Associate Professor of Communication Dr Shaunda French-Collins is the Chadron State College Teaching Excellence Award winner for 2021 and its candidate for the same award at the Nebraska State College System level.
French-Collins came to Chadron State in 2011 and is now the department chair for Communications, Arts, and Theater.
She is best known for bringing to Chadron State The Big Event, the community service day that allows hundreds of student, faculty, and staff volunteers to work on projects around the Chadron area as a way to say thanks for local support.
A Panhandle native married to broadcaster Dave Collins, she holds a bachelor’s in public relations from Northwest Missouri State, a master’s in speech communication from Central Missouri and a PhD in communication studies from Southern Mississippi.
French-Collins began her teaching career in 2009 as a teaching assistant at Central Missouri and an Adjunct Professor for Missouri’s State Fair Community College. She was a teaching assistant at Southern Mississippi just ahead of coming to CSC.
French-Collins has presented at several conferences including the National Association of Listening and the One Big Day, and served as the faculty advisor for the 2020 One Big Thanks Conference.
Also nominated for the Teaching Excellence Award were Dr Gary Dusek and Cassandra “Cassie” Ritzen.
Dusek came to CSC in 2016 and is currently an associate Professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship as well as the Marking and Entrepreneurship Option Chair.
Ritzen, a Chadron native, was one of the first two student-athletes to sign a National Letter of Intent with CSC when the Eagles reinstated softball.
After graduation, she spent 3 years as Assistant Director of Admissions before becoming an instructor in the Business Academy in 2017.