Ginny Bass, director of Degree Completion at Clayton State University, has been named the recipient of the Distance Learning Administration’s (DLA) Outstanding Instructional Support Award for 2012. This award is one of three DLA Wagner Awards to be presented to outstanding individuals, to recognize them and/or the groups that they represent, for their excellence in Distance Learning Administration Innovation, Outstanding Instructional Support, or Leadership.
The Outstanding Instructional Support Award recognizes outstanding achievements by an individual in developing and implementing projects to improve support and services for distance students and/or faculty. Bass, a resident of Fayettville, Ga., and the assistant director of the Clayton State – Fayette instructional site in Peachtree City, Ga., will receive her award on June 3, at the DLA Conference at Jekyll Island.
As part of the award ceremony, Bass, who has worked at Clayton State for 12 years, will also make a short presentation during the DLA 2012 Sunday evening opening dinner/awards ceremony. Bass says she plans to talk about the importance of working with other departments when taking on a project as broad as adding 100 percent distance learning offerings to the University. A potter by avocation, Bass plans to illustrate her talk with an analogy - the vision of the end result (a ceramic mug) while having an awareness of the series of movements needed to accomplish the task (a mug pleasing to the eye, yet still functional).
“When Ginny was hired to direct our degree completion program she immediately responded to the demand from adult students for degrees that could be completely online,” says Dr. Kevin Demmitt, Clayton State associate vice president for Extended Programs. “While Clayton State had many online courses, there were missing pieces that made it difficult for students to complete their degrees. Working closely with academic units and offices across campus, Ginny helped create a pathway for students complete select degree programs online.”
“Ginny Bass is one of the most tenacious and devoted directors of distance and adult education programs that I know,” says Clayton State Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Dr. Micheal Crafton, who nominated Bass for this honor. “She has a clear vision of how many of our students need and deserve to be served and she will not be deterred by mere mortals as she labors to bring that vision to fruition.”
For more information about the Wagner awards and DLA, go to: http://www.westga.edu/~distance/dla/awardcategories.php.
DLA symposiums are specifically designed for those involved or interested in the administration, management, planning, and evaluation of distance learning programs. The organization, which was founded at the University of West Georgia, has members from all over the United States and Canada. The DLA Wagner Awards generally recognize excellence in distance learning administration.