BC faculty and staff members honored by peers

Brazosport College faculty member Dr. April Julier and staff member Cassie Bruner were recently honored by the college’s students, faculty and staff as representatives for the League for Innovation in the Community College’s 2016 John & Suanne Roueche Excellence Awards.

Bruner, BC’s Director of Library & Learning Services, was selected for the John & Suanne Roueche Staff Excellence Award, while Julier, the Director of the BC Writing Center, was the recipient of the John & Suanne Roueche Teaching Excellence Award. As the 2016 teaching excellence recipient, Julier also becomes BC’s Minnie Stevens Piper Professor Award nominee.

Bruner earned a Master of Library Science degree in 2010 from the University of North Texas, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Texas State University in 2007. Her career in librarianship began in 2010 at Texas A&M University School of Law. She accepted a position at Brazosport College in 2013 and was promoted to the school’s director position in 2014. She is also an advisor for the college’s Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.

“Receiving the John & Suanne Roueche Staff Excellence award is such an honor,” Bruner said. “Working at Brazosport College renewed my passion for librarianship and has given me some amazing opportunities to grow and advance in my career. I also enjoy being the Advisor to the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, as it allows me to challenge myself and work with students in ways that I do not get to in my position as director of library & learning services.”

As for Julier, she earned a Doctorate of Philosophy in Composition and Rhetoric at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2011 and she has been teaching and directing the BC Writing Center since 2015. Julier got her start in teaching in at La Roche College in Pittsburgh, Pa. in 1999. Before coming to Brazosport College, she held positions at both urban and rural universities, including St. John’s (Queens, N.Y.) and University of Rio Grande (Rio Grande, Ohio).

“Being chosen by my colleagues and students for the Roueche Award is an amazing honor,” Julier said. “I have only been a part of the Brazosport College family for two years, and I am truly moved to have been nominated and selected for this teaching excellence award.

“Before anything else, I am a teacher, and being recognized for this most important work by my own students and colleagues inspires me to work harder to ensure every student who wants to succeed has that opportunity,” she added.

The John & Suanne Roueche Faculty and Staff Excellence Awards celebrate outstanding contributions and leadership by community college staff and faculty. Each academic year, member colleges are invited to select and submit names of individuals to be recognized as recipients of these prestigious awards.

For more information about the John & Suanna Roueche Faculty and Staff Excellence Awards, visit its Web site at www.league.org. To learn more about Brazosport College, go online to www.brazosport.edu or call (979) 230-3000.