This regular feature recognizes achievements, activities, and accolades of ACC faculty and staff. To submit news or suggestions, see the contact information below.

Dr. Ruth Reinhart, Student Support Services associate vice president; Dr. Guillermo "Willie" Martinez, Student Affairs interim vice president; and Kathy James, Academic and Career Advising director; traveled to Washington, D.C., to accept the 2019 Seal of Excelencia on behalf of Austin Community College.

ACC's Guided Pathways advising through coaching initiative is a national finalist for the prestigious Examples of Excelencia award. The program is one of four finalists selected out of 166 nominations from 32 states including Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Winners will be announced October 2019 in the nation's capital.

Area of Study (AoS) advisors Vidal Almanza (HYS), Heather Beels (HLC), Angie Diaz-Miranda de la Rosa (RVS), Annette Hernandez (HYS), Patricia Phea (CYP), and Bette Weakly (RVS) qualified for reclassification to Master AoS Advising Specialist. This reclassification is a culmination of a comprehensive AoS professional development and career path program that included the submission of a portfolio to the Student Affairs Advising Change Management Task Force that demonstrated the advisors' contributions to the college and the field of academic advising.

Shun-Heng (Henry) Tsai, Career Services career counselor and Student Development adjunct faculty, published "Imposter Syndrome and Diverse Groups: Impact and Implications in Career Development."

The Teaching & Learning Excellence Division's (TLED) annual Summer Software Day is for ACC employees dedicated to keeping up to date with their tech skills and learning new ones to implement in their classrooms and day-to-day tasks. The following ACC faculty and staff presented at the July 26 event:

• Dr. Jodi Denyszyn, Student Success manager, and Catherine Englander, Business Operations analyst, presented "Inspire for Advisor: Caseload Management Technology Overview."
• Dr. Dorado Kinney, Central Region Campuses executive dean, and Patty Janysek, Student Conduct coordinator, presented "Increasing Student Success with Academic Early Alert."
• Ana Rummer, Student Affairs Communications director, presented "MyACC: Student Mobile App."

Soon Flynn, vice president for effectiveness and accountability, and Dr. F.C. Caranikas, institutional effectiveness director, presented a paper describing their department's methodology for identifying low-income students at the Association for Institutional Research annual forum in Denver in May. The paper was titled "Where's My Pell Flag? Estimating Low Socio-Economic Status." They presented a similar paper with Dr. Xiaoling Liang, institutional effectiveness analyst, at the annual conference of the Texas Association for Institutional Research in Horseshoe Bay in February. The paper was titled "Estimating Low Socio-Economic Status: Replacing Use of FAFSA Data as Indicator."

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) selected ACC's QEP Impact Report to be placed in the SACSCOC Resource Room at its annual meeting in Houston this December. SACSCOC only selects a small number of institutions whose reports were viewed favorably by SACSCOC review committees as an example for other institutions. The report was created by Joey Offer, Mathematics professor and QEP director, and Misty Rasmussen, Accreditation director, over the course of several months.

Deirdre Doughty, History adjunct associate professor at ACC, was named the 2020 Region 13 Secondary Teacher of the Year for her role as a social studies teacher at the Colorado River Collegiate Academy in Bastrop. She also serves as a mentor teacher and community ambassador for the Bastrop school district. The award advances her to the state competition for teacher of the year. Since 1969, the Texas Teacher of the Year program has annually recognized teachers who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and excellence in teaching.

Jody Edward Ginn, History adjunct associate professor, published "East Texas Troubles: The Allred Rangers' Cleanup of San Augustine." The book examines the history of the reform of the Texas Rangers and an unexpected alliance following a string of fatal shootings in a rural East Texas. Ginn draws on firsthand accounts and sworn testimony from the resulting trials. The book is available online and in print.

Do you know a faculty or staff member who has accomplished something notable outside the classroom or in their community? We want to hear about them. Contact Vicky Garza Gonzalez at victoria.garza@austincc.edu.