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Montgomery College: Award-Winning Faculty

733 views · Published 25 May 2010 · 5:15 · Indexed 6 October 2026

Channel: Montgomery College · 2010 · Education

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During the 2009-2010 school year, three Montgomery College faculty members were recognized by state and national organizations for excellence in teaching.

Montgomery College Professor Susan Bontems was named the 2009 Maryland Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, a national foundation dedicated to supporting teaching, and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the largest international association of education institutions. The U.S. 

Professors of the Year program salutes the most outstanding undergraduate instructors in the country—those who excel as teachers and influence the lives and careers of their students. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious awards honoring professors. 

I am passionate about my teaching and passionate about Montgomery College, said Professor Bontems, who teaches chemistry at Montgomery Colleges Germantown Campus. We truly do change lives in a very real and very positive way. There are so many people around me who do great things, and I am unbelievably proud of my colleagues, my institution, and my career.

Montgomery College Professor Tammy Peery, English department chair at Montgomery College-Germantown, was been named the Distance Educator of the Year in Higher Education by the Maryland Distance Learning Association (MDLA). 

Professor Peery received the honor based on her involvement in distance learning at Montgomery College, where she is co-chair of the Montgomery College Distance Learning Task Group. In addition, she has delivered numerous workshops to College faculty about distance learning and recently worked with faculty and administrators to develop a new model for the Colleges Common courses, which are courses that contain the same content but are taught by different faculty members.

Sharon Ahern Fechter, Montgomery College professor of Spanish, received the 2009 American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) Teacher of the Year Award for the two-year college level. Dr. Fechter is chair of the World Languages and Philosophy Department at Montgomery Colleges Rockville Campus and has served as the world languages coordinator for the Colleges three campuses since 1999. She and the other honorees from around the country received their awards at the 91st annual AATSP conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Dr. Fechters works have been published in the AATSP journal Hispania, and in publications by Houghton-Mifflin, Prentice Hall, SUNY Press, Random House, and Computer Science Press. She is co-author of Paso Adelante, the textbook for advanced beginners and the laboratory manual ¡En directo!, and author of the online task-based activities for ¡Arriba!.

I am honored to receive the AATSP Teacher of the Year Award for two-year colleges, but I really believe the award belongs to Montgomery College, said Dr. Fechter.  There are very few community colleges that support development of world language curricula and actively promote the study of languages with such dedication and conviction. I am proud indeed to teach at an institution that offers instruction in no fewer than 11 languages.

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