Two longtime ACC adjunct faculty members have been recognized for making exceptional contributions to geoscience education at the College and beyond. Kusali Gamage and Leslie Davis were recipients of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award (OAFA) and recently shared what the award meant and how the funds were used in the association’s newsletter.
Gamage and Davis were recipients of NAGT’s annual award in 2021 and 2023, respectively. The awards came after they secured two National Science Foundation (NSF) research grants totaling more than $500,000 for ACC’s Geology Department.
Their leadership roles as principal and co-principal investigators on these NSF-funded research grants provided community college students the opportunity to engage in undergraduate research, which is rare at 2-year institutions.
They were awarded the first grant of $307,242 to support an intensive summer research experience specifically designed for science majors. The 3-year grant started in June 2016 and was carried out in collaboration with the University of Texas and Texas A&M University. The project included the development and implementation of a Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Course (SUREC) and a field activity that engaged students in research experience focused on scientific ocean drilling in their first two years of higher education.
Through the SUREC program, 24 students had paid summer internships, and 160 students enrolled in geoscience courses received stipends to work at the Gulf Coast Repository at Texas A&M for one day. Hear from Patricia S., one of the students who participated in the SUREC program, in this ACCTV video.
The second grant, started in September 2019, was based at ACC and led by in-house faculty, offering opportunities for both science and non-science majors to engage in scientific research. This 3-year grant for $201,309 launched a citizen science program to engage community college students in the collection and analysis of data from flooding events in Central Texas, particularly in the Austin area.
Through the citizen science program, 32 students had paid semester internships over the 3-year period. ACCTV followed along with students conducting citizen science projects in 2022 and 2023.
“For the first time in the history of our institution’s Geology Department, we successfully secured two NSF grants, bringing innovative research opportunities to the community college and opening doors for our students,” wrote Gamage and Davis, who have been with ACC for 14 years and 29 years, respectively. “The OAFA recognized and validated these efforts, providing a platform to showcase how adjunct faculty can drive transformative change and create lasting impacts in geoscience education.”
With NAGT’s recognition came a financial reward — $750 in 2021, which was increased to $1,000 in 2023.
“When we received the OAFA, we had ambitious plans for the award funds, such as purchasing teaching tools and creating new resources. However, we chose to focus on strengthening our work with our students and enriching their experiences,” wrote Gamage and Davis.
They chose to use the funds to build a sense of community and belonging.
“When research activities and field trips included travel and long study days, we provided pizza and snacks for students and guest lecturers. These simple gestures transformed routine learning environments into bonding moments among community college students, faculty, and guest lecturers who typically do not experience the setting of a traditional, residential college campus.”
They also used some of the funds on professional development, to attend geoscience conferences and workshops to better support community college students.
Their message to adjunct faculty: “Your work matters. Your impact is profound. Your efforts deserve recognition.”
ACC geology faculty Meredith Denton-Hendrick also was recognized by NAGT in 2018 as the summer quarterly honoree.
Read the full write-up in the NAGT March Newsletter.