VGCC’s 2014 award winners included, from left, Staff Member of the Year Kathy Ktul and Faculty Member of the Year Tomeka Moss. (VGCC photo)
Dr. Stelfanie Williams, the president of Vance-Granville Community College, recently presented the college’s annual awards to a pair of outstanding VGCC employees. Kathryn M. “Kathy” Ktul of Louisburg, the college’s registrar, was named Staff Member of the Year for 2014-15, while Cosmetology program head/instructor Tomeka C. Moss of Wake Forest was chosen as the Faculty Member of the Year.
The honors are two of VGCC’s three Glen Raven Excellence in Teaching and Leadership Awards. Glen Raven, Inc., the manufacturer with a site in Norlina, is a longtime VGCC supporter and partner. In addition to sponsoring the annual stipends to recognize excellence among VGCC instructors and staff members, Glen Raven has endowed several scholarships for students.
Moss and Ktul are now eligible to be considered for the N.C. Community College System’s statewide R.J. Reynolds Excellence in Teaching and BB&T Staff Person of the Year awards, respectively.
Kathy Ktul
Kathy Ktul has worked in community colleges for the past 28 years and started her education as a community college student. She earned an Associate in Applied Science degree at Alfred State College, a State University of New York College of Technology. Ktul went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in education at Cornell University and later a master’s degree at North Carolina State University. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone in West Africa for two years, teaching English, agriculture and home economics. Ktul joined the staff of Wake Technical Community College in 1986 as coordinator of English as a Second Language and later served as international student coordinator there. She became Registrar at VGCC in 2001 and for several years was the Director of Admissions and Records, as well. Ktul received a VGCC President’s Leadership Award in 2009. Colleagues praise her work in helping students and faculty members to navigate numerous changes in recent years, including significant alterations to how developmental courses are delivered and the newly revised Comprehensive Articulation Agreement between the community college system and the UNC System.
Tomeka Moss
Tomeka Moss is a Warren County native and a graduate of VGCC, where she completed the Cosmetology certificate and diploma programs, the Cosmetology Instructor course and an Associate in Applied Science degree in General Occupational Technology. She joined VGCC as a Cosmetology instructor in 1991 and became the lead instructor at the college’s South Campus in Granville County in 1999. Since 2005, Moss has been the program head, overseeing instruction at all four college campuses in addition to teaching at Main Campus. As head of the Cosmetology program, Moss has sought to connect students with potential employers and has challenged students through competitions. Earlier this year, her department held a competition that pitted VGCC students against their peers from two nearby community colleges for the first time. Moss, a member of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe, has also organized events at the college to celebrate Native American Heritage Month for the past two years. Cosmetology is among the VGCC programs that the state community college system recently recognized for excellence in preparing students to succeed on licensure and certification tests.
“Tomeka and Kathy are outstanding representatives of the excellence found among the faculty and staff at Vance-Granville,” Dr. Williams said. “As longtime leaders here, and as community college alumni themselves, they have been passionate advocates for student success. They embody the VGCC mission of educating, inspiring and supporting our diverse community of learners.”