The Grove | Valencia College

Celebrating Educational Advancements — Summer 2022

Jun

28

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Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Valencia College’s recognition program is robust — spanning from career anniversary awards to appreciation badges to the Educational Advancement program.

In the Educational Advancement program, which celebrates non-instructional employees who have been employed in a full-time position for a minimum of six months and who have earned a degree from a regionally accredited institution, the College awards employees a one-time, lump-sum payment, barring any degree that is a required qualification of the employee’s current position. Please note that employees are compensated for only one award per first academic degree earned.

Through this program, the College recognized the following employees for achieving a post-secondary degree:

• Maria Guisandes Bohorquez, coordinator, college transition, Bachelor’s Degree
• William Christman, enrollment services advisor, Associate Degree
• Brandon Cunningham, implementation coordinator, Bachelor’s Degree
• Charles Ensminger, director, student development, Doctorate Degree (Juris Doctorate)
• Natasha Maurice, coordinator, program advisor, Master’s Degree
• Kellie Robertson, coordinator, procurement/Pcard, Bachelor’s Degree
• Melissa Shank, administrative assistant, Bachelor’s Degree
• Adriana Shaw, coordinator, dual enrollment, Master’s Degree
• Andrea Rukstalis Villafuerte, coordinator, program advisor, Master’s Degree
• Jennifer Wood, staff assistant II, Bachelor’s Degree

Tenure-track and tenured faculty who complete the advanced degree process will be placed at the salary commensurate with the advanced degree earned at their current step upon successful completion of their degree. In order to be considered for the salary change, faculty must make sure their course of study is approved in advance by their supervisor and submit evidence of degree completion.

Annually appointed faculty members also receive a salary adjustment commensurate with the advanced degree upon completion of the advanced degree process.

Through this program, the following faculty completed a post-secondary education recently:

• Kristin Bartholomew, professor, nutrition, Master’s Degree
• Shawna Defriece, professor, cardio technology, Master’s Degree
• Barbara Peters, professor, nursing, Master’s Degree
• Craig Rapp, professor, hospitality and tourism, Doctorate Degree
• Niraj Wagh, professor, math, Doctorate Degree

Congratulations to these employees for their fantastic achievements. Please congratulate them in the comment section below.

For more information on the educational advancement policy, please refer to College Policy 6Hx28-3C-04 Total Rewards: Recognition of Full-Time Employees for Educational Advancement. For questions, email HR4U@valenciacollege.edu or call the HR4U helpline at 407-582-HR4U (4748).

Related Tags: educational advancement, kudos