NCC teachers recognized

Two members of the Norwalk Community College faculty have been named winners of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development 2012 Excellence Award.

They are Trumbull resident Lauren Perlstein, professor and coordinator of the Medical Assistant Program and Medical Office Management Health Office Information Program; and Norwalk resident Peter Daupern, mathematics professor.

The annual Excellence Award program recognizes more than 1,300 outstanding educators from around the world. Perlstein and Daupern will be honored on May 30 at NISOD's annual international conference in Austin, Texas.

Since its inception in 1978, NISOD has emphasized the importance of teaching and leadership excellence in institutions of higher education. NISOD works to serve, engage and inspire teachers and leaders through its conferences, publications, web services, partnerships and programs.

NISOD is the outreach vehicle and service arm to the Community College Leadership Program.

The CCLP, at The University of Texas at Austin, is a doctoral-level program training community college presidents, vice presidents, and deans for 60 years.

More than 700 community colleges around the world are NISOD members, including almost every large community college district, the majority of urban and technical colleges in the United States and Canada, and more than 200 small, rural colleges around the world.

The first NISOD Excellence Award was given in 1989. It has been presented every year since then. The Excellence Awards tradition "allows NISOD the distinct privilege of honoring so many of the world's best in higher education," according to the organization's website.

Selection criteria are left to the discretion of each member institution. Only faculty, staff and administrators at NISOD-member institutions are eligible.

Norwalk Community College (www.ncc.commnet.edu), based in Norwalk, was the first two-year college established in Connecticut.

Enrolling nearly 15,000 students, the college offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields.

NCC's extensive involvement with the communities it serves has made it the only community college in Connecticut to earn a place on the Carnegie Foundation for Teaching's 2010 Community Engagement classification.

NCC is one of 30 Achieving the Dream Leader Colleges nationwide, a distinction honoring outstanding student success initiatives; one of 15 community college nationwide to receive major funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for developmental education initiatives; and a member college of the United Nations Academic Impact.