Shasta College Instructor Awarded Gerald C. Hayward Award for Excellence in Education

The California Community Colleges Board of Governors has honored Shasta College geography instructor Melinda Kashuba with the 2015-16 Gerald C. Hayward Award for Excellence in Education. Instructors from Berkeley City College, Santa Barbara City, and MiraCosta College also received the award. Each winner received a commemorative plaque and cash award.

Dr. Kashuba received her doctorate from the University of California of Los Angeles, and since joining Shasta College in 2006 has established herself as excellent instructor who places student learning first. She is a campus leader in online instruction and represents Shasta College on the statewide Online Education Initiative. With more than 20 years of research experience, Dr. Kashuba uses her research to show how geography matters in her students’ everyday lives. 

Beyond the classroom Melinda has authored books (Walking with Your Ancestors: A Genealogist’s Guide to Using Maps and Geography), numerous scholarly articles, and she is a recognized expert in many specialized resources, including cartography, Federal records, the Gold Rush, land records, genealogy, and neighborhood reconstruction. A regular volunteer at the Whiskeytown Environmental School, her interests have recently taken her as far afield as Lexington, Massachusetts, where she presented at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum. Her colleagues write of her, “Dr. Kashuba is a treasure and a credit to this institution. We are honored to work alongside her.” 

The Hayward Award for Excellence in Education was established in 1989 and is given periodically to community college faculty members who are selected by their peers for demonstrating the highest level of commitment to their students, college and profession. Award recipients are nominated by their respective college academic senates and then selected by representatives of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. Winners must have a record of outstanding performance of professional activities, as well as a record of active participation on campus. Shasta College has had three previous winners of this award. 

The 2015-16 Hayward Awards are supported through a grant from the Foundation for California Community Colleges. The award is named in honor of Gerald C. Hayward, who served as chancellor of the California Community Colleges system from 1980 to 1985.

For additional information please contact Dr. Frank Nigro, Dean, Science, Language Arts and Mathematics, 530-242-7760.