Once a year, RWC honors the most highly regarded teachers and staff members at the college with the Distinguished Teaching and Staff Distinguished Service awards.This year’s honorees are Behavioral Science Adjunct Instructor Joe Zurad, Nursing Professor Pat Mezinskis, and Coordinator of Student Life Shelia Yates-Mattingly.
Sources say that Joe Zurad has a way of putting his students at ease, especially on exam days when he hands out Gummie Bears as a way to lighten the mood.
“Only he can make exam taking something to look forward to,” says Rebecca Whitton, former student and current secretary in the Placement Testing and Advising Center.
If his exams are fun, you can just imagine what the rest of the class is like. Students say they are comfortable and engaged, discussions are lively, and there’s even some joking around, enough so that for a minute students might forget that he teaches some of the most challenging courses in the Behavioral Science Department.
“I try to get them to laugh at some point,” Zurad says, “so they don’t walk out of there feeling like the weight of the world is on their shoulders.”
In Behavioral Sciences that’s definitely a possibility, since Zurad’s students may be the social service and criminal justice workers of tomorrow. For the last 10 years, Zurad has taught a variety of courses within the disciplines of psychology and criminal justice.
He brings to the classroom his real-world experience as Superintendent of the Hillcrest Training School, a correctional treatment facility for adolescents. He teaches such vital skills as crisis counseling and treatment of substance abuse.
To do so, Zurad says he works to create the right environment. He says he strives to achieve an atmosphere that’s serious enough to foster real learning, relaxed enough to ease the tension and respectful enough to facilitate discussion.
Whitton believes Zurad is succeeding. “You leave his class with a dose of optimism and confidence that serves as your strength to face any challenge you may come up against, in the field as well as your personal life,” she says.
Professor Patricia Mezinskis says one of her most important roles as a Professor of Nursing is helping students to care and to learn what it means to be sensitive to patients.
Mezinskis tells her students, “No matter how strong you are, no matter how intelligent you are, when you’re ill and when you’re facing a crisis, you need somebody who can be there to help you get through that.”
Through role playing and communication exercises, she says she teaches students when to speak, when to intervene, and when to just be silently present. She emphasizes that many skills are essential to becoming a good nurse.
“You can be the brightest person in the world and score the highest test grades,”she says, “but if you can’t go in there and touch that person, you’re not going to be a good nurse.” Her colleagues say Mezinskis is also meticulous in her preparation for classes and diligent in her efforts to reach all students.
“She is lively and engaging in the classroom; committed and conscientious in clinical practice,” says Dr. Marisue Naber, Associate Professor and Chair of the Nursing Department. “We are indeed fortunate to be working with Professor Mezinskis but, in truth, it is our students who benefit the most, everyday,” Naber says.
Officially, Shelia Yates-Mattingly’s title is Coordinator of Student Life. However, her colleagues and students say she’s more accurately described as the heart and soul of student life at Raymond Walters College. Those who nominated her for the Staff Distinguished Service Award say she helps students identify and explore their extracurricular interests.
She serves as a role model for such admirable qualities as honesty and integrity. She even works individually with students who are on academic probation to help them reach their educational goals.
The results are clear, says Dr. William Garnett, Biology Department Chair and Student Government Adviser: “There are literally dozens of students who have successfully graduated because of her personal attention to the important issues in their lives.”
For Shelia, the students are her number one responsibility. “That’s the reason we’re here,” she says. “If we forget that, then it’s time to get another job.”
Zurad, Mezinskis and Yates-Mattingly were honored at the 2003 Raymond Walters College Distinguished Awards on April 25.