OUTSTANDING PART-TIME FACULTY AWARD 1. Name of Nominee: Andrea B. Kowalski 2. Division/Department: Humanities, Fine Arts and Social Sciences 3. Nominated by: Amanda Payne, Oakley Whalen and Jessica Ellis Degree (s), schools attended, industry experience: University of Illinois, 1990 BS SIU-Edwardsville, 1993 MA (Speech Communication), University of Phoenix, 2011 (MA Education) Position at the college: adjunct faculty speech communication Classes taught: I consistently teach SPH 1001; however, I did teach two sections of English 090 and worked in the writing lab when I started at the college. I even taught both of those classes at the Sheridan Correctional Center in the mid-1990s. Years teaching at IVCC and years teaching elsewhere: I have been teaching part-time at IVCC since May of 1995. IVCC has given me credit for 15 years of teaching. I have been teaching at Temple B nai Israel (Jewish history/culture/holidays/ethics, etc.) in Aurora, Illinois, since August of 1999. I taught Pre-K/K for 11 years; I taught 7 th grade for one year and am currently teaching the 2-4 grade class. I taught at SIU-E for 1 year. I taught part-time in the Ottawa Elementary District for 1 year. I taught at St. Bede Academy for 4 years. I taught at Marquette Academy HS for 8 years. Currently, I am a part-time substitute teacher at Seneca HS. Programs, committees, student organizations in which involved: I have not participated in any of the above at IVCC; however, when teaching at the high school level, I have been yearbook, student council, Key Club and scholastic bowl adviser as well as in charge of a class homeroom for each year. I designed, developed and implemented curricula during my years as Division Chair at Marquette Academy HS as well as during my years teaching at Temple B nai Israel. Professional activities outside the college: I tutor high school students in several classes as well as offer ACT prep. Professional organization memberships: BJE Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago
PJC Prairie Jewish Coalition for Jewish Educators Hadassah lifetime member Presentations, publications, exhibits, etc. In 1993-95, I traveled to several college campuses and presented a 1-2 hour interactive seminar on the benefits of joining a Greek organization (sorority/fraternity). I developed that seminar after working/traveling for a year (1990-91) as an Educational Consultant for Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority. Hometown: I live in Ottawa, IL. I am originally from Chicago, IL. Family: I am happily married to my husband Derek Kowalski; we have been together for almost 30 years. I have three sons: Elliot, 21 a senior at the University of Illinois -- Joshua, 18 a senior at Marquette Academy HS and Benjamin, 16 a junior at Ottawa Township HS.
Name of Instructor/Counselor: Andrea Kowalski Course/Department/Division: Speech 1001/ English Nominated by: Amanda Payne 1) Challenges students to pursue goals. Prepares students to make life choices. Mrs. Kowalski has always pushed me to better myself as a student and as a young adult. I have taken several classes with her over the past few years. Since I have known, and been a student to Mrs. Kowalski, she has treated me as an adult and made sure I was accountable for all my actions,not only as a student but also a individual in her class. Mrs. Kowalskis approachable personality makes her a mentor and friend. I have confided in her several times about future academic and professional goals. If I have any doubts or need reassurance about pursing a career in Sonographer, Mrs. Kowalski is the first person I will reach out to. When I was deciding my major I had many conversations with Andrea about my options and all the different possibilities. Mrs. Kowalski would help me rationalize each option and talk through each possible outcome. Not only will Mrs. Kowalski encourage and support in my endeavors she will always be honest and realistic with me. Mrs. Kowalski really wants to see me succeed as a former student in my academic and personal life. If she does not agree or has different options that could be more suitable she voices her opinion about them. I trust that when I confide in Mrs. Kowalski for guidance I will get the utmost respect and encouragement from her. 2) Improves students skills for employment and/or success in academic endeavors. When I was applying for a scholarship for IVCC, Mrs. Kowalski worked with me outside of the classroom on her own personal time to make sure that my paper was polished and grammatically correct. She always makes herself available at anytime in order to help me with classwork. Mrs. Kowalski was more than willing to write a letter of recommendation for my entrance for the College of DuPage's Sonography program. I have learned how to be an eloquent speaker through her speech class. Mrs. Kowalski made me comfortable being able to speak in front of others in a profession setting. Andrea's speech class focused on how to conduct ones self through our behaviors and demeanor. 3) Motivates students to be an active and concerned citizen of the community. Mrs. Kowalski stresses the importance of being informed and knowable about what is going on our community as well as the world. She has said many many times, "Our generation will be the one making decisions in our future so we need to be conscious citizens now." She is open to individuals having their own beliefs but finds it important to be an aware citizen. One of the assignment we had in her class was a research paper about something impacting our world currently. 4) Is engaged on campus and/or in the community. Mrs. Kowalski is the most engaged teacher I know. Though she is still fairly new at IVCC she has made herself readily available to her students. There is many times Mrs. Kowalski will rearrange plans in her personal life to help benefit her
students in anyway. Mrs. Kowalski also does a lot in the community. Mrs. Kowalski ran and headed almost every extra circular activity for Marquette Academy while working there. Mrs. Kowalski also does community service in her personal time with her family members.
Name of Instructor/Counselor: Andrea Kowalski Course/Department/Division: Fundamentals of Speech Nominated by: Jessica Ellis 1) Challenges students to pursue goals. Prepares students to make life choices. Mrs. Kowalski did challenge us to pursue our goals whether that's doing a speech or our actual goals outside of class. For example, when we did our call to action speech, she challenged us to find ways to have our action within our speech. 2) Improves students skills for employment and/or success in academic endeavors. Mrs. Kowalski taught us that public speaking is one of the most important skills in life. She told us we will need good speaking skills in order to do good in a job interview or during the actual job. 3) Motivates students to be an active and concerned citizen of the community. Mrs. Kowalski did very well with telling us how to become more active as citizens of the community. For example, when a student did a speech on why you should vote, Mrs. Kowalski agreed with the points the student made and continued to tell us that is was a good way to get more involved with the community. 4) Is engaged on campus and/or in the community. Mrs. Kowalski did very well with telling us how to become more active as citizens of the community. For example, when a student did a speech on why you should vote, Mrs. Kowalski agreed with the points the student made and continued to tell us that is was a good way to get more involved with the community.
Name of Instructor/Counselor: Andrea Kowalski Course/Department/Division: Speech Nominated by: Oakley Whalen 1) Challenges students to pursue goals. Prepares students to make life choices. Mrs. Kowalski's class was by far the most mentally challenging class I have ever taken, but in a positive way. Mrs. Kowalski did not just make us do book work and give speeches, she made us work with people we didn't know, she made sure we knew and understood the material in the book, and she pushed us to improve throughout the course with her tough grading. She often times gave examples of times in our life we would need to do or know the things she taught us. She gave us real stories and went out of her way to connect with us students on a deeper level. I am a high school student and Serena High School and Mrs. Kowalski went out of her way to find scholarships that I could apply for because she knew they were going to be a useful asset to me. Words can truly not express how helpful this class was, not just in giving me confidence to speak, but in giving me confidence to move throughout life. 2) Improves students skills for employment and/or success in academic endeavors. Mrs. Kowalski helped improve my skills for employment and academic success by teaching me how to properly outline a speech, this has helped me tremendously in my AP Rhetoric and Composition class and has also helped me in building my resume. Because of Mrs. Kowalski's great guidance, I can confidently speak at an interview now. Mrs. Kowalski made that possible by making us do impromptu speeches and critiquing us so that we continuously improve. I know I speak for my entire class when I say Mrs. Kowalski has improved us in more ways than academically. 3) Motivates students to be an active and concerned citizen of the community. Mrs. Kowalski made us present problem- solution speeches and a speech to actuate. Our class got to pick very controversial topics in the world that we felt passionately about got to try and convince our classmates to feel the same way. She taught us to be ethical and how important diversity is. 4) Is engaged on campus and/or in the community. Mrs. Kowalski is engaged in the community and I know this because she offered our class to participate multiple times. I know Mrs. Kowalski is a Sunday school teacher and that she is an active parent of Marquette High School. She invited us to various Marquette events and was always very supportive of the community. She even supported our high school by helping us in every fundraiser we did. Mrs. Kowalski was a great teacher and I have been very fortunate to have her as a teacher.