Linda Tyler, nursing professor and clinical coordinator, was selected as one of the Great 100 Nurses in North Carolina for 2014. She also received the Excellence in Teaching Award for Health Sciences.

Executive Vice President Mort Congleton was named Fundraising Professional of the Year by the national Council for Resource Development (CRD), an affiliate of the American Association of Community Colleges that supports college development professionals nationwide.

Wake Tech students (and siblings) Monique and Mitchell LaValley became Wake Tech’s first “STEM Stars” with their solar-powered Stirling Engine, which attaches to a rain barrel for watering outdoors. Each earned a cash prize of $500. Second place in the competition went to Ryan Garrigues for a cruise control plug-in to improve fuel economy, and third place to John Blackwell for traffic counters at campus entrances that send data to a smart phone app.

Wake Tech students won nine awards at the annual Phi Beta Lambda State Leadership Conference in April, including two first place and two second place awards. Four students advanced to the nationals in Chicago, in June. Wake Tech also earned two team awards. Phi Beta Lambda is the national academic organization for students in business and leadership.

Wake Tech student athlete Saraya Klink was recognized as Player of the Year in women’s volleyball by the National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA), Division 2, Region X – and was also selected Second Team All-American by the NJCAA, a first for the team! Coach Stephanie Sports was named Volleyball Coach of the Year for Division 2, Region X.

Two Wake Tech students were awarded national scholarships from the mikeroweWORKS Foundation for careers in equipment technology and maintenance. Joshua Schmidt and Jed Widrick will each receive $1,000. The foundation was established by the host of cable television’s “Dirty Jobs.”

Wake Tech received the prestigious John Champaign Memorial Award for Outstanding Developmental Educational Program for 2015, from the National Association for Developmental Education (NADE). The award acknowledges Wake Tech’s innovative program of integrated reading and writing (IRW), math, and college success courses, created as part of a statewide curriculum redesign.

Wake Tech hosted a three-day onsite visit from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools-Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC), part of our 10-year reaffirmation. We received the highest of marks with a report of “no recommendations,” which means that Wake Tech is compliant in all areas and that no problems were identified – extremely rare, according to SACS.

The SunTrust Center for Financial Education and Wake Tech’s Business Club gave awards to the Fall 2014 Market Watch Investment Champions – a competition designed to improve financial literacy in which more than 65 students managed simulated portfolios. First place winner Joe Miles “earned” $12,265!

An August 2014 banquet at the Capital City Club celebrated the success of young adults in Wake Tech’s Fostering Bright Futures program – a public-private partnership that supports youth aging out of foster care. Lenovo presented laptops to six new students in the program. Harmonie Cole received a $1,000 scholarship from Alpha Kappa Alpha, and graduate Iris Perry received the Chairman’s Award (for the third consecutive year) for academic achievement and an exemplary attitude. In May 2015, the Rotary Club of the Capital City made a contribution of $18,175 to the Fostering Bright Futures program.

Students’ hard work and academic excellence was evident in the many who made the President’s List (GPA of 4.0) and the Dean’s List (GPA of 3.5):

         Fall 2014: 1,450 students

         Summer 2014: 392 students

         Spring 2015: 1,421 students