Ann Cutter Honored As RCC's 2003
Excellence In Teaching Nomine May 21, 2004

ASHEBORO, N.C.--A reception honoring Ann Cutter, Randolph Community College's nominee for the 2003 Excellence in Teaching Award, was held in April at RCC. The Excellence in Teaching Award is sponsored by the North Carolina Community College System/First Union Foundation. Cutter has been teaching at RCC part time since 1974 and full time since 1991.

The criteria for selection of instructors include consistent, excellent job behaviors that exhibit unselfish devotion and significant contributions to student success; student interactions and successful experiences/outcomes; classroom success and effective learning results; innovations in teaching (technology and methodology); leadership roles beyond the classroom related to teaching career; professional development activities and experiences that enhance teaching effectiveness; and past recognition and awards received as a faculty member. Each North Carolina community college has the opportunity to submit a nominee for this statewide program, which awards $1,500 to the overall state winner and $500 each to four state finalists. An NCCCS selection committee chooses the state winners based on nomination forms submitted by each college.

An excerpt from the nomination form for Cutter reads: "Ann Cutter excels in her ability to provide quality instruction and effective learning. She continually updates teaching methodologies and content, incorporates new methods and knowledge in classroom instruction, and works cooperatively with other departments to insure students gain skills needed in their major."

Cutter is credited with adding two classes to RCC's course offerings: Environmental Biology and Botany. She uses technology such as A.D.A.M. (Animated Dissection of Anatomy for Medicine) computer program for Anatomy and Physiology classes. She developed a coral reef community to use in General Biology and Environmental Biology. For the past two years, she participated in Junior Achievement by setting up her lab as part of an education exploration field trip for 7th and 8th grade students. She is active in the RCC Faculty Association.

A native of Greensboro, Cutter earned a B.A. in Biology from Guilford College and an M.A. in biology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She began teaching for RCC part time in 1974 under the College Transfer (UNCG Extension) program. Before joining RCC, she was a part-time biology instructor at UNCG in Microbiology and the General Biology lab.

Cutter was a previous recipient of the RCC Excellence in Teaching Award in 1999. She has served as president of the North Carolina Association of Community College Biologists in 1996 and 2003. She served on the Grants and Scholarship Committee for the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society from 1996 to 1999. She was on the Steering Committee for National Computational Science Institute from 2002-03. She is also a member of the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society, N.C. Association of Community College Biologists, North Carolina Academy of Science, Sigma Xi, Southeastern Electronic Microscopy Society, and N.C. Society of Electron Microscopy and Microbeam Analysis.