Latoya Reid Receives National Teaching Award
Tacoma Community College (TCC) English Professor Latoya Reid recently received the national William H. Meardy Faculty Member Award from the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT). The association announced the award Thursday, Oct. 8 at its annual recognition event, which was held online this year. The national award builds on previous recognitions from ACCT, which presented Reid with state and regional awards earlier this year.
According to the ACCT’s website, the award is named in honor of the ACCT’s founding executive director, a champion of the concept of faculty excellence as the foundation of community college success.
“ACCT recognizes the central purpose of our community colleges is teaching and learning; and achievement of excellence in that purpose relates directly to the quality of our faculty. Therefore, ACCT annually presents its Faculty Member Award to say ‘thank you’ to all faculty members,” reads the site.
Colleagues initially nominated Reid for the State award in recognition of her work with Learning Communities, a cohort-based program that connects students together for greater learning success, and for implementing equity, diversity and inclusion principles in her classrooms.
“Her colleagues, and students have always recognized Reid as an exceptional educator,” said Ivan L. Harrell, II, Ph.D., TCC President. “This national award simply underscores how lucky we are to have her at TCC, working every day to help our students learn and succeed, while also working to address critical issues of racial and social justice.”
Reid shared her thoughts and feelings about the award in this video, created for ACCT.
“One of the reasons it has been such an honor to receive national recognition for teaching is because it speaks to the excellence TCC is constantly striving for: my journey to this award was informed by the evolving culture of care and collaboration my colleagues have fostered, and that has made me truly grateful to be a TCC Titan,” Reid said.