Lone Star College-CyFair recognizes Roiann Baskin and Cher Schmitt as this year’s Adjunct Faculty Excellence Award winners who share their expertise for student success.

Baskin is an adjunct instructor of Spanish who has spent the past 10 years, half of her 20-year teaching career, at LSC-CyFair.

“I fell in love with the language and culture and I wanted to share that passion with my students in the hopes it would open their eyes to a whole new world,” she said. “Primarily teaching in an online environment has shown me that everything constantly adapts and evolves. And in turn, so has my teaching style. However, the three main components are connections, active engagement and organization.”

Connecting with students is the foundation of her courses, which she does through frequent communication, feedback and office hours. Her goal is to create an environment in which students want to contribute and become invested in the content. And with an organized, well-designed course, students can spend most of their time completing work rather than looking for content and assignments, which is vital to their success.

Schmitt began teaching in LSC-CyFair’s Visual Communication program in 2016 after working 6 years at AlphaGraphics Print Company where she was hired while still completing a visual design degree at LSC-CyFair.

Now this alumni is focused on teaching students to be a “complete designer.” As an LSC-Westway Park Technology Center workforce program instructor, she believes in treating her classroom more like a work environment.

“I want to create the next generation of dependable, skilled, creative and employable designers,” said Schmitt, who has a unique viewpoint that will benefit her students. “I was an older student looking for a new career. I had a job and a family, but still graduated with a 4.0. So I know I can push them a little and still have the ‘I've been there’ compassion to help them succeed.”

Both of these employees will receive further recognition in a system awards event in February.

For information on LSC-CyFair, adjunct faculty opportunities, late start class registration as well as college degree and workforce programs, go to LoneStar.edu/cyfair.