greatness at San Francisco State University with her Thesis while earning her Master's Degree. Tracey has served admirably on the Board of CMC³ for several years. Tracey well deserves this award and the Santa Rosa Junior College Mathematics Department is honored to nominate her.

• Donna M. Smith, Sierra College

  Professor Donna M. Smith has been teaching undergraduate mathematics courses as a full-time instructor for over 35 years with the last 22 years at Sierra College. She also served as the Dean of Mathematics, Engineering and Drafting at American River College. Professor Smith is a well respected colleague and leader at Sierra College. Her student evaluations consistently demonstrate that she is a very effective, supportive, and student centered instructor. Professor Smith engages her students by effectively incorporating technology and active learning strategies into her teaching practices. Professor Smith shares her knowledge and experience by presenting her innovations at workshops and conferences.

• 2021

• Lisa Mesh, De Anza College

  Lisa is kind and caring with all her students and students feel it. She does everything in her power to provide student-centered classes. She is always striving to help students and do more for them, and truly wants her students to learn. She has a lot of patience and a passion for teaching. Her lectures are amazing because she exposes her humanity, showing students how real and approachable she is. Looking at her online setup, it is obvious that she spent an enormous amount of time during the jump to remote teaching preparing and learning new software to not only keep costs as close to zero as possible for her students, but also to find easy ways for students to grasp difficult concepts. Lisa brings in her previous work experience at Netflix to make all her classes more engaging. Students rave about Lisa's teaching and the warm atmosphere she creates. She has taught extensively in our Math Performance Success program and our AB705 corequisite support program. She also currently sits on the Academic Senate and keeps us informed on what to do regarding the health of the math department. She is so well-rounded; De Anza is lucky to have her.

• Brad Krein, Cabrillo College

  Brad Krein is a very valued senior member of the Mathematics Department at Cabrillo College. Many faculty members go to Brad for ideas on how to address or more deeply understand challenging content in their courses. His level of content mastery is what all instructors strive for. Brad has historically taught the entire spectrum of classes offered by the math department. His visual skill on the blackboard is unmatched. Students appreciate his promptness and attention to details. He is very involved at the department level where his opinions, insights, and knowledge are much appreciated. During the ups and downs of our department, Brad has been a reasoned and optimistic voice for maintaining high expectations for our students. Brad's demeanor—both in class and in department meetings—is relaxed, and his jokes (even the really bad ones) can lighten the challenging content of mathematics courses. Outside of the department, Brad continues to serve as the chair of our local Academic Council, and is also a division representative on our Curriculum Committee. Cabrillo College's Math department hopes he knows how much he is appreciated!

• Shawn Wiggins, City College of San Francisco

  Shawn Wiggins is highly regarded by his colleagues as a teacher and coworker. His students find him to be supportive and caring, but also someone who doesn't shy away from challenging them. Shawn has made a big impact on the CCSF Math department since being hired full-time in 2016. He was an immeasurable asset to the entire department during the transition to remote learning. He ran demonstrations on using Canvas, Zoom, and Jupyter Notebooks, and he was helpful in researching any question that his colleagues asked. Now, he is one of 5 math faculty back in-person, and is helping to ensure a safe return to campus. Most importantly, Shawn and department chair Katia Fuchs have developed an introduction to data science course that will give our students an amazing opportunity that was never available to them before. In his personal life, Shawn lives in SF with his partner, Sierra, and he enjoys photography and biking.

• Jackson Hsu, Monterey Peninsula College

  These are the actual quotes from the Monterey Peninsula College nomination form: "Jackson has shown a great deal of dedication and desire to improve both for his students and the entire Math department. In addition to growing his own Math pedagogy, Jackson has gone above and beyond in taking on the monumental role/task of coordinating the Math Dept. Community of Practice. Jackson exemplifies excellence in teaching." "Jackson is the most student-centered math teacher in our department. He is always trying new things, reading articles, blogs, etc., about teaching, going to conferences and workshops, and sharing what he learns with his colleagues. We are very lucky to have him in our department!" "Jackson is truly dedicated to the art of teaching, and has been deeply involved in the successful implementation of AB705."

• Julie Walters, Diablo Valley College

  Julie is a second generation CMC3 member, following in her father's footsteps. She began her career at DVC at our San Ramon Campus, serving many important leadership roles there, including department chair and interim dean. Since migrating to our Pleasant Hill campus, Julie's commitment to excellence both in and outside of the classroom continues to serve our students and college. She is an exemplary instructor - patient, kind, clear, flexible, and willing to go the extra mile to help her students succeed. She volunteers her time in our tutoring center to help all students, not just her own. She regularly participates in and often leads department efforts to improve teaching and learning, most recently in AB705 related projects. She collaborates with departments across our college to meet students where they are at and bring support systems to them on the classroom. DVC Math Department is beyond lucky to have her, and we are honored to nominate her for this award.

• Maria Coulson, College of Marin

  A brief description of the reasons why we chose to nominate Maria: First, her teaching is clear, organized, and thorough. Second, she uses relevant and interesting examples that connect with her students' interests and skill levels. Third, she is an edutainer! Fourth, she stays up to date with current best teaching practices, policies, and technologies. Fifth, she is very well respected by colleagues inside and outside of our department for her roles in supporting and leading us in our efforts for supporting students. And lastly, her students know she cares about their well-being, and we also know that.

• Seth Lavender, Las Positas College

  We hired Seth Lavender as a part-time faculty member in August 2014. He is a highly motivated and innovative contributor to our department. His significant contributions to our department include him helping write detailed problem sets for our Emporium mode-of-offering (self-paced math). Recognizing the need to offer zero-cost materials to students, he worked tirelessly to prepare OER resources for our Math for Liberal Arts courses. Inside the classroom, he is well-organized, understanding, and highly accessible to students. He helps students develop a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts, regardless of the level of math – from statistics to discrete mathematics. He is transparent and honest with his students and excels at offering multiple perspectives to challenging mathematical problems. Seth is an exceptionally humble and intelligent professor who puts students first and contributes heartily to the overall betterment of the mathematics department.

• Jon Blakely, College of the Sequoias

  College of the Sequoias is proud to nominate Jon Blakely for the CMC3 Teaching Excellence Award. Jon has been serving the students of the Central Valley for 24 years as a math instructor in addition to being a Cross Country and Track coach for a local high school. He has served the math department and college as a member of the Faculty Enrichment Committee and represents the math department in the COSTA faculty union. He is an advocate of Open Education Resources, writing and sharing his own OER Algebra book at http://www.jonblakely.com/textbook/. He encourages students to take ownership of their education, which has led some of his students to go on to be community college math instructors, including at College of the Sequoias. You can see Jon interacting with a former student turned colleague in his recent interview for "Ask The Faculty" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_UaYOUVzP4&t=6s.

• Mukta Sharma, Yuba College

  Mukta has been a full-time faculty member of our department since the fall semester of 2016, yet in that short time she has already made a significant impact on our students through her teaching and departmental involvement. There are several areas of Mukta's outstanding service that are worth highlighting. She is known for creating and providing many resources to her students, be it workbooks, review sheets or extra practice exercises. She has it all and does not hesitate to share them with her colleagues, either. Furthermore, she is always open to trying new teaching methods or tools, but also makes an effort to refine her strategies and shares her experiences with colleagues. Although she is open to trying new materials and strategies if they seem advantageous to students, Mukta makes sure that they keep with the rigor and expectations of our department. She will share with her colleagues when those strategies do not work so others can learn from her experiences. Mukta also frequently helps department members with technology questions, provides regular input in department affairs, participates in small project workgroups and is always available to pass on her knowledge. She does so regularly in our department meetings as well as the Mathematics Teaching Communities meetings, which she co hosts. Her colleagues have noted all of her hard work and achievements, and the Yuba College Mathematics and Statistics Department would like to thank her for her dedication.

• 2020

• Linda Huang, Cosumnes River College

  The Cosumnes River College math department is proud to nominate Linda Hoang for the CMC3 Teaching Excellence Award. This award is particularly appropriate for Linda, as she has been an integral and valuable colleague throughout her time with us as an adjunct, and even more so as a full time instructor (since 2017). A few of Linda's skills and talents include a high level of proficiency with technology, notable creativity in developing student supports inside and outside of her classes, and generating original innovative ideas to department. Most recently, for many of our colleagues, Linda has been the go-to person as we transitioned to remote teaching. We couldn't have done it as seamlessly without her! Linda is always willing to help a colleague, contribute to department undertakings (e.g., Math Awareness Week and Math Boot Camp) and is an exemplary instructor when it comes to being available to her students.

• Zoya Kravets, Mission College

  The math department at Mission College would like to nominate Zoya Kravets for the teaching excellence award. Zoya is a very active member in the department. Along with teaching a variety of classes from developmental math to more advanced classes like differential equations and linear algebra, Zoya regularly teaches face-to-face classes as well as asynchronous online classes. Zoya is passionate about making sure our students are prepared for transfer or wherever they intend to take their educational journey. Zoya was involved in the creation of the MATLAB class and STATWAY program. During the AB705 transition, Zoya served on the curriculum committee to help the department create new corequisite courses. Recently during the online transition due to COVID 19, Zoya hosted online teaching workshops to help faculty adjust to teaching online. Her students enjoy having her as instructor and her math colleagues enjoy having her as a member of the department.

• Hardev Dhillon, Modesto Junior College

  Hardev Dhillon has been a full-time faculty member in the Mathematics Department at Modesto Junior College for the past 24 years. She attended CMC³ for the first time in 1994 and currently serves as the Modesto Junior College campus representative to CMC³. Hardev is an extremely dedicated educator who is committed to the success of her students. She is a dear colleague who goes above and beyond the call of duty at all times. Hardev has served as the chair of the Statistics committee, the Algebra committee, the Distance Education committee and has served as department chair several times. College wide, Hardev has served on various committees including Academic Senate, Transfer Committee, Hiring Committees, and evaluation committees. She currently serves as the Math representative and as an Executive Board member on the Yosemite Faculty Association. Within the community, Hardev is one of the administrators for the annual Central Valley Regional Science Bowl Competition which brings some of the most academically talented high school students from all over the Central Valley to compete in science and math topics. It is an amazing Saturday each year, and her coordination with other community members makes it possible. In addition, she participates in the Stanislaus Council Math contest in which students from grades six to twelve arrive at Modesto Junior College to compete in a problem solving competition. Hardev's interests outside of education include her faith, her family, hiking, playing tennis, running, and baking.

• Rick Woodmansee, Sacramento City College

  Sacramento City College is proud to nominate Rick Woodmansee. Rick has been a mathematics instructor at Sacramento City College for 14 years, serving as department chair for two years, and has experience teaching courses at all levels. He produced extensive videos for his online courses in algebra and statistics and achieved high success rates in these online courses. Recently, Rick has devoted much time to teaching statistics and helping the department adjust to the requirements of AB 705. He attended the USC CUE Equity-Minded Practitioner Institute and multiple workshops on pedagogy presented by CAP. He joined the College's Guided Pathways team to foster collaboration and professional development across disciplines to create contextualized student learning experiences. He has extensively researched Learning Science, Habits of Mind, and Culturally Responsive Teaching techniques and he applies those ideas in his teaching. Rick is currently writing an open statistics textbook involving case studies and simulation-based inference.

• Lena Feinman, College of San Mateo

  Lena Feinman has been a math instructor at the College of San Mateo for almost 20 years. During this time, she has taught a wide range of math courses from Arithmetic Review to Differential Equations, including Introductory Statistics and Pre-Statistics. Lena has been focusing on creating a welcoming, student-centered, productive learning environment for students of all levels and backgrounds, by setting high but achievable goals and expectations. She is a hard-working, energetic, creative, and caring instructor. She is dependable and goes above and beyond to help her students, colleagues, and the college. Several of her students have decided to pursue mathematics as their majors and become mathematics instructors. Lena's approach shows others how a positive attitude and diligent work produce a proper mindset to do great things.

• Dave Ohlsen, Santa Rosa Junior College

  Dave Ohlsen, recently retired, has been the "go-to" instructor in the SRJC math department for over 30 years. Few have seen a more consummate professional dedicated to student success. Dave embraces and encourages academic curiosity in his students and displays compassion for their needs while maintaining a high standard of academic rigor. Dave truly dignifies our profession. In addition to being there for his students, he has always been there for his colleagues. You want to know how to prove any calculus theorem? Go to Dave. You want a few ideas for a particular lecture? Go see Dave. You want a super duper hard to solve math problem for an upcoming midterm? Ask Dave. Are you now wondering where you’d go to ask Dave these questions? Easy. He’d be in his office Monday through Friday, 7 AM to well past dark. And if it's Thursday night, he'd be with colleagues at dinner and movies. And if it is Saturday night at CMC3 Monterey, he'd be of course dancing with his SRJC colleagues at Sly McFly's on Cannery Row. Dave hasn't just been an amazing, dedicated math instructor and colleague. He's a friend, a constant support, and a hell of a lot of fun. And he's still the "go-to" guy. We'll just have to go to New Mexico.

• David Mitchell, Taft College

  Throughout his time at Taft College, David has shown himself to be an excellent teacher, mentor, collaborator, and an asset to the TC Math Department. His commitment to academic excellence and student success is unwavering. In addition to teaching classes ranging from Algebra to Differential Equations, David works with students in the Taft College Learning Center to provide them with individualized mathematics support. He is developing Taft College's first Linear Algebra course in order to better serve our students looking to attain careers and higher degrees in STEM-related fields of study. He has also invested into our campus as a whole and co-chairs the College's Access Committee.

• 2019

• Elena Dachkova, Gavilan College

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• Sarah Donovan, Solano Community College

  Sarah Donovan has been an instructor at Solano Community College for close to 30 years. During that time, she has been a champion for our students, especially our non-STEM students. In the 1990's, she led a major Title III grant addressing success in Intermediate Algebra. More recently, she has been our lead on the college's Equity and Student Success Committee. She developed both our quantitative reasoning course ("Math Ideas") and its co-requisite course. She is well-liked and respected by colleagues and students alike, and we are happy to recognize her with the CMC3 Excellence in Teaching Award.

• 2015

• Dr. Chris Burditt, Napa Valley College

  Dr. Burditt has been teaching at Napa Valley College for over 40 years. He has always given 110 percent to his student and was a past recipient of our McPherson Distinguished Teacher Award. Dr. Burditt was a full time instructor for over 30 years and for the past 10 years has been an adjunct.

  Dr. Burditt has bailed our department out numerous times by taking additional course loads due to unexpected emergencies. He is always here for the NVC Math Department and his students.

• Doli Bambhania, De Anza College

  Doli is an enthusiastic and energetic instructor. She is well-liked by her students at all levels of classes, and students hurry to enroll in her classes. She has introduced alternative low-cost learning materials for her students, adapting and expanding open-source materials to use with her algebra students.

  Doli has been very active in our department and division and the college. She has been on the DARE committee, committed to helping our developmental students.

  Last year, Doli started up an inter-divisional group of faculty to support of STEM students. Inspired by programs for STEM students at Foothill College that are supported by grant money, Doli initiated a group at De Anza with no financial support and led the group through a successful first program in which De Anza alumni working or attending graduate or professional school in STEM fields spoke to and fielded questions from De Anza students planning a future in STEM fields.

  Because of the efforts and talents that Doli brings to our department from so many perspectives, she is well-deserving of the CMC3 Teaching Excellence award.

• Sara Decelle, Cabrillo College

  Sara Decelle has been an adjunct instructor at Cabrillo College for over ten years. She brought with her a strong mathematical background with an emphasis in mathematical education. She has been consistently bringing those skills into her classrooms and has become an expert in using group work as a teaching pedagogy.

  She is passionate about what she does, bringing her knowledge to the department and to the college. She has been an active member of the union as well and has been willing to serve as our division representative, tirelessly keeping us informed of union activities. She also promises and coordinates department giving to various campus organizations during the Holidays.

  The College recognized her efforts this Fall by awarding her the John Hurd Award for Teaching Excellence, given to an outstanding adjunct instructor each year.

• Frederick Teti, City College of San Francisco

  Mr. Teti has a B. S. in Mathematics from Yale University, and a PhD from UC Berkeley. He was first hired as a long-term substitute for the Fall of 1995, and made the transition to a tenure track position starting in the Fall of 1996. Throughout Fred's career, students at all levels have found his teaching to be awesome and inspiring. Several of Fred's former students have gone on to become community college math instructors!

  Fred has also spent countless hours tirelessly working on committees in and outside of the Math department. Most notably, Fred has worked on the CCSF Academic Senate Executive Council (where he has been Senate President in the past), and as the adviser for the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society.

  In his personal life, Fred has been a co-chair of the S. F. Pride's Safety Subcommittee, and enjoys watching Dr. Who episodes with his friends.

• 2013

• Richard Lopez, DeAnza College

  Richard Lopez was one of the founding instructors of the MPS program, Math Performance Success. He has taught in the program many times over the years. Richard's students also love him — they enjoy his dedication and his humor. Richard always has students who come to see him during his office hours — a testament to his rapport with students.

• Debbie Lee, Foothill College

  Debbie is an excellent classroom instructor. She runs a dynamic class, using lecture, discussion, and group work to engage students in their study of mathematics. By carefully selecting examples, she requires students to think critically…during class, on homework, and on exams. Debbie is committed to the education of all students who pass through the math department. She worked with colleagues Marc Knobel and Brian Stanley to develop a new precalculus sequence and materials, thoughtfully addressing the skills and knowledge students need to succeed in calculus. Through that new curriculum, every student moving on to study calculus has a better chance of succeeding. She is always willing to help new faculty and as part-time mentor, she shared her passion, high-standards, sound advice, and untold time with all of the part-time math faculty. She works tirelessly to help ensure that the Foothill College Math Department is a place where students get an excellent math education. We are delighted to honor her for her teaching excellence.

• Janet Handel, Sacramento City College

  Sacramento City College is pleased to award the CMC3 Excellence in Teaching Award to the Chihuahua of the department – JanetHandel. Janet has been a compact but mighty part of the department since 1987 and this spunky teacher will be retiring next year. She has been a fierce and loyal advocate of students - - often going out of her way to counsel athletes and students with learning and psychological disabilities. Early in her tenure, she helped set up the SCC Mathematics Lab and continues to wander in there from time to time, volunteering her time with students. Janet has also served on the CMC3 Board and SCC Staff Development Committee and Academic Senate, where she often bravely confronted issues and dug to the bottom of the problem. We will miss her bark tremendously!

• Dr. Elzbieta Jarrett, Modesto Junion College

  For the past 21 years Dr. Elzbieta Jarrett has taught, mentored and nurtured academic excellence in students at Modesto Junior College. She is extremely generous with her time and knowledge to our new faculty, mentoring them for a smooth transition to teaching at our college. Her work on the Math Personnel Committee, Petitions Committee, Math Assessment Test Committee and numerous other committees has made Elzbieta an incredible asset to our department that we greatly appreciate.

• Fred Bourgoin, Laney College

  Fred Bourgoin&apos&s potential as an excellent instructor was recognized before he even earned his master’s degree. He was hired part-time at Laney College under the Faculty Diversity Internship Program. Then in short order, degree in hand, Fred joined the Laney College full-time faculty in 2005, where he has contributed to countless committees across campus, earning him a well-deserved reputation from his colleagues as a wise voice of reason, and complementing the high praise offered by his students evidenced by the instructor review process. Since January 2011, Fred, as Math Department Chair, has skillfully and masterfully guided the Math Department through the "challenges" created by the budget cuts that have threatened the quality of education throughout the state in recent years. Go Fred!

• Janet W. Tarjan, Bakersfield College

  Janet is our candidate not only for her teaching but for her work with our Math Club and Future teacher club. Both of these clubs have been recent award winners as has Janet, who was the club advisor of the year. Janet is also on the Academic Senate representing the Mathematics department.

• Christine Keen, College of the Sequoias

  Chris Keen has been a mathematics instructor at College of the Sequoias for 17 years. She has been an instrumental leader and strong visionary for our department, and teaches all levels of students from prealgebra to differential equations. She served as Division Chair from 2010-2013, has served on the Faculty Enrichment Committee, Essential Learning Initiative, and the Academic Senate, as well as numerous departmental committees. She is a strong voice for maintenance of standards, and has been instrumental in incorporating Wolfram Mathematica into her classes. She often teaches in the First Year Experience program and is well know by our stem major students in Mathematics, Engineering, Science Association (MESA). She was selected as MESA Mathematics Instructor of the Year in both 2011 and 2013.