Three Faculty/Staff Members to Represent Tri-County
Technical College at SCTEA Competition

CONTACT: LISA GARRETT, EXT. 1506

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 11/8/2002
(By Lisa Garrett)

PENDLETON --- Three faculty/staff members have been selected as Tri-County Technical College's nominees for the South Carolina Technical Education Association's (SCTEA) outstanding educators of the year.
Dr. Neil Lark, of Anderson, dean of continuing education, is the College's outstanding administrator; Robin McFall, of Piedmont, English instructor, is the outstanding instructor; and Margaret Burdette, of Clemson, director of organizational and professional development, is the outstanding staff nominee.
They have been nominated by fellow SCTEA members and will be recognized at the SCTEA conference in the spring of 2003.

Dr. Lark joined Tri-County in 1989 after a 20-year career with the U.S. Army. He assumed his current title in 1994 and is responsible for the coordination and delivery of non-credit seminars and workshops for business and industrial training and personal and professional development.

He began as part of the Continuing Education Management Team as an instructor in the Business and Industry Training Department where he taught and coordinated world-class manufacturing courses for local industries. He became its director in 1993. Through his leadership he was instrumental in 60 local industries becoming approved to receive the retraining incentives of the S.C. Enterprise Zone Act, which offers several incentives for economic development. One of these incentives allows a qualifying business to obtain a job development retraining fee of up to $500 per year from income withholding tax liability for each production employee.

At the College Dr. Lark serves on the Executive Leadership Team, President's Council, Instructional Affairs Committee, School-to-Work Planning Committee, Textile Advisory Committee and the World Class Training Center Advisory Committee.

For 18 months, he chaired the Institutional Effectiveness Work Group, coordinating the development of the 1995 – 2000 strategic plan for the College.

He represents the College with his involvement and memberships in the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce, Anderson Area Society for Human Resource Development, Anderson Employment Security Advisory Committee, Clemson Calhoun Rotary Club, Oconee Pickens Personnel Association, the Upstate International Trade Association and the WSPA-TV Advisory Council. He is a member of the S.C. Association of Higher Continuing Education and chairs the nominating committee and the strategic planning committee of the organization. He also organized its first web site and its first strategic plan.

He is a member of the Learning Resource Network and Kappa Delta Pi, an international honor society in education. He is a graduate of the Anderson Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Anderson class.

He also serves on the executive committee of the State Tech Continuing Education Peer Group and the ad hoc Enterprise Zone Legislation Committee.

This year he chaired the System-wide work group that planned, developed and presented the inaugural South Carolina Silver Crescent for Manufacturing Excellence award at the annual Salute to Manufacturing ceremony in Greenville.

A graduate of Palmetto High School, Dr. Lark entered the United States Military Academy where he received his bachelor of science degree in Engineering. He also earned his master's degree in Management from the University of Northern Colorado. While an Army officer, he attended the Command and General Staff College and the Defense Systems Management College. He holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Clemson University. He and his wife, Diane, have two adult children.

Mrs. McFall began teaching at Tri-County 12 years ago as an adjunct instructor after working as a teacher for Anderson School Districts 1 and 3. In 1992 she became a full-time instructor.

For several years, she has been involved in the distance learning courses and worked with Dr. Marianne Taylor, English department head, to develop the English sequence. She also is involved in teaching the College's online course offerings.

Mrs. McFall received the highest award presented to Tri-County's faculty, the Presidential Medallion for Instructional Excellence, at the College's commencement last May.

In addition to teaching full time, Mrs. McFall devotes time to committee work at the College. She chaired the Academic and Administrative Support Services Committee, worked on a College-wide committee for advising and retention and is a member of the Multicultural Discussion Group. She serves as the Arts and Sciences representative for the Scholarship Committee, and last year she chaired the Arts and Sciences Committee set up to review and revise its orientation. She also serves as vice president of the Faculty Senate. She is vice chair of the Academic and Administrative Support Services Committee.

During the year, she participated in several professional development activities including the National Computers on Campus Conference, a Prentice Hall workshop on using web sites to supplement course content and to detect plagiarism, and a pedagogy conference at Claflin College.

She is a member of the National Academic Advisors' Association, as well as the National Council of Teachers of English and the S.C. chapter of the American Association of Women in Community Colleges. Recently, she was named to Who's Who Among America's Teachers for the second time. (Only about five percent of the recipients of this honor are named more than once.)

She is an honor graduate of Palmetto High School and graduated cum laude from Clemson University with a B. S. in English. She also holds a master of education with a specialization in English from Clemson.

Mrs. McFall resides in Piedmont with her husband and two children. They attend Williamston First Baptist Church where she teaches Sunday School.

Mrs. Burdette, who joined the College in 1999, is in charge of strategic planning, faculty/staff development, accreditation and the College's committee structure, as well as polices and procedures.

She began her career in 1979 at Ampex Corporation in Opelika, Alabama, as an accounting manager and over 16 years, served in various capacities with her last position being cost accounting manager. She and her family moved to the Clemson area that year, and she began teaching part-time accounting classes for Tri-County for five years. In 1999 she joined Maxfli Sports Corporation as a cost accounting manager and worked there until she returned to Tri-County in her current job.

With a focus on building community within the College, she has instituted the Master Teacher program, the President's Leadership Program, brown bag discussions and a campus book club. She coordinates, plans and oversees the annual Faculty/Staff retreat at Unicoi.

In addition, she offers an online orientation for adjunct instructors so they may learn more about the College.

She is a member of the Professional and Organizational Development Network. Last year, she worked with Pendleton author Ron Rash in publishing a children's book, The Shark's Tooth.

She holds a B. S. in Accounting from Auburn University. She and her husband, Norman, have two daughters.
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