Harris takes Reynolds teaching award

COA nursing prof is statewide winner

By Kristin Pitts
Staff Writer

Saturday, November 07, 2009

When Robin Harris says she needs more hours in a day, she means it.

Harris, a nursing professor at College of The Albemarle, doesn’t stop working once she exits the classroom.

A veteran teacher with 12 years of teaching experience, 10 of which have been spent at COA, and a graduate of COA, Harris has a long-standing passion for the school. This year, that passion, and all of her hard work, was rewarded.

Harris has been selected as the 2009 recipient of the RJ Reynolds Excellence in Teaching award. Although the journey has been a long one, Harris says it has been worthwhile.

Earlier this year, each of North Carolina’s 58 community colleges selected a teacher of the year. From there, the applicants were narrowed down through a lengthy application and multiple interview process.

Although Harris can go on and on about the value of community colleges, her students’ desire to learn, or her love for teaching, there is one subject that leaves her tongue-tied: How it feels to have won.

Pondering that question for a moment, she settles on “tremendously honored” and “tremendously humbled.” But Harris, who has juggled multiple projects in addition to her work as a professor, and has held many positions within the COA system, is reluctant to take full credit for the award.

“I really am a representative of so many people who are doing wonderful work in the community college system,” Harris says. “I just happen to be a lucky person who works with great people who make me look good.”

Harris says she views the award as one that is a tribute not just to her, but to all of COA’s faculty. Considering Harris’ history with COA, she’s glad to be giving back to an institution that she says changed her life.

When Harris graduated from high school, she says she struggled. But after reading an ad in the paper about summer courses at COA, she decided to give it a try. A particularly inspirational professor gave her “the bug to learn,” and from there it was history.

“You don’t always know what (COA) is doing until you need it, and it’s right there for you,” Harris says.

Harris graduated from COA with a 4.0 GPA, and went on to East Carolina University, where she graduated summa cum laude.

Now, she says she’s honored to be working for an institution that changes lives.

“It’s meant a lot in my life and I see what it means in students’ lives,” Harris says.

“When we make their lives better, we make our community better.”

Part of making students lives better, Harris says, is fostering a passion for learning and being able to point students in the right direction. Too often, she says, educators get caught up in the perspectives of other faculty members or get bogged down by the pressures they face. That’s when it’s important to focus simply on learning.

“If you focus on the learning, then the other things will work themselves out,” Harris says.

Although she’s kept herself busy with everything from curriculum improvement to student retention, Harris says she most enjoys passing time with students.

“When it all comes down to it, for me the thing that I enjoy the most is to be in a classroom where learning is taking place,” Harris says.

This is the second time in 10 years that a COA professor has been given this award. According to the North Carolina Community Colleges Web site, the winner of the award receives a plaque, an $8,000 cash prize, and an additional $2,000 toward the winner’s college foundation.