Dr. Andrea Palmisano honored with VCCS Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence

Dr. Andrea Palmisano of Tidewater Community College was recently honored with the 2025 Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence by the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). The award was presented on Wednesday, April 2, at the New Horizons Conference held at The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center. Palmisano received praise for her dedication to student-centered learning, academic rigor, and engagement with all students.

“The award is to emphasize that the faculty play a huge role in community colleges and to inspire everyone,” Palmisano said.

The Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence is presented annually to one teaching faculty member who exemplifies outstanding teaching at VCCS college(s). The recipient receives a VCCS stole and a $5,000 monetary prize. Only one nomination per campus is accepted. Selection criteria include instruction effectiveness, student focus, discipline continuity, and personal attribution.

Palmisano noted that her colleague and 2023 recipient, Thomas Geary, nominated her for the award.

“Andrea is an inspiration to her colleagues who see how much she puts into her course planning. When I hear of her innovations and approaches, it makes me want to reflect on how I can make my own courses better for my students,” Geary said.

As part of the nomination process, she compiled a comprehensive packet that included personal statements and accolades highlighting her qualifications. She also gathered references from faculty, staff, administration, and students. Palmisano noted that assembling the materials took several months of dedicated effort.

Since 2010, Palmisano has been a member of the psychology faculty at TCC’s Virginia Beach Campus. She began her tenure as an adjunct professor and was promoted to Assistant Professor of Psychology in 2015. Two years later, she advanced to Associate Professor of Psychology, and in 2019, she achieved the rank of Professor of Psychology, the position she currently holds.

Currently, Palmisano teaches principles of psychology, psychopathology, and childhood development. This fall, she will also introduce a new course she created called “Cross-Cultural Psychology”.

Palmisano has served as the faculty advisor for Psi-Chi-Phi, the psychology club on TCC’s Virginia Beach campus, for 12 years. 

One of her students, Eli Gray, praised Palmisano for the guidance and support she offered throughout his academic journey at TCC.

“There’s not a single class that she teaches that you don’t feel how genuinely passionate she is. She’s also helped me and pushed me to accomplish things that I didn’t think I could do on my own. She always has everyone’s back,” Gray said.

Palmisano notes that many of her students transfer to four-year institutions to complete their bachelor’s degrees, and several go on to earn their master’s degrees. Her students often pursue careers in school psychology, speech pathology, counseling, and nursing. She continues to mentor and support them throughout their academic and professional journeys.

She holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Capella University. Originally from Brazil, Palmisano is bilingual in English and Portuguese. She moved to the United States in high school after her father’s job brought the family overseas.

Palmisano has over 30 years of experience in the mental health and counseling fields. She began her career as a parent-child therapist for four years at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in New Jersey, before transitioning into higher education. In 1996, after a few years as a stay-at-home mother, she began teaching as an adjunct psychology instructor at Farleigh Dickinson.

In 2002, she became a Contract Trainer and Youth Program Director at Virginia Conflict Resolution Center in Norfolk. Since 2012, she has also worked as a Certified Mediator and Trainer at Palmisano Mediation Services, alongside her full-time faculty role at TCC.

In addition to teaching, Palmisano leads certification courses and mentors aspiring mediators. She trains other mediators in the Hampton Roads area and visits schools to help students develop soft skills through her peer-mediation curriculum.

“Time is going to pass. So, five years are going to pass whether you do what you love or not. So, what if you just do what you want to do? And then five years from now, you can look back and say, ‘Wow, I did it’, rather than ‘Oh, I wish I had done it’,” Palmisano said.

Palmisano resides in the Virginia Beach area with her husband and is a proud mother of two sons who work in the medical field. She also enjoys dancing as a form of mental health therapy.