South Georgia Technical College recently announced three finalists for SGTC’s 2023 Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year award. Nominated by other members of the SGTC faculty, the finalists are Wanda Bishop, Criminal Justice; Chester Taylor, Mathematics; and Rose Leggett, Mathematics.
Wanda Bishop joined the faculty of South Georgia Technical College in 2019 to teach Criminal Justice at the College’s Crisp County Center in Cordele. She began her career with the Georgia Department of Corrections and also served as a police officer in Houston County with the City of Warner Robins among other positions. Bishop is a certified Law Enforcement Officer and a Certified Correctional Officer I and II. She earned a Criminal Investigations Certification from the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Fort Valley State University in Fort Valley and has 24 hours of graduate studies in Criminal Justice and Public Administration from Georgia College and State University. She also has a master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling from Fort Valley State University.
Chester A. Taylor, III, has been the Mathematics Instructor at South Georgia Technical College in Americus since 2015. He is also the advisor for the National Technical Honor Society. Prior to joining South Georgia Tech, Taylor was a mathematics instructor at Central Georgia Technical College and was a Mathematics Faculty Coordinator at Albany Technical College. He earned a Bachelor of Mathematics and a master’s degree in Mathematics Education from Albany State University.
Rose Leggett was hired as the Mathematics Instructor at the Crisp County Center in 2021. She previously taught mathematics full-time at Albany Technical College and served as an adjunct math instructor at Albany State University. She has a B.A. in Mathematics from Albany State University and a M.Ed. in Mathematics Education from Albany State University. She is a member of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority.
The selection committee for the Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year competition consists of Betty Suggs, Ignite Academy; Don Gilman, Ignite Academy; Dr. Dorothy Ingram, Webster County Schools Superintendent; Harley Calhoun, Schley County High School Principal; and Jennifer Albritton, Taylor County Schools Superintendent.
The Instructor of the Year selection committee will interview each candidate and decide who will be named South Georgia Technical College’s Instructor of the Year. That instructor will go on to compete regionally and then for the statewide Rick Perkins title for the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) in Atlanta.