SCC Nominees for A. Wade Martin Award

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Spartanburg Community College is proud to announce the nomination of Neil Griffin and Susan Moore from the Online Course Quality Leadership Team for the A. Wade Martin Innovative Team of the Year Award, an honor bestowed by the South Carolina Technical Education Association at its annual conference in February.

“Our Online Course Quality Leadership Team was tantamount to the success we experienced amidst the pandemic,” said Dr. Michael Mikota, president of Spartanburg Community College. “Their innovative and versatile response to the myriad issues that arose kept the college afloat and allowed our faculty and staff to seamlessly move from in-person courses to online platforms and ensured our students received the same quality of education Spartanburg Community College is known for.”

Moore and Griffin were the ideal candidates to chair the leadership team given their critical daily roles at SCC ensuring online success for both faculty who teach online classes and students who attend online classes. Moore serves as SCC’s director for instructional support and innovation and Griffin serves as director of the college’s online program.

The Online Course Quality Leadership Team leaped into action during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to assist in the transition from face-to-face courses into online courses and routinely faced barriers such as academic departments with few to no online courses, faculty with little to no experience with online courses and platforms, and the necessity for fully remote training.

Additionally, the leadership team identified and implemented vital support systems including virtual classrooms, accessibility tools, new technologies, and additional online test proctoring systems. The team served as a support for students who were technology-averse and helped ensure their success in a new and challenging environment.

“Susan Moore and Neil Griffin were game changers as SCC navigated the challenges of COVID,” said Dr. Jenny Williams, Dean of Arts and Sciences at Spartanburg Community College. “As COVID shutdowns pushed faculty to develop additional and refine current online offerings, Neil and Susan walked faculty through the process by guiding, reviewing, providing feedback and expertise so that each course developed or updated was the best it could be. In the past two years, they have reviewed around fifty courses for the college. We have a stronger culture of online teaching and learning than we have ever had before, and it is due to their leadership and expertise.”

A. Wade Martin was the first executive director of South Carolina’s technical and industrial training program and each year the SC Technical College System Foundation presents this award in Martin’s memory to one of SC’s 16 technical colleges, recognizing the work of those using innovative approaches to meet the needs of the Tech System and the many students served state-wide.