Two Faculty Members Receive Awards for Excellence in Teaching
(Delaware and Chester Counties, PA • June 6, 2018)—Two Delaware County Community College faculty members, described by students and fellow colleagues as having a passion, exuberance and zest for teaching, recently received honors for performance excellence in their craft.
Tanya Gardner, associate professor of Communication Studies at the College’s Marple Campus in Delaware County, is a 2018 recipient of a Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award, which recognizes exceptional faculty in the Greater Philadelphia area, including South Jersey. Thanks to the vision and generosity of the late Christian R. Lindback, the president and principal owner of Abbotts Dairies, Inc., and a trustee of Bucknell University, along with his wife, Mary F. Lindback, this award is celebrated through the foundation that bears their names. Lindback recipients are committed to the intellectual and social development of students, and have a teaching approach that extends beyond the classroom and is challenging, stimulating and accessible.
Dr. David Freeman, associate professor of English at the College’s Exton Center in Chester County, is the 2018 recipient of Delaware County Community College’s Gould Award, which annually recognizes an exceptional faculty member whose dedication, achievement and love for teaching inspires students and faculty. Established by the late Jerry Gould, a founding trustee of the College, whose commitment to community and service helped make the College a reality, the Gould Award is bestowed each year at Commencement by the chairman of the College’s Board of Trustees. The recipient is selected by students and faculty members.
“Tanya Gardner and David Freeman exemplify the exceptional caliber of instruction offered at Delaware County Community College. These talented faculty engage students and help them to think beyond the classroom, so that what students learn will be to the benefit of the communities in which they, and their families, live, work and play,” said Delaware County Community College President Dr. L. Joy Gates Black.
Associate Professor Tanya Gardner
For nearly 30 years, Gardner, a resident of Ardmore, has tutored, researched and taught. She is an enthusiastic believer in service/experiential-learning course design. She integrates these teaching strategies into her instruction to enrich the student learning experience, teach civic responsibility and strengthen communities. She founded and is the faculty fellow for the College’s Office of Community Engaged Learning, which partners with faculty to provide students with opportunities to participate in a variety of service-oriented programs. She also founded and heads the College’s Intercultural Friendship Program, which pairs domestic students with international students, to broaden their understanding of other cultures.
In addition, Gardner was instrumental in starting a College chapter of buildOn, an international not-for-profit, initiative that seeks to break the worldwide cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations by providing students with international service and education projects and experiences. Gardner also teamed up with Dr. Anita Foeman, a professor of Communication Studies at West Chester University, to bring Dr. Foeman’s DNA Discussion Project to Delaware County Community College. A combination diversity/communication/science initiative, the DNA Discussion Project has students, faculty and staff volunteer to take a DNA test and when the results come back, compare their expectations to the actual results, exploring diversity in a new, positive and engaging way.
Gardner has a Master of Arts in Human Communication Studies from Howard University in Washington, D.C., a Bachelor of Arts in Radio Television and Film from Temple University, and an Associate of Arts in Communication Studies from Orange County Community College in Middletown, New York.
Associate Professor Dr. David Freeman
For nearly three decades, Dr. Freeman has tutored, researched and taught. He was the director of research at The Common Sense Foundation, a public policy think tank; assisted victims of domestic violence; taught at a maximum security prison for two years; was a Rhodes-scholar finalist; and received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching in his prior post as a professor at Langston University, a historically black university in Oklahoma. In addition, he is an award-winning poet, having won several regional poetry championships, as well as having performed at the Santa Fe Jazz Festival in New Mexico.
Dr. Freeman’s English courses at Delaware County Community College’s Exton Center adeptly encourage students to critically think about societal issues involving race, class and gender, in the United States and around the world. Students describe him as an exceptional professor, whose exuberance and passion spill over into the classroom. “I have never seen a teacher so passionate about what he is teaching,” said one student, who added that Dr. Freeman is an “amazing, extraordinary, awesome and fantastic teacher.”
Dr. Freeman has a Ph.D. in American Studies from the Literature Program at Duke University and a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Georgetown University.
Photo Captions:
(Left) Associate Professor of Communication Studies Tanya Gardner, recipient of a 2018 Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award, with her daughter, Ayanna Elise Gardner, who graduated from the College on May 17 with an Associate in Science degree in Engineering Science.
(Right) Associate Professor of English Dr. David Freeman (right) receives the 2018 Gould Award for Excellence in Teaching from Michael Ranck, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Delaware County Community College, at the College’s 2018 Commencement ceremony which was held at West Chester University.
