Central Virginia Community College
Cynthia Lofaso Awarded VCCS Chancellors Faculty Fellowship
Lynchburg, VA /Media Release/ -- Cynthia Lofaso, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Central Virginia Community College has received a 2009 Virginia Community College System (VCCS) Chancellors Faculty Fellowship. According to the VCCS, the purpose of the award is to ensure that capable people within the Virginia Community College System have the opportunity to prepare themselves for top-level management and instructional positions by earning a doctoral degree. The Fellowship provides up to a one-year leave of absence with shared financial support for doctoral study. It is awarded to no more than three outstanding educators in the VCCS each year.
Lofasos primary area of interest is health psychology, and she will pursue a course of doctoral study in that field at North Central University. Since coming to CVCC in 2002, Lofaso has primarily taught nursing students who are either enrolled in or preparing for a nursing program. She is also the primary instructor of Principles of Psychology and Life Span Development for students in the Centra Nursing Program.
Prior to coming to Lynchburg, Lofaso was the director of Institutional Research at Cochise College in Arizona, after having earned a B.A. at the University of California, and an M.A. at California State University. Realizing she preferred teaching over administration, she came to Lynchburg in 2001 to pursue a full-time teaching career at CVCC. Her plans were put on hold for a year because of a life-altering cancer diagnosis. After an aggressive chemotherapy regime, and now cancer-free, she began teaching at CVCC in 2002. Her interest in health psychology has both a personal and professional aspect.
In addition to her teaching role, she has become an advocate in the Central Virginia cancer community. She founded the Central Virginia Chapter of the National Ovarian Cancer Coalitionand has become a member of the Virginia Cancer Plan Action Coalition, working closely with community efforts in cancer education.
As a professor, I serve as a mentor and a role model for students, Lofaso explains. My teaching now incorporates a stress on the importance of physical health in relation to our psychological health and to our future. She has found that her efforts are making an impact. Her students tell her that because of her classes, they are now making lifestyle and behavior changes in the interest of better health.
Lofaso is married to John Lofaso, an Assistant Professor Communication and Design at CVCC, and the couple has an eight-year old son.
Release Date: 2:00 PM (EST) 6/10/09
Release Number: 090611.awardcynthialofaso
Media Contact:
Kathy Cudlin
Coordinator, Public Relations and Marketing
Central Virginia Community College
(434) 832-7609
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A Member Institution of the Virginia Community College System.