NCCCS Excellence in Teaching Award

Dr. Bindu Dhasmana, a professor at Halifax Community College, has learned that she is a finalist in this year’s competition for the North Carolina Community College System Excellence in Teaching Award.

According to the letter of notification, sent from NCCCS president, Martin Lancaster, Dr. Dhasmana was invited to participate on September 12 in interviews at Raleigh for the top teacher spot, along with 12 other state finalists in competition from all 58 community colleges across the state. The winner of the prestigious award will be announced at the annual Excellence Awards luncheon celebration, in Raleigh later this fall.

Dr. Dhasmana is beginning her third year at Halifax Community College as department head and lead instructor of the Pulp & Paper Technology curriculum. She was hired to administer the North Carolina Community College System’s first and only pulp and paper curriculum program. She is also an active member of the Halifax Community College Leadership Development Team.

Dr. Dhasmana has a Ph.D. in Pulp and Paper Chemistry. She also has a B.S. degree in chemistry, botany, and zoology and a M.S. degree in chemistry. She was employed as a research assistant professor at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University, and also worked as an assistant scientist with the Chemical and Biological Science Division of the Institute of Paper Science and Technology in Atlanta. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the School of Chemical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is currently a member of the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) whose mission is to advance technology and professional achievement in the paper and related industries.

Dr. Dhasmana also belongs to the local Rotary Club and is in charge of coordinating (with the local fire department) the Rotary-sponsored fire safety demonstrations in all Roanoke Rapids Schools.

The distinctive honor for Dr. Dhasmana came after information was submitted on her behalf by the Professional Advisory Committee at Halifax Community College.

Dhasmana was voted "HCC Teacher of the Year - 2001" in secret balloting earlier this year by her peers, and she subsequently was the college’s nominee for the annual state competition in Raleigh. A letter of nomination was submitted on her behalf to the North Carolina Community College System office in the statewide competition for the NCCCS Excellence in Teaching Award. The top finalists were invited to Raleigh for interviews at the request of the selection panel.

Fran Gibbs, HCC division chair, College Transfer/General & Developmental Education, compiled and authored the successful nomination application on Dr. Dhasmana’s behalf:

"In 1998, a dynamo named Bindu Dhasmana came to the Roanoke Valley to head up Halifax Community College’s Pulp and Paper Technology program. Dr. Dhasmana has approached the job of teaching the college’s pulp and paper students with an almost evangelical fervor. She is a woman with a mission: to help her students achieve. No student is unimportant to her, no student’s goals are unworthy of her best efforts, and every student is encouraged to go beyond today’s race, to make learning and achievement truly lifelong pursuits.

"Bindu defies the stereotype of the aloof, detached scientist, only concerned with research and the latest data; she is a vibrant, enthusiastic, people-oriented woman, who can’t resist a challenge.

"When she was hired, the pulp and paper technology department consisted of an empty room. With equipment and supplies donated by her contacts in the paper industry, plus her outstanding teaching abilities, she turned that room into a learning center which trains people for jobs and changes their lives for the better." —Fran Gibbs, excerpts from the letter of nomination, submitted to NCCCS.