Each year, Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College (SKYCTC) recognizes Faculty and Staff who demonstrate exemplary work ethic, extraordinary impact and a positive connection with students and colleagues at SKYCTC through the Awards of Excellence. These awards were presented to individuals in the categories of outstanding support staff, administrative staff, and faculty. Individuals were nominated by their peers, and winners were selected by members of the SKYCTC Board of Directors and Foundation Board. This year’s winners are Ms. Laura Cotton for Support Staff, Dr. Lisa Hunt for Administrative Staff and Ms. Carmen Gaskins for Faculty.

Ms. Laura Cotton, recipient of the Support Staff Award of Excellence, currently serves as an Administrative Assistant in the Division of Mathematics and Science at SKYCTC. Ms. Cotton has been employed with the College for almost five years. In her time at SKYCTC, she has gone above and beyond for the College. For a period, she also served as the Administrative Assistant for the Arts and Humanities Division. She provided services to two divisions, two deans, over forty full-time faculty, and over twenty adjunct faculty. Ms. Cotton also serves as a mentor to newly hired staff.

Dr. Lisa Hunt, recipient of the Administrative Staff Award of Excellence, serves as Dean of Administrative Services at the College. This past year, Dr. Hunt led SKYCTC through its decennial SACSCOC accreditation review process. The result was that SKYCTC passed its decennial review with zero recommendations, an incredibly rare feat among institutions accredited by SACSCOC. In addition to Dr. Hunt’s regular duties, she serves on the Allocations Committee for United Way of Southern Kentucky and continues to teach Human Nutrition courses for SKYCTC.

Ms. Carmen Gaskins, recipient of the Faculty Award of Excellence, serves as a Professor in the Business and Information Technology Division at SKYCTC and as Program Coordinator of the Computer and Information Technology Program. Ms. Gaskins goes above and beyond for her students by offering them opportunities such as professional development, guest speakers, and transferring information to WKU and Murray State. Last year, she was the chair of the Women in Computing Conference, a statewide conference that brought nearly two hundred professionals and students to the KATI campus. This year, she began the CyberSafe Summit as an additional one-of-a kind PD opportunity for Cybersecurity Month in October. At this event, professionals across the industry came to SKYCTC to present information on passwords, multi-factor authentication, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).