2011 Winner
Kathy Molloy, Santa Barbara City College
THE CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM is rapidly evolving in the 21st Century: the student population composition is actively changing and becoming more diverse than ever before. Therefore, it is important for California's community college faculty to respond to the changing needs of students and to embrace and promote diversity on campus.
With this in mind, the Regina Stanback Stroud Diversity Award resolution was adopted in 1998 to honor outstanding faculty who actively address diversity on their campus. While the many qualified applicants made this year's decision just as challenging as previous years, one application in particular stood out. It is with great pride that the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges announces its 2011 Regina Stanback Stroud Diversity Award winner:
Molloy's greatest passion is educating and supporting the diverse students in the California Community College System. From the very start of her professional life, Molloy has worked for the interests of under-represented students. She works daily in her classroom, on college and statewide committees, and in various leadership roles to ensure her college embraces the cultivation and promotion of diversity initiatives in its curriculum development, outreach and retention activities.
Molloy has taught in the continuing education and credit program at Santa Barbara City College for nearly thirty years. Her classes are filled with immigrant and international students transferring from the ESL program in addition to DSPS, re-entry, and first generation college students. Molloy uses the wonderfully diverse makeup of her students as a teaching tool, encouraging them to share their own histories and experiences. Using themes of social justice and educational empowerment, Molloy strives to teach foundational reading and writing skills while providing a relevant context for student learning.
Furthermore, her commitment to diversity has become a strong influence across the college. As Chair of the English Skills Department, Molloy successfully led efforts to change the method of assessing writing students to one that more fairly assessed the skills of second language students. As local senate president, she led the planning and implementation of the Partnership for Student Success, which has received a number of awards, including the Chancellor's Award for Best Practices in Student Equity. As the Director of Composition, she instituted roundtables to discuss effective strategies for teaching the diverse student population and led departmental and college-wide professional workshops addressing the needs of ESL, learning disabled and first generation college students in developmental and college level classes. She has played an instrumental role in leading Santa Barbara City College to new diversity initiatives.
Molloy is diligent in working with each of her students to assist in their academic success. She is devoted to serving underrepresented students and supporting equity. Kathy Molloy has spent her entire career in serving a diverse student population with passion, commitment and respect.