OCTC Awards of Excellence

OCTC AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE

Owensboro Community & Technical College’s (OCTC) Awards of Excellence are the pinnacle award for faculty and staff. Modeled upon the “KCTCS New Horizon’s Awards”, the winners are selected from nominations submitted by faculty and staff that are reviewed by a panel of past recipients. The award includes a $1,500 stipend to be used for professional development. Normally, the awards are presented at the OCTC Holiday Potluck; however, this year’s event was virtual, a Holiday Happy Hour, held via Teams. It proved that you can have some fun with your colleagues, even if it is only online!

This year’s panel of judges requested an additional award to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of Dr. Scott Williams during the pandemic. Also included as part of the event was a video montage of well wishes and gratitude to Scott as a commemoration of his five-year anniversary as OCTC president.

Al Wallace

The nominees for the Faculty Award of Excellence included All Faculty-for their extraordinary work during the year, Bethany Ebelhar-nursing faculty, and Al Wallaceaccounting/business faculty. The nomination for All Faculty outlined their case extremely well and everyone agreed on the sentiment. Al Wallace was the winner of the Faculty Award of Excellence. As noted in his nomination, Al epitomizes the word, "gentleman."

Al is known for constantly updating his courses, even over the summer. He is always exploring what works for students, embracing the newest technologies, and engaging his students to help them succeed. “He is known to be a professional in his relationships with his colleagues and cares deeply for the College, his students, and his co-workers,” added Matt Alschbach. It was noted that while serving on a committee with Al, he is sure to complete every task assigned throughly and on time.

Al has been at OCTC since August 1, 1984. He has been married to Abby for 38 years. They have three grown children and four grandsons.

The nominees for the 2020 Staff Award of Excellence were Amee Payne, SkillTrain success coach, and Jan Goldman, success coach for the Allied Health programs. This year’s recipient of the OCTC Staff Award is Crystal “Amee” Payne. Amee began her career at OCTC as a student. After earning her GED, she went on to earn her associate degree at OCTC and was a student worker with the Ready to Work program. Her compassion and enthusiasm for working with students was evident, and she was hired in October of 2016 as a full-time employee.

Amee “consistently stands out because of her genuine care for students, her programmatic aptitude, and her commitment to finding a way to make things work.” She “is the epitome of the KCTCS “You’ve Got This” motto.” She began as a work-study student in the SkillTrain area. Not long after her start as a work-study student, “it was clear that she had a passion to work with students and consistently sets out to be the cheerleader that SkillTrain students need.” She is known as “The Person Who Knows Every Single SkillTrain Student by Name --But Also by History, Current Situation, and Future Goals.”

Amee Payne

Amee went on to earn her Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership from Western Kentucky University. She lives in Owensboro with her husband Doug and has two daughters, Azriel and Abigayle.

AMEE PAYNE