Central Virginia Community College
Dr. Tom Sparhawk Receives Outstanding Faculty Award
Lynchburg, VA /Media Release/ -- Central Virginia Community College announces that Dr. Thomas G. Sparhawk has received the Outstanding Faculty Award for 2010. The award recognizes a current CVCC faculty member each year for their innovation and excellence in teaching, their service to the College, and their service to the community.
Sparhawk has been a professor of sociology at the College since 2000. He holds a B.A. from the University of Baltimore, and an M.A. and Ph. D. in sociology from the University of New Hampshire, with a concentration in stratification and demography.
He came to Lynchburg from Illinois where he was an associate professor at McKendree College, having previously taught in Georgia and Pennsylvania. At the time, he was purposefully looking for one-year assignments as a sabbatical replacement because he wanted to explore the country. In 1987, he taught for a year at Lynchburg College and discovered he really liked the Central Virginia area. When he learned there was going to be an opening at CVCC in Lynchburg in 2000, he was excited about the possibility because he knew thats exactly where he wanted to be.
Sparhawk has always loved teaching. He cares about his students, their learning experiences and their progress. He also knows that at times their personal problems can be sad and difficult, and sometimes take precedence over their school work. He was on the college task force after the Virginia Tech shootings occurred, and he is a fervent believer in mental health services for students.
He brings not only knowledge and compassion to his classrooms, but also a great deal enthusiasm, humor, and creativity. One of the extra-credit projects he offers to his students, every year, is the opportunity to create a poster as a visual representation of what they are learning in the class. He keeps the winning posters, year after year, and displays them in his classroom. His students, in turn, come back to see him after graduation and seek him out on Facebook to reconnect and to express appreciation.
Sparhawk is currently enjoying developing his online classes, a coursework option increasingly offered at the College. He has been interested in the communication possibilities of the Internet for some time and originally taught himself HTML. He also does a great deal of volunteer work in the community, including being web manager for the Free Clinic of Central Virginia. He has been very active on committees at CVCC, including the online advisory committee and currently serves as the faculty association president.
This summer, Sparhawk and his eleven-year old daughter will travel to Egypt. They have already explored Costa Rica and other Latin American countries. He will be taking a netbook, in order to continue to teach his online classes, because this type of class can be taught and taken from anywhere in the world.
Release Date: 2:00 PM (EST) 6/16/10
Release Number: 100602.awardtomsparhawk
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.