Adjunct Instructor of Astronomy Mary Griffin, center, receives her FA Member Award for Excellence in Adjunct Service from Awards Committee Chair Nic Pestieau, left, and President Dante Morelli, right. (photo by Victoria Pendzick)

Mary Griffin teaches astronomy at the Eastern Campus—she started as an adjunct faculty member here in 2013, although she doesn’t teach every single semester—and has been one of the most active adjunct Executive Council representatives we have seen in the FA in quite some time. We are deeply appreciative of her active, reliable engagement both in the classroom and in our union, which is why I nominated Mary for this year’s FA Award for Excellence in Adjunct Service.

As an Eastern Campus professor, I’ve had students who speak very highly of Mary. Astronomy is one of those classes that confuse students in that they perceive it’s going to be a nice, interesting class in which they’ll get to learn about the sun, moon and stars, but tend to underestimate the amount of math and science the course will require of them.

Having come from a high school teaching background, however, Mary is skilled in pedagogy and knows how to help students catch up on what they didn’t master in high school as well as review what they are actively learning in AST101. She offers frequent reviews, weekly formative quizzes and generous time for extra help to build students’ confidence—which I know they appreciate.

I also know that students benefit from Mary’s kind and understanding demeanor. She never treats them with a dismissive “sink or swim” mentality that sometimes college professors can have (hopefully those are few and far between at SCCC). For example, I had a student in an Honors class who had been clinically diagnosed with severe anxiety who confided in me that Professor Griffin was the first math or science teacher they’d ever had who was able to get them to believe that they could manage their anxiety and master the content. Other teachers had tried, of course, but Mary is the one STEM educator who helped this student achieve a genuine breakthrough in overcoming their almost crippling math/science anxiety.

Another example: I know Mary to be a deeply involved online educator who engages in solid regular and substantive interaction (RSI) in her online courses. She’s in her Brightspace class websites often, regularly interacting with her students, reaching out to them and quick to respond to student inquiries. Mary Griffin is dedicated to helping all of her students succeed.

Finally, I have to note that Mary is an outstanding Executive Council (EC) representative; she represents all adjuncts in the sciences, engineering and automotive departments across the college, which is one of our largest constituency groups. Mary actively sought this position, having been involved in her K-12 local and knowing full well the value of academic union work.

After being elected, Mary was in touch with me immediately to set up her email, get her constituency list and understand and carry out her responsibilities. Mary’s diligence in fulfilling this role is such a breath of fresh air, especially since it is completely voluntary on her part. Mary simply believes that all adjuncts in her constituency deserve to have their voices heard and deserve to be kept in the know with union and college happenings.

In my role as FA secretary, I get notification through our Google Groups system every time EC reps send an email, and I can tell you that much like Mary engages in genuine RSI in her online classes, it is clear that she does the same as an EC rep: her emails are regular, frequent and substantive.

Among the FA officers and Executive Council, we are grateful to Mary for all that she does, both as an adjunct instructor of astronomy and as an adjunct EC rep. I was proud to nominate her for consideration and even happier when I learned that Mary had been selected for this year’s FA Member Excellence Award for Adjunct Service. Congrats to Mary!