French Professor at NOVA Receives Regional Teaching Award

20 Jan French Professor at NOVA Receives Regional Teaching Award

Dr. Laura L. Franklin, a professor of French at Northern Virginia Community College, has been

selected as the recipient of the 2013 Southern Region Community College Faculty Member Award for Excellence.

The award was announced by the Association of Community College Trustees. It is given to faculty who exhibit exemplary skills in the areas of teaching, collaboration, leadership, and innovation.

Franklin teaches at NOVA’s Alexandria Campus, and also online through the college’s Extended Learning Institute.

“I am honored to represent NOVA as the 2013 Southern Region recipient of the ACCT Community College Faculty Member Award for Excellence,” Franklin said. “I accept this award in true gratitude to our college and all of its educators whose mission it is to promote academic excellence and student success.”

Franklin, along with the faculty awardees from the other four regions, will now compete for the national outstanding faculty member award. The national winner will be announced in October during the 2013 ACCT Leadership Congress in Seattle.

“This is a wonderful honor for Dr. Franklin,” said Dr. Robert G. Templin, Jr., NOVA’s president. “Her skills as an innovative educator, especially around the use of technology in language courses, are only matched by her deep desire to see her students excel in the classroom.”

Franklin began teaching at NOVA in 1992. During her tenure, she has served as an assistant division chair, College Global Studies Committee chair and World Languages Cluster chair. She currently serves on the core team of the NOVA Achieving the Dream student success initiative.

Franklin is the founding co-editor of the World Languages collection of the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT). She is also its founding World Languages portal editor.

MERLOT is a free and open educational resource on the Internet that began in 1997 and continues to be a leader in online teaching and learning. In 2008, Franklin received the Innovative Use Award from MERLOT for the design of an online course called MERLOT 101 Online. Two years later, she accepted the MERLOT Distinguished Service Award, that organization’s highest honor.

Franklin earned her doctorate in French from The George Washington University. She also holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in French from the same university. Franklin lives in Northern Virginia.

NOVA Media Contact: Jennifer Gonzalez | 703.425.5839 | jgonzalez@nvcc.edu