The president of Vance-Granville Community College, Dr. Stelfanie Williams, recently recognized a group of faculty members for excellence by awarding the “Vanguard Cup” to the college’s English department.

The department became just the second recipient of the cup, an honor created by Dr. Williams to recognize “exceptional team performance toward the college mission, vision and strategic plan.”

In this case, the English department was particularly noted for developing a strategy to improve students’ writing skills, which would in turn help them be more successful in all of their college courses. “The English faculty developed a new course with dedicated labs in an attempt to improve student success,” Dr. Williams said.

“In the first semester of implementation, the students improved, and by the spring semester, the English 111A course held a 100% course success rate,” the president noted. “This means that students are better prepared for their fields and for university transfer. The faculty in the English department are to be commended for their innovative efforts to help VGCC students.”

David Wyche, chair of the VGCC English department, added, “I’m grateful for this recognition of the creativity and hard work that these English instructors contribute in countless ways every day.”

He said that two former colleagues also deserved credit. “The English 111A lab is the legacy of Biology instructor Button Brady’s vision. She saw a need and worked tirelessly to meet it before she retired,” Wyche said. “Former instructor Bridget Bell created English 111A and taught it until the birth of her second child, when she decided to devote more of her time to being a mom. I am indebted to both of them.”

The English department is a unit of the VGCC division of Arts and Sciences, which offers courses that transfer to four-year colleges and universities as well as general education for students in all of the college’s curriculum programs.

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