13 College Presidents to Receive Shirley B. Gordon Award

February 22, 2022

Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society (PTK) will recognize 13 college presidents with the Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction during PTK Catalyst 2022, the Society’s annual convention in Denver, Colorado, April 7-9. 

To be eligible for this award, college presidents and CEOs must have served in their role for at least five years. Recipients are nominated by students on their campus and are only eligible to receive the award once over the course of their career. These 13 recipients were selected from among 617 college presidents eligible to receive this award.

The award recognizes college presidents who have shown support of student success initiatives leading to stronger pathways to completion, transfer, and employment. They have taken an active interest in supporting high-achieving students and developing student leaders on campus. “These college presidents have made it a priority to keep students engaged throughout the pandemic,” says Phi Theta Kappa President and CEO Dr. Lynn Tincher-Ladner. “Their nomination is evidence of the gratitude their PTK students feel for supporting them and students like them—even during the most difficult times.”

The Shirley B. Gordon Award is Phi Theta Kappa’s most prestigious award for community college presidents and is named in honor of the late Dr. Shirley B. Gordon, Phi Theta Kappa’s longest-serving Board of Directors Chair and a founder and long-time president of Highline Community College in Washington.

The 2022 recipients are:

Dr. Seth Carter
Colby Community College
Kansas

Dr. Sunita (Sunny) Cooke
MiraCosta College
California

Dr. Andrea Daniel
Athens Technical College
Georgia

Dr. Naomi DeWinter
Muscatine Community College
Iowa

Dr. Para Jones
Stark State College
Ohio

Dr. Brenda Kays
Kilgore College
Texas

Dr. Belinda S. Miles
Westchester Community College
New York

Dr. Juston Pate
Elizabethtown Community & Technical College
Kentucky

Dr. Raymond Staats
Craven Community College
North Carolina

Dr. Devin Stephenson
Northwest Florida State College
Florida

Dr. Valmadge Towner
Coahoma Community College
Mississippi

Dr. Kevin Trutna
Feather River College
California

Dr. Jeanie Webb
Rose State College
Oklahoma

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