Big Bend wins three statewide awards

Three Big Bend Community College nominees for state awards will be recognized in Spokane during the Trustees Association of Community and Technical Colleges (TACTC) spring meeting on May 14 in Spokane.

The awardees include: Samaritan Healthcare, Partner of the Year; Dr. Ryann Leonard, Faculty Member Award; and Terry Kinzel, Equity Award.

“Last year BBCC had two nominees who received awards at the state level (Trustee Mike Blakely, Trustee Leadership Award; and Custodio Valencia, Equity),” Leas said.

“We were stunned that BBCC could garner two TACTC awards in one year, and never imagined that three nominees would earn awards this year,” Leas said. “This news is affirmation of the high-quality, wonderful people who work at and with BBCC.”

BBCC is one of 34 community college in the state, and one of the smallest (enrollment and service district population) in the state community college system.

Samaritan Healthcare was honored by the college recently for its essential, long-term support of BBCC’s nursing program. The college cast a bronze to hang in the ATEC building in recognition of $700,000 in support from Samaritan Healthcare during the period 2001-2014.

Dr. Leonard is a criminal justice instructor at BBCC who has worked with local law enforcement and firefighters to stage the Community Partnership Against Substance Abuse for the past nine years. It is a public education event that features mock car crashes, simulated impaired driving, and speakers who tell how drug-related crimes are investigated.

Kinzel is BBCC’s Title V Grant Coordinator. She has authored 17 successful grant applications totaling $17.25 million on behalf of BBCC in the last eight years. Her work supports BBCC’s evolution to online learning, its technology infrastructure and capacity, and remodeling expanding campus buildings to provide space for new student service programs.