News Releases @ TCC

TCC NAMES PROFESSOR OF THE YEAR & SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT WINNER
From excellence in science teaching to furthering TCC in the information age

NORFOLK, Va. – (May 2, 2005) – Tidewater Community College has recognized Anne M. Pinkerton with the Professor of the Year Award and Jacque Dessino with the Special Achievement Award during its annual Awards and Recognition Program.

The Professor of the Year Award - a peer award established by the TCC Faculty Senate - recognizes excellence in teaching. Pinkerton joined TCC in 1996 as an adjunct professor, becoming a full-time professor in 1997. Today, she chairs the sciences and health departments at Norfolk Campus and teaches anatomy and physiology and medical terminology. About her devotion to teaching, Pinkerton notes, “Fortunately, scientists are by nature inquisitive … I try to impart this spirit of curiosity to my students. Learning should be fun.” Among her projects at TCC, she launched internships at Nauticus and the zoo.

The Special Achievement Award, also a peer award given by the TCC Faculty Senate, recognizes accomplishments that go above and beyond the call of duty. Dessino, praised as “truly a citizen of the College, belonging to no individual campus, but having responsibilities to all campuses,” is TCC’s electronic services librarian. She serves as project chair for Virginia Community College System’s LRC Live that gives access from off site to a live librarian. Credited with advancing the college further into the information age, she also heads up other statewide and TCC electronic projects and serves on several campus-wide committees and task forces.

Pinkerton is a resident of Norfolk; Dessino lives in Portsmouth.