COLUMBIA—York Technical College Biology Instructor Dr. Janie Sigmon was recently named a finalist for the 2009 Governor’s Professor of the Year award. Sigmon was one of only eight university and college faculty members who were recognized as finalists.

Each year, the Governor and the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education jointly sponsor the Governor’s Professor of the Year awards. One of these awards is presented to a faculty member at a South Carolina public or private senior college or university. The other is awarded to a faculty member at a two-year institution of higher learning.

Sigmon is a dedicated faculty member whose diligence and commitment are evident in the classroom, on campus, and in the community. Her excellence in teaching is demonstrated through her acceptance in the BEN (BiosciEdNet) Scholars program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a distinction based on teaching excellence and the use of digital resources to enhance the learning process. Her work has been published in the National Association of Biology Teachers Journal, and one of her photographs placed on the cover of the new Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education.

At York Technical College, Sigmon works with the Quality Learning Council and the Junior Scholars Program as well as serving as Instructor and Course Evaluations Project team leader and manager of the Science Department web site. She has produced an animation of modeling critical thinking skills for students, one of two publications in the American Society for Microbiology MicrobeLibrary visual and curriculum resources. This past October and May, respectively, she presented at the Student Leadership Development Conference and at the American Society for Microbiology and Conference on Undergraduate Education. This past spring, Sigmon served as the lead judge for the Microbiology of the S.C. Junior Academy of Science and was elected as the First Vice President of the Forensic Association of the Carolinas, of which she is a charter member.

Sigmon holds a B.A. from Winthrop University and earned a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Clemson University.

This year marks the third year in a row that a member of the York Tech faculty has been named a finalist. York Tech English Instructor Martha Macdonald was named a finalist last year, and Michele Wells, Department Manager for York Tech's Radiologic Technology program, was named a finalist in 2007. Previous winners of the Governor's Professor of the Year award from York Technical College include Christine Crosby (2005) and Dee Smith (1999).

York Technical College · 452 S. Anderson Road · Rock Hill, SC 29730