Faculty Fridays

Great faculty makes the difference for SAC students. SAC Faculty make our students feel welcomed, challenged and eager to learn. The Faculty Focus is an opportunity to share your own promising practices or nominate other outstanding faculty and instructors who are highly engaged in attaining excellence in teaching and transformational learning experiences for students.

Faculty and instructors may share their own practices but may also be nominated by their peers, and/or students. Each month during the academic year, we will feature the most recent nominee with an interview where they share insights into their teaching practice.

CLICK HERE FOR THE NOMINATION FORM

Professor Jeanette Bunch

The Teaching & Learning Center's Faculty Focus sheds light on the great faculty making a difference for SAC students. SAC Faculty make our students feel welcomed, challenged and eager to learn. The Faculty Focus is an opportunity to share your own promising practices or nominate other outstanding faculty and instructors who are highly engaged in attaining excellence in teaching and transformational learning experiences for students.

Prof. Jeanette Bunch Professor Bunch is an outstanding instructor who puts students first. She makes her classroom a welcoming place that builds community within the San Antonio College Student Development Department. She is always willing to go the extra mile to support a student and they seek her out for guidance and support both academically and personally. Many consider her a model instructor on the campus who represents the best of our college and is trusted to lead any initiative or project because she has genuine integrity and an excellent work ethic. Prof. Bunch never shies away from professional growth and development that keeps her teaching as effective as possible.

 
Prof. Bunch's "Advice and Tips" for other Faculty:
  1. Work closely with your teams, collaborating with other faculty, and be open to sharing ideas and communication.
  2. Do your best to be there for the students and motivate them to graduate.
  3. Build a community/safe space or "Family" feeling for your students.
  4. Encourage students to utilize the many resources and programs available for them.
  5. To foster those communities, try to incorporate research supported High Impact Practices and collaborative learning.
  6. Show students how much you care to build stronger communities moving forward.
  7. Utilize any and all college sponsored trainings and conferences to continually hone your skills in the classroom.

Professor Shelly Sheppard

Shelly has been teaching at SAC for several years, developing courses for both traditional and dual-credit courses. She has been tireless in her work to develop rigorous and engaging courses that prepare students for higher-level thinking. She has often lead the charge on participation with development and training, not only taking part in the offered trainings but then turning around and sharing important items with the rest of the department. I have worked alongside her in several of these trainings and am always motivated by her energy. Additionally, Shelly has been an anchor in the quarantine storm that hit us last year. She serves as a department coordinator for the Biology and Anthropology side of the Natural Sciences Department. I (and my colleagues) sincerely appreciate the phenomenal work that she and Dave Wood have both done to support the rest of the department in completing required training and documentation, as well keeping as much paperwork off our plates as possible. This has helped us to keep our focus on our students and ensure we are able to give the best quality instruction that we can.

Click on the image below to watch a short interview with Professor Sheppard!

Professor Sheppard's "Advice and Tips" for Faculty
1. Don't be intimidated by new software and new technology.
2. Engage in as much Professional Development as you can.
3. Embrace change and innovation.
4. Learn from our peers and share our own best. practices and ideas.

Bio

Mrs. Sheppard earned her BS in Nutrition from the University of New Mexico and her MS in Nutrition from the University of the Incarnate Word ultimately earning her Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist credentials in 2007. Her experiences in the field of dietetics includes clinical nutrition, community nutrition, and K-12 school district food service management.

Mrs. Sheppard became a faculty member of the Natural Sciences Department at SAC in 2014 teaching the Nutrition courses for the Biology side of the department. In 2017, she became the Biology Coordinator and in 2018, collaborated with High School Programs becoming the Dual Credit Liaison for the department.