Gateway faculty member honored at GC3 Celebration of Teaching

Published on Dec 16, 2020

Gateway Community & Technical College’s program coordinator and faculty member, Adara Holbrook, was honored at the Greater Cincinnati Collegiate Connection’s (GC3) 33rd Annual Celebration of Teaching.

The Celebration of Teaching honors the faculty members of Cincinnati area colleges as the “best of the best” at their respective institution. Honorees are selected by their peers, colleagues, and students.

Holbrook, a previous Gateway student, serves as the program coordinator and a full-time faculty member for Gateway’s medical assisting and phlebotomy program.  She has been teaching at Gateway for a little over a year. 

“As a former student, Adara understands how students feel and what they need,” said Dr. Fernando Figueroa, Gateway President. “Gateway is very proud of her and even though she has only been here a short time we know great things are on the horizon for her.”

As a Gateway student, Holbrook received the student medical assistant of the year award at Gateway’s Night of Excellence Awards, an annual awards celebration. 

After working in the field for several years and earning a promotion to the office’s clinical coordinator, her passion for teaching kept growing, which led her back to Gateway. 

“My goal is to be the best teacher I can be and help my students succeed,” said Holbrook. “I want to thank my students for nominating me. I also want to thank the faculty and staff at Gateway, a year ago I knew nothing about teaching college students, and although I have so much more to learn I’m considerably more confident than I was a year ago because of them.”

For over 30 years, GC3 has been gathering the faculty award winners from its member colleges and universities to celebrate and honor their excellence in teaching. This year’s 33rd Annual Celebration of Teaching ceremony was held virtually on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020.

To view a full list of this year’s honorees, go to, Celebration of Teaching Program.

To learn more about Gateway’s Medical Assisting and Phlebotomy Program, go to gateway.kctcs.edu.