Bay College Honors Outstanding Educators

News

Bay College honored its 2019 Outstanding Part-Time Educators at an awards dinner held on April 23. Don Johnson Agency/MEEMIC Insurance sponsored the Outstanding Educator Awards. To receive consideration for the award, faculty were nominated by a colleague, student, or someone from the community. The primary focus of this award is to acknowledge faculty’s commitment to education and excellence in service to others. 

Al Baciak

Al Baciak is an adjunct mathematics instructor at Bay College West in Iron Mountain. Baciak has been employed at Bay College since 2008. Prior to coming to Bay, he taught secondary mathematics from 1974-2008 at the School District of Niagara in Niagara, WI. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree (Summa Cum Laude) in 1974, and a Master of Arts Degree in 1983 from Northern Michigan University. Baciak was previously named Outstanding Adjunct Educator for Bay College in 2010-2011. 

Laurie Johnson

Laurie Johnson’s teaching experience started as a graduate student at Northern Michigan University, where she earned a Master’s degree in Biology and conducted her thesis research on black bears. She taught biology for three years at North Central Michigan College, including field studies classes to the Everglades and Yellowstone National Park. She came to Bay College in 2000 and has taught a variety of non-major biology classes. Throughout her time at Bay, she has served on numerous committees, in an effort to ensure that the voices of part-time instructors are considered in the decision-making process. She has also have served on the board of the Part-Time Instructor’s Association for nearly a decade, including as President for seven years.

Penney Parmet

Penney Parmet began as an adjunct instructor at Bay College in 2011. She teaches classes in Interpersonal Communication, Exploring Teaching and Educational Psychology. In addition to her work with students at Bay College, Parmet is also an English/Language Arts and Academic Success teacher and mentor with the Upper Peninsula Virtual Academy online school for grades K-12. In addition, she is a Mentor Leader for the Michigan Virtual program with the State of Michigan. Parmet began teaching in 1974 and during that time, she has taught at the elementary, middle school, high school, undergraduate and graduate college levels. She graduated from Arcadia University with a Bachelor’s degree in Education and a minor in Sociology/Communication. Her Master’s degree is also from Arcadia University with a major in Education, a minor in Reading/Language Arts and a Reading Specialist Certification. She completed her doctoral classes and exams in Reading/Language Arts at the University of Pennsylvania and is an ABD from that program. She holds current Professional Education Certification with the State of Michigan in Teaching K-8 and as a Reading Specialist K-12.

Bay College offers career certificate programs, associate degrees, transfer options, job force training and opportunities through dual enrollment and early college programs. Classes are available at the Escanaba and Iron Mountain campuses, M-TEC and online. Call 906-786-5802 for more information or visit the Bay College website.