Skagit Valley College faculty recognized

Sixteen Skagit Valley College faculty members have been recognized with Exceptional Faculty Awards.

Khai Le, Adult Basic Education, College and Career Bridge, Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training faculty and department liaison, made improvements to Business Math materials to improve student learning while eliminating textbook and material costs for students.

Timothy Ewing, Advanced Manufacturing and Design faculty and department chair, and Matthew Weaver, Advanced Manufacturing and Design faculty and department chair, were recognized for redesigning and launching the first cohorts from the Advanced Manufacturing associate and bachelor's degree programs, including the launch of the Bachelor of Applied Science in Advanced Manufacturing and Design.

Sunaina Virendra, Bachelor in Management faculty and department chair, integrated artificial intelligence into the Bachelor in Management program curriculum in a way deemed ethical by the college.

Matt Mardesich, Marine Maintenance Technology faculty and co-department chair, was named American Boat and Yacht Council Educator of the Year and recognized for program development, curriculum improvements, student leadership and community engagement.

Aaron Klesick, Automotive Technology faculty and department chair, was recognized for his presentation to the North American Council of Automotive programs about building a successful automotive program outside the classroom.

Timothy Banham, Mathematics faculty, created an open-source curriculum for including lectures, sample problems, exams and online homework resources.

Ten faculty projects were recognized, including:

* Chemistry faculty Roxi Hulet and Emily McQuarrie's "Strengthening the Chemistry Pipeline for Allied Health Students"

* Communication studies faculty Angela Logan's "Understanding Post-Colonial Tensions to Build Global Relationships and Succeed in Intercultural Contexts through CMST 240/Intercultural Communication"

* College and Career Bridge faculty Bonnie Trent and Geographic Information Systems faculty Jen Coslor's "25 Venerable Trees of SVC (MVC) Cataloging and Webmap"

* Communication studies faculty Mariko Thomas and Jason Lind's "Let's Go to Work" guest instructor podcast series

* English Language Acquisition and College & Career Bridge faculty Jennifer Brooks and Brian Gutierrez's bundled curriculum for the Whidbey Island campus English 95/96/97 "Bucket" class

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This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 6:05 PM.