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Waynesburg native wins coveted honorarium

By Dave Zuchowski, For The Greene County Messenger 5 min read
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While attending Waynesburg Central High School, Courtney Huffman knew she wanted to pursue a career in health care because she enjoyed the sciences.

She also wanted to be able to find a balance between her profession and raising a family and, at the same time, follow a career with advancement opportunities.

Following through on the advice of her high school science teacher, Joe Zorosky, she entered West Virginia University in 1996 knowing she wanted a career in dental hygiene. While attending WVU, she was awarded the “Hu-Friedy Golden Scaler Award,” presented annually to the outstanding senior Dental Hygiene clinician.

After earning her Bachelor’s Degree in 2000, she immediately followed through by enrolling in the Master’s Program at WVU while working full time as a dental hygienist for Dr. Leslie Midla in Beallsville.

A year later, she found herself working as part time clinical instructor and residence life dormitory head resident of Rogers Hall at West Liberty College, where her husband, Aaron, held the positions of assistant men’s basketball coach and compliance coordinator for the NCAA, Division 2. In 2002, she earned her Master’s Degree in Dental Hygiene from WVU.

“In May of 2002, the head of the Dental Hygiene program retired, and I filled a vacancy by becoming a full-time instructor,” Huffman said.

Over the next 10 years, she advanced through the academic ranks to assistant professor, associate professor and then to full-time tenured professor by the young age of 34.

On May 4, her teaching abilities were recognized when she was named 2017 Professor of the Year in the awards ceremony at West Liberty’s Kelly Theater during the annual Spring Honors Convocation. She was also previously presented with he same award in 2009 and 2010.

“As an educator, one of my goals is to have an impact on my students’ lives, so it is very humbling and a true honor to receive this award,” she said.

The Professor of the Year Award is coordinated by the Student Government Association, which collects student nominations and votes, prior to announcing the award.

“The students of West Liberty University spoke very clearly when they nominated and selected Professor Courtney Huffman as WLU’s Professor of the Year,” said David (Reed) Bowden, president of the student government. “Her intelligence, thoughtfulness, insight, patience, and overall terrific attitude has helped to better our campus in more ways than one.

“Professor Huffman is more than deserving of this award, as she has always been the type of person to push her students to be the very best they can be and has always had an impeccable work ethic,” he continued.

“When speaking to a dental hygiene student about Professor Huffman, I was told that she ‘is always the one that keeps us going. She helps us believe in ourselves when sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is hard to see. She has made difficult or uninteresting topics lively and easy to follow. It saddens me that not everyone gets to experience her as a professor.’ If that statement doesn’t speak to the perseverance and the integrity of Professor Huffman, then I do not know what does.”

Some comments made by several West Liberty’s students in describing Professor Huffman while voting for the award include:

“She is an excellent professor; her teaching methods are impeccable. She breaks subjects down in a manner everyone in the class can easily understand.”

“She is simply amazing. She genuinely cares about us succeeding in life and passing our Board examinations. Thankful to have her as a teacher.”

“Most helpful professor I have ever had! She really is good at teaching in a way that we all understand, She is strict and fun all at the same time! Perfect professor to win this award.”

“West Liberty University has been blessed with a lot of great professors, but this year, Courtney Huffman took the top spot,” Bowden said. “We’re all very proud of her.”

At West Liberty College, Huffman teaches classes in Head and Neck Anatomy, Community Dental Health, Pain Management, Clinic 3 and 4 (both lecture and lab) and Senior Research and Educational Methods for the Dental Hygienist. She also served as faculty athletic representative for ten years (2006-2016). After a one year hiatus, she resumed the faculty athletic representative position once more in 2017.

Two to three days a week, she can be found at the West Liberty Dental Hygiene Clinic working with her students while they treat patients.

In 2010, Huffman was honored with the university’s Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award. To get the award, a professor needs to be nominated by a peer, then provide supporting documentation as to why they are qualified to receive the award, the recipient of which is decided by a committee of faculty members.

In 2011, she was inducted into the WLU Liberty Society, the university’s ranking women’s honorary for excellence and leadership in the classroom, on campus and in the community. Huffman’s community involvement includes attendance in health fairs, coaching youth soccer and volunteering in the youth program at her church.

Huffman and her husband, Aaron, who serves as Associate Professor of Education and Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at WLU, reside in West Liberty, West Virginia with their three children: Jacob, 13; Jillian, 11 and Joshua, 9.

As to her teaching methodology, she said she tries to picture her children as young adults in a classroom setting and tries to give her students the same respect, professionalism and demands she would like to see given her own children one day.

“I also use the teaching methodologies that my tremendous teachers bestowed on me through the years,” she said. “I’ve been very blessed to have had incredible role models who have led by example.”

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