At the Outreach and International Affairs annual Celebrate Success banquet, a number of LCI faculty and staff were nominated by their peers for awards. Congratulations to all our deserving colleagues, and thank you for dedication!
Bonnie Sumner
Nominated for: Maroon & Orange Award
Bonnie Sumner exemplifies what it means to be a Hokie. As an instructor at the LCI, Bonnie imbues her students with her love of Hokie Nation. Beyond simply helping her students in the classroom, Bonnie makes sure that her students feel welcome in their new community. That means not only helping these international students make the most of their time in Blacksburg, but also helping Blacksburg get to know these wonderful students. For example, Bonnie routinely arranges for guest speakers such as Del. Sam Rasoul, Rep. Morgan Griffith, and VT football star Terrell Edmunds to come speak to her classes. She opens these classes up to the entire institute so all students can benefit. And benefit they do! You can see it means a lot to them to hear from these pillars of our community. Creating such a sense of pride in being here helps the LCI stand out among its competitors and helps spread what it means to be a Hokie worldwide.
Stephanie Ayala
Nominated for: Maroon & Orange Award
Stephanie Ayala, program coordinator at the Language and Culture Institute (LCI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) clearly exemplify the characteristics of the Maroon and Orange Award. The NCR location has increasingly taken on billing responsibilities for the entire LCI. In September, due to unusual circumstances, Stephanie was obliged to handle all the LCI Fall I billing on her own, in addition to her regular program coordinator duties. She performed this vital function perfectly, on time and without error, typical of her detail-oriented and careful work.
In October the LCI/NCR began an evening English as a second language program to benefit the surrounding community. Stephanie provides the sole administrative support for this program, in addition to her LCI billing and program coordinator duties.
Beth Loar
Nominated for: Pylon Impact Award
Over the last year, Beth has demonstrated exceptional service and teamwork. This past year, she took on primary DSO responsibilities and assisted with conditional admission duties for the LCI due to two lengthy position vacancies. She did this all while completing her regular LCI admission duties. Although performing all of these duties became hectic at times, Beth was always able to provide a superior level of customer service to all, continued to complete all of her work quickly and accurately, and was the first person to offer assistance when other LCI staff needed help or assistance. Her dedicated efforts often go unseen but have been critical to the overall operations of the organization this year.
Pamela Smart-Smith, Pedro Santiago, and Stephanie Ayala
Nominated for: Maroon & Orange Award
The billing and collection functions of the Blacksburg and Fairfax locations of the LCI were an area of concern following the sudden departure of an LCI employee on leave. Yet this area of concern quickly transformed into an area of great achievement due to the collaborative efforts of Pedro Santiago, Stephanie Ayala, and Pamela Smart-Smith. Over multiple terms, they have quickly enrolled students in courses & produced accurate invoices for numerous students & sponsoring organizations. Pedro, Stephanie and Pamela have quickly addressed all billing & class issues & ensured that financial and academic records are updated. They have gracefully & professionally worked with students or organizations failing to pay to bring their accounts up to date. Their dedicated and collaborative team efforts have resulted in bringing all student & sponsoring organizations accounts current & serves as an example of great teamwork.
Andrea Todd, Elsie Paredes, Guennadi Bratichko, Aniseh Ghaderi, Liz Bowles, Rich Mathieson, Bryan Ducote, Pedro Santiago
Nominated for: Hokie Stone Team Award
Specially developed for international students who wish to matriculate into Virginia Tech, the development of Advantage VT (AVT) has engaged undergraduate admissions, enrollment management, as well as advisors and senior administrators in the Colleges of Business, Science and Engineering.
This “AVT development team” refined the program concept, conducted market analyses, created and piloted curriculum, developed marketing materials, and assisted in presenting the program to college and department administrators.
The most comprehensive effort ever undertaken by the institute, AVT would not have been possible without the hundreds of combined hours dedicated by these team members to a common goal.
Stephanie Bailey, Patricia Parera, Rich Mathieson
Nominated for: Hokie Stone Team Award
Virginia Tech aspires to be a global university. Over the past year, the LCI has undertaken five missions abroad, engaged a number of embassies, and welcomed three senior delegations to campus. Three individuals have been key to the success of these activities, which have engaged over 50 VT faculty members from departments across campus.
Rich Mathieson has created and/or contributed to web blogs, press releases, news items, brochures, pamphlets, banners and other materials, forwarding the VT brand in many ways and languages.
Patricia Parera has organized missions, promoted VT abroad, fostered contacts with senior officials, networked abroad and mobilized faculty support here at home.
Stephanie Bailey, responsible for logistics for missions and delegations, has worked tirelessly to ensure that activities are planned and executed to the finest detail.
These employees “walk the talk" of international engagement.
Stephanie Bailey
Nominated for: Ut Prosim Award
Stephanie Bailey was hired as my assistant one year ago. Over that time, and for extended periods, she effectively did two full-time jobs. When Stephanie was hired, the immediate need arose to back-fill her former position at the institute’s main desk. The unexpected departure of a second office assistant created a void in both people-power and knowledge at our main desk. For a period of many months we struggled with filling and training her former position. Stephanie stepped in to not only fulfill my needs as her supervisor, quite demanding on their own, but also the responsibilities of managing the front office and, eventually, training a replacement. When I was traveling, a frequent occurrence, Stephanie also juggled making last-minute changes to my itineraries with a demanding home life managing two young children. Stephanie did all of this conscientiously and without complaint, making her my Ut Prosim hero.
Adil Bentahar
Nominated for: Maroon & Orange Award
Adil Betahar is very admired by his students. He makes students believe in their own abilities and possibilities for the future. Adil goes above and beyond for his students and all students at the LCI. Adil has served as a translator and resource for students in need. He never hesitates to help a student or colleague regardless if he has previous plans. He volunteers with the conversation program at the public library and works with the Blacksburg Refugee Coalition as a tutor and as a trainer. Additionally, Adil volunteers with the VT Saudi Club and works with LCI Student Services to give ongoing orientation sessions to our students. Adil’s work ethic and leadership stand out. He is one of our most dedicated instructors, and for this we think he deserves recognition.
Aniseh Ghaderi
Nominated for: Pylon Impact Award
Aniseh Ghaderi has given many years to the LCI. In that time she has worked as an instructor and now serves as the Advisor for conditionally admitted students. Aniseh has worked tirelessly to establish systems for advising students. She has created all the materials we now use and has shared these within the institute and nationally at conferences. Aniseh seeks to know about not only students’ academic lives, but also their personal likes and possible areas of difficulty. She is kind and guides students to achieve their goals. When a student is not successful, she tries to help them succeed even if the path they envisioned must be a different one. In addition to her advising duties, Aniseh works with her colleagues for the good of the organization. She works as an instructor, serves on the Assessment Committee, and is active with the Toastmasters.
Mary Freday
Nominated for: Maroon & Orange Award
Mary Freday is an innovative force in the classroom and outside of it. Mary spends countless hours seeking new ways to reach her students. Students always request to be in Mary’s classes as she pushes them to excel and makes them feel valued. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Mary assumed a strong leadership role in the institute by leading the curriculum committee. She has worked tirelessly revising and, at times, completely rewriting curriculum for the Intensive English Program. Throughout the last year, Mary has exceeded her job requirements and has made valuable contributions to the LCI. Additionally, she has volunteered to work on the Joint Curriculum Committee (Blacksburg and NCR locations) as a faculty representative to advise in decision-making.
Rich Mathieson
Nominated for: Invent the Future Award
Rich Mathieson is not just a good all-around communicator, but he also brings immeasurable added value to OIA because of his facility with graphic design. He does many of the visuals for Save Our Towns, and each year he designs the annual OIA wall calendar with originality, flair and elegance. (And without complaint!) His designs are tasteful and stack up with the best coming out of Virginia Tech's art departments. What's more, he's an excellent colleague, sharing his skills in photography workshops and other less formal trainings. When any job requires extra graphic-arts skills, such as fitting OIA's department names within the new Virginia Tech logo, Rich is always the one there to help everyone make it work. (I'm not sure Rich has ever been recognized before, and if so it's long overdue!)
Language and Culture Institute/National Capital Region Instructors
Nominated for: Hokie Stone Team Award
The faculty of the Language and Culture Institute adheres to the highest standards of instruction while projecting warmth and empathy to all our English language learners. Our current teaching staff has been with us for multiple terms, most for multiple years! They bring enthusiasm into the classroom while encouraging and facilitating student learning. The LCI/NCR instructors effectively prepare English language learners for admission into and success during their future undergraduate and graduate degree programs. In addition, they assist students as advisors and work closely with them to ensure their future academic success.
Congratulations to Allie Shamsaei, Monica Mulholland, Lily Jaffie, and Inge McKenney.on a job well done. Thank you for all that you do!
