Gateway Developmental Education Chair Earns Peer Excellence Award

Carissa Schutzman of Villa Hills, chair of the Developmental Education and Orientation to College Division at Gateway Community & Technical College, has been selected by her peers for the colleges annual Outstanding Faculty Excellence Award.

The award is presented as part of the annual New Horizons recognition program sponsored by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Gateway is a KCTCS member college. Schutzman was one of 50 KCTCS employees statewide to be honored for outstanding faculty or staff performance.

Being nominated by ones peers for New Horizons recognition is the highest honor an employee can receive within the system, said Gateway President/CEO Ed Hughes. Carissa has been an involved, collaborative and innovative teacher. Under her leadership, the Developmental Education Department has achieved outstanding retention and student success rates, which are among the highest in KCTCS.

As division chair, Schutzman supervises eight full-time faculty members and approximately 70 adjunct faculty members. She plans more than 200 developmental courses offered at four Gateway locations and teaches writing and literature courses.
In addition, she serves on seven continuing committees and has contributed her expertise to numerous hiring committees during her three years at Gateway. Prior to joining

Gateway as an adjunct faculty member in 2008, Schutzman worked in higher education as a writer and editor at Northern Kentucky Technical College (a Gateway forerunner) and Northern Kentucky University. She also worked as a freelance writer/photographer and as an instructor at Simon Kenton High School.

Schutzman received a bachelor of arts degree from Centre College in Danville, Ky., and a master of arts from Northern Kentucky University. She is pursuing a doctoral degree from the University of Kentucky in education policy and evaluation in higher education.

Carissa's students praise her compassion for them and her passion for her subject, Hughes added. She is one of our go-to faculty members who always finds the time to answer the call to extra duty.