Faculty member from Jackson State Community College announced as finalist for SOAR award

Jackson State Community College is celebrating its staff member Catherine Roberts, who is the school’s Work-based Learning Coordinator, for being named as a finalist in this year’s Statewide Outstanding Achievement Recognition Staff Excellence Award.

According to an article on Jackson State Community College’s website, Roberts was quoted as saying of her nomination, “I am deeply honored to have been selected as a finalist for this year’s SOAR Awards. We’re changing lives here at JSCC through our AMT program, and it brings me the greatest sense of joy when students return to not only share their career successes with me but to hear that they are continuing to advocate for the program that changed their lives. Our students are getting an award-winning education, paired with valuable industry connections, knowledge, and more. And I can’t thank the students and those that support me enough for the program we’ve built. I’m humbled to be selected, and eternally grateful.”

In order to be up for a SOAR award, one must be nominated by an institution via a letter of recommendation, and then is interviewed at the regional level. Roberts has been named a finalist in the Western Region. The Tennessee Board of Regents will host a banquet on March 28 at which the winners will be named.

Roberts has had a successful career at Jackson State Community College. She has spent the last decade working at the school in various roles and has a number of accomplishments under her belt that have helped the school grow and succeed. Currently an adjunct professor and Work-based Learning Coordinator, she has also served as a Completion Coach and a Perkins IV Retention Specialist. 

Roberts has been instrumental in recruitment and retention for the AMT program. In one year, she increased enrollment from three students to 21 and has helped retention rates hold steady at 88%. Also among her efforts to help the AMT program succeed, Roberts serves as liaison to the community’s manufacturers in order to ensure that students in the program are able to participate in the AMT Co-op.

She has also been involved with Federation of Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME), and is on the National Technical Board for FAME USA.

Dr. Carol A. Rothstein, president of Jackson State Community College, expressed her pride in Roberts for being named a finalist, saying, “Cathi is an outstanding example of the kind of excellence we pride ourselves on at Jackson State. Her dedication has had lasting impacts on this college as well as her students. I’m tremendously proud of her for this incredible accomplishment and know that she will continue to exemplify the quality of work that has merited becoming a finalist for this award.”

For more information about Jackson State Community College, visit the school’s website.