Highline College employees recognized for excellence

For the Reporter

Lisa Bernhagen and Natasha Burrowes have joined the ranks of honored Highline College employees, named as winners of the college’s two premier employee awards for the 2014–2015 academic year.

The awards recognize professional excellence by full-time staff and tenured faculty members as nominated by their peers.

Bernhagen, who teaches English, received the Outstanding Faculty award for her untiring contributions to students, innovation, fellow faculty and the college’s accreditation efforts. A $1,500 cash award provided by the Highline College Foundation accompanies the honor.

A resident of Seattle, Bernhagen has taught at Highline since 2000. Colleagues consistently describe her as talented, dedicated, energetic, positive and knowledgeable.

As a teacher, she is well-versed in her subject matter and how to effectively teach it so students can learn. Her care for students extends beyond their academic success. She is keenly aware of the personal challenges that many Highline students face. With 70 percent students of color, Highline ranks as the most diverse higher education institution in Washington. People representing more than 120 cultures attend classes at the college. And the college serves an area that is home to many low income families.

On Highline’s campus, advancing social justice and opportunity for all in the community are guiding principles, and no one takes that to heart more than Bernhagen does. As one peer wrote, “She worries about … what is going on in their lives outside of the classroom, and is well aware of the challenges our students face as we try to help them achieve their educational goals.”

To meet the needs of the college’s diverse community, she uses teaching strategies that engage students in active learning that affirms each student’s voice. Colleagues note that she devotes a significant amount of time and energy to her students and their progress, holding extra conferences and meetings with students to make sure they thrive.

In multiple ways—through engaging students, working on committees, advising new instructors, and providing resources and advice — Bernhagen advances education and is at the forefront of innovation in teaching and student achievement and retention on Highline’s campus.

The Outstanding Faculty award has been given annually to a full-time tenured faculty member since the 1987–88 academic year.

Natasha Burrowes

Burrowes received the college’s Employee of the Year award and a $1,500 cash gift, also funded by the Highline College Foundation. The award recognizes her outstanding performance and substantial impact at the college.

A resident of Seattle, Burrowes has worked at Highline since 2003 and serves as Director of Multicultural Affairs & Leadership.

One colleague described her as an “institution” at our institution and said she “has been a champion for students in her 12 years at Highline College. She is broadly known for her wise and strategic approach to serving our diverse student population, her activist mind-set, her values of social justice and equity, and some of the best educational programs offered in the recent history of Highline.”

Her contributions, achievements and impact on campus are many, including coordinating and serving as chair of several annual events that celebrate and explore social justice and diversity issues; providing instrumental leadership, vision and support for affinity groups on campus such as the Faculty and Staff of Color group, LGBTQIA task force, and the Culturally Responsive Educators group; and collaborating at the ground level on initiatives to support student of color recruitment and outreach efforts through summits and conferences that are now firmly established at Highline.

One colleague, who worked with Burrowes on diversity and equity initiatives, said, “I can say, unequivocally, that she has been one of the most important voices for these issues at Highline.” She added that Burrowes “is always thinking broadly and creatively about cultural responsiveness.”

Another peer said that she “is a deeply passionate educator, invested with both intent and deed, in realizing the maximum potential for both her and the students we serve. She is a skilled facilitator of group processes and learning. She is unusually gifted in the ability to listen, acknowledge and affirm individual contributions in teamwork and group sessions.”