Honoring Outstanding Instructors

TEACHING AND LEARNING EXCELLENCE

HONORING OUTSTANDING

INSTRUCTORS

Every year, the Illinois Community College Trustees Association (ICCTA) honors faculty across the state who showcase outstanding work. Each college facilitates the selection of local winners, one full-time and one adjunct, which are forwarded to ICCTA for the selection of the state-wide winners for each category. CLC is proud to honor Shane Jones and Dr. Ribhi Salhi as this year’s full-time and adjunct outstanding faculty winners, respectively.

Shane Jones

Jones is a biology instructor at CLC, primarily teaching courses on human anatomy and physiology. He started at the college in Fall 2004 when he was just 25 years old. In those nearly 18 years, a lot about his teaching style has changed.

“I was so young when I started here, and I had very little teaching experience,” Jones said. “I used to be scared a student would ask me a question and I wouldn’t know the answer to it. It obviously happened, and I found the information for the student. Throughout the years, I continued to accumulate knowledge and have done professional development to improve my ability as a teacher.”

Many students in Jones’ classes go on to work in the medical field, so he has high standards and keeps his students’ best interests in mind. Jones is willing to ensure every student succeeds in his class.

“I try to be an easy going and approachable guy,” he said. “I’ll have conversations with students at 10 p.m. if that’s what works for them.”

Dr. Ribhi Salhi

Teaching is Salhi’s career. Outside of CLC, the political science instructor teaches at numerous other colleges in the area. He believes education is a lifelong effort, and for himself, that also means improving as an instructor.

“I’ve been teaching for a long time,” Salhi said. “Every year, I’ve learned something new. Knowledge has no boundaries, and the classroom should be a global one. Every time I finish a semester, or when I finish a certain topic of discussion, I ask myself what I can do better.”

Salhi has adopted several ways to create engagement with his students by being available beyond office hours both virtually and in person, using an assessment tool to help understand students’ areas of strengths and weaknesses, introducing students to new techniques in critical thinking and staying current with the way his discipline is taught and with the way students like to learn.

“I fully understand the kinds of struggles my students face,” he said. “My job here is not only to educate them, but also to engage with them in a way that makes them understand the material. The strategies I use for teaching should always be evaluated.”