{"id":28317,"date":"2017-03-30T20:12:11","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T00:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2017\/03\/31\/northern-essex-staff-receive-national-recognition\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T17:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:07:08","slug":"northern-essex-staff-receive-national-recognition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/03\/30\/northern-essex-staff-receive-national-recognition\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Essex Staff Receive National Recognition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_15462\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2017\/03\/NISOD-Press.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15462\" class=\"wp-image-15462 size-medium\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2017\/03\/NISOD-Press-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-15462\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NISOD recipients include (l to r) Steve Russell, Jennifer Jackson-Stevens, Marilyn McCarthy, and Donna Felisberto.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Four <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/\">Northern Essex Community College<\/a>\u00a0faculty and staff members were recently named recipients of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nisod.org\/\">National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development<\/a>\u00a0(NISOD) Awards for Excellence, a national honor which recognizes outstanding faculty and staff\u00a0in the country\u2019s community colleges. This year\u2019s recipients include Donna Felisberto of Newton, NH, coordinator of s<a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/academics\/testing\/cll\/\">tudent assessment, credit for life learning &amp; high school equivalency<\/a>\u00a0chief examiner; Jennifer Jackson-Stevens of Boston, program coordinator for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/academics\/courses-programs\/areas\/health\/respiratory-care\/\">respiratory care<\/a>; Marilyn McCarthy of Andover, professor of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/academics\/courses-programs\/academic-preparation\/reading-2\/college\/\">college reading<\/a>, and Stephen Russell of Pepperell, professor of history and government.<\/p>\n<p>Since 1978, NISOD has been dedicated to the professional development of faculty, administrators, and staff; and to the continued improvement of teaching and learning, with the ultimate goal of student success.<\/p>\n<p>Here is additional information on each of the recipients:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Donna Felisberto<\/strong> has worked at NECC for 30 years in areas\u00a0including student activities and the bursar\u2019s and registrar\u2019s offices. For the past 16 years, she has worked in the assessment center, most recently as the coordinator of student assessment.<\/p>\n<p>Felisberto can be credited with raising the profile of credit for life (prior learning assessments,) which allows students to attain academic credit for work history. Her other contributions to the testing center include her work with area high schools and private partners to seamlessly deliver <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/academics\/testing\/assessment\/\">Accuplacer<\/a> testing remotely.\u00a0In addition she played a key role in the testing center becoming certified by both local and national testing associations.<\/p>\n<p>She earned three associate degrees from Northern Essex, a bachelor\u2019s in computer information systems from Southern New Hampshire University, and a master\u2019s in education from Cambridge College.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jennifer Jackson-Stevens\u00a0<\/strong> joined Northern Essex\u2019s respiratory care program in 2006. Under her leadership as coordinator, the program has grown in stature among both education and healthcare communities which offer practicum sites and jobs to NECC students and graduates.<\/p>\n<p>The Respiratory Care Club, which she advises, participates in many community service activities throughout the year.<\/p>\n<p>She earned an associate degree in respiratory care from Massasoit Community College and a bachelor\u2019s in biology and a master\u2019s in higher education administration from Eastern Nazarene College.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Marilyn McCarthy<\/strong> began at NECC in 1998 teaching college reading, philosophy, logic, and world religions. She became a full-time developmental reading faculty member in 2001. In 2005, she earned the prestigious certification as a developmental education specialist at the Kellogg Institute for Training and Certification of Developmental Educators through Appalachian State University.<\/p>\n<p>Her practicum focused on assessment and helped NECC shape a useful approach to assessment of its developmental reading curriculum and its impact upon students. She has supported her colleagues in transforming the curriculum to better meet the needs of the developmental student. In spring 2017 she began a sabbatical to learn how to more effectively help students on the autism spectrum succeed at NECC.<\/p>\n<p>She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy &amp; Humanities from Merrimack College with minors in English and history and a Master of Theology from Andover Newton Theological.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dr. Steven Russell<\/strong> is recognized as someone who sets high standards in the classroom and is committed to helping each student achieve success. \u00a0He has chaired the Global Studies Department, been an active member of several college-wide committees, and served as the faculty advisor to the Contemporary Affairs Club where he has organized countless field trips, guided students during debates, and imparted the value of scholarly activities and research to support and sometimes change a position on current key event topics.<\/p>\n<p>Russell\u00a0explains complex historical moments while sharing his enthusiasm with students. He has been known to meet for hours with students as they struggle with difficult academic material or decisions about the next step on their academic path. Each semester, he arranges field trips to museums so students can see artifacts of the civilizations they have been studying.<\/p>\n<p>He holds a bachelor\u2019s in history from St. Anselm\u2019s College, a master\u2019s from the University of New Hampshire with a concentration in European History, and a Ph.D from the University of Connecticut with a concentration in Modern European and Russian History.<\/p>\n<p>Recipients are invited to attend NISOD\u2019s International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence May 27 through May 30 in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four Northern Essex Community College\u00a0faculty and staff members were recently named recipients of the\u00a0National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development\u00a0(NISOD) Awards for Excellence, a national honor which recognizes outstanding faculty [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":28319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - 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