Palombo and Minneapolis College Faculty Recognized for Excellence

The Minnesota State Board of Trustees’ Awards for Excellence in Teaching program recognized two Minneapolis College faculty members as Outstanding Educators at its annual “Celebrating Excellence” awards luncheon on Wednesday, April 18, in St. Paul. Clara James, Information Technology faculty, and Matthew Palombo, Philosophy faculty, were among the 32 recipients of the 2017-2018 Outstanding Educators Award who were honored.

In addition, the board announced that Matthew Palombo was one of six 2017-2018 Outstanding Educators to be recognized as a statewide “Educator of the Year.” Since the system-wide award’s inception in 2007, Minneapolis College has had three other faculty members recognized as Educators of the Year: Cheryl Neudauer (Biology), Gill Creel (English) and Maran Wolston (Philosophy).

One of Matthew’s nominators was a student who said, “The unbiased, inclusive, sticking-to-the-facts-and-clearly-presenting-them way that Dr. Palombo teaches—different theories, philosophies and thought throughout all of history, and throughout all of the world—has inspired me (and) I have grown confident in my ability to do anything I want.

"When you have an eye-opening experience that you know has helped to make you a more open, loving person, it is a gift beyond comprehension.”

A faculty nominator recognized Matthew for “over a decade of outstanding leadership growing philosophy from a one-person department to a department with four (full-time) faculty, three adjuncts (part-time), an active A.A. with emphasis, and a long-standing student club.”

Recognizing Matthew’s impact beyond the discipline of philosophy, the nominator credited Matthew for providing substantive leadership to the Muslim Student Association and launching and leading the college’s Malcolm X Justice and Peace lectureship series.

As previously announced, Minneapolis College this year is also honoring two part-time faculty as Outstanding Educators: Erica Fargione, Herbal Studies faculty, and Miki Huntington, Political Science faculty. These faculty were identified using the same nomination process and selection criteria that were used to select the full-time faculty who are being honored.

All four of this year’s Outstanding Educators were recognized at a campus reception on Thursday, April 26.