Three NCC faculty nominated for state teaching award

By Letisha Harris

NCC has three teachers who have been nominated for the Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Teaching award by their students and peers, Gloria Aronson, Craig Miller and Mark Plenke. They are three of 29 throughout the whole state.

Gloria Aronson is a teacher in the History Department and has been a teacher at NCC for over 38 years. She began teaching at NCC in 1969.

Prior to working at NCC she was in college working toward her Ph.D. however, when she was hired she got sidetracked. She worked to develop NCC allowing her to stretch herself. She implemented the Study Abroad programs in 1973 and has also helped develop various classes in the History Department.

Aronson has traveled all over the world with the study abroad programs. She has been to places like Europe, Thailand at Mahidol University, England at Fitzwilliam College and a special program in Egypt. Aronson has been thrilled to work at NCC since she started in the fall of 1969.

Aronson’s philosophy for teaching is to always engage the student in the learning process, enlighten the students and empower them to use their education to help them develop themselves in a meaningful way so they may realize their role in working to develop a better world.

Aronson is a teacher who wears many different hats and says, “I feel tremendously honored to receive this award and very humble. Teaching at Normandale has provided me with many opportunities. I have tried my best as a teacher and so it is very rewarding to be honored with this award.”

Craig Miller is a teacher in the Business/Statistics and Economics Department. He has worked at NCC for 19 years. He started in the fall of 1988 at age 32. Prior to working at NCC, he said, he worked a series of crappy jobs. Miller started teaching after speaking with various teachers who said they liked it.

He says, “I never in a million years expected to become a teacher but I love it, after speaking to them I thought it would be fun and I would be good at it, turns out it’s lots of fun and I’m pretty good at it.”

Miller however, did not go to college for teaching. He went to Carlson College majoring in Manager Economics and Accounting graduating with an MBA.

Miller has been nominated for this award and last year was selected for the MSCSA state teacher of the year award. He has created many computer games, published seven works with McGraw-Hill and is currently co-writing a text for Prentice Hall, all dealing with software.

Miller uses each one of the games he has created as a teaching tool in his classes. His simulation-based games have been used in various colleges as well as throughout many different countries. He has been contracted with 3M company and has done close to 50 simulation games in all.

“It is a great honor to be nominated for this award. The fact that it originates with students and my peers makes it very special. Being nominated for this award and being selected for the MSCSA award are very special and major thrills,” Miller said.

Mark Plenke is a teacher in the Communication Department and has been teaching at NCC for the past five years. Teaching is Plenke’s second career; his first career was that of a newspaper and television journalist for 15 years.

He began teaching college students around 1985 as a graduate assistant at the University of Minnesota. He also has taught at the University of St. Thomas and Anoka-Ramsey Community College.

In 1999, Plenke was also a teacher in the Summer Institute for Chinese Teachers of English at Zhaoqing Institute of Education. The institute is based in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China.

“There are so many really great teachers at Normandale, it’s a real honor to be chosen one of the teachers of excellence here. I’m doubly honored that I was nominated by my students,” Plenke said.