December 2006:
Number 512
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A newsletter for the students, faculty and staff of the Collin County Community College District. Published monthly. For information or submissions, call 972.599.3142. Cougar News welcomes student and faculty submissions. Next deadline: Dec. 7 All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on the due date. Photos cannot be returned. Text should be emailed to mrobinson@ccccd.edu or sent on disk. Please submit copy that is proofed, edited and saved in Word format. Cougar News staff: Lisa Vasquez, director; Mark Robinson, editor; Marcy Cadena-Smith, contributor; Sydney Portilla-Diggs, student correspondent; Stephanie Hall, student correspondent; Teresa Danner, special contributor; Nick Young, photograpy and layout.
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Psychology professor given top award
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| Jennifer O'Loughlin-Brooks | Jennifer O'Loughlin Brooks has always been a popular professor with students at Collin County Community College. Now this local psychology professor is number one for the entire Lone Star State.
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching named Professor O'Loughlin-Brooks the Texas Professor of the Year at a ceremony in Washington D.C. This is the only national program recognizing college and university professors for their teaching skills.
"I am humbled by this award and honored to be recognized for what I find rewarding, challenging and exciting," she said. "I teach because it is my passion, and I truly could not imagine being in any other profession."
Her honor is the second Professor of the Year accolade won by a Collin instructor. Theatre professor Brad Baker was named U.S. Professor of the Year in 2000. This puts Collin in company with Rice and the University of Texas at Austin as Texas institutions with multiple winners.
According to Dr. Bob Collins, who chairs the college's Board of Trustees, "The members of our faculty are the heart of this college, so we are extraordinarily proud of Professor O'Loughlin-Brooks. She connects so well with her students and uses innovation to make a lasting impression in the classroom."
Professor O'Loughlin-Brooks first joined the college as an associate professor in 1995 and has been a full-time professor since 2002. This semester she is teaching General Psychology and Lifespan Psychology at the Spring Creek Campus in Plano.
"It has been our great fortune to have Professor O'Loughlin-Brooks on our faculty. She brings excellence to the classroom and stellar leadership to every project she approaches," said Collin president Cary Israel. "She is an excellent example of the fantastic faculty at Collin."
Professor O'Loughlin-Brooks is well-known by students for her commitment to research and for leadership of the Psi Beta national psychology honor society. She helped Psi Beta earn national acclaim by overseeing student research projects and co-chairing a national conference at Collin in October.
She also was the first Texas Liaison for national Psi Beta, and the American Psychological Association highlighted her work in The APA Monitor magazine. She created and taught the first Honors General Psychology Course at Collin. She was also instrumental in developing the first General Psychology Service-Learning Philanthropy course. She is a four-time recipient of the Faculty Recognition Scholarship for Exemplary teaching and service, and was named Outstanding Professor in 2004 and 2006.
She belongs to the American Psychological Association, Southwestern Psychological Association, Southwestern Teachers of Psychology Association and the Texas Junior College Teacher's Association. She has been named associate editor for the Journal of Psychological Inquiry. She also was selected to serve on the Advisory Board for McGraw-Hill Higher Education on a project to integrate innovative classroom technologies into textbooks. Prentice-Hall and Brooks-Cole have also retained her as reviewer for two first-edition books.
She graduated from Texas Christian University in 1991 with a bachelor of arts in psychology and speech/communications. She attained her master of science in experimental psychology from Emporia State University in 1994.
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
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