For the first time in 10 years, two employees have been given the Enriching lives award.
Amy Salliotte, administrative assistant to the director of Auxiliary Services, and Dan Wood, assistant professor of criminal justice, received the award at the Board of Trustees meeting on March 6. Joe Verkennes, the college’s spokesman, presented the award.
“I am happy to announce that there are two winners of the Fall Semester 2022 Enriching Lives Performance Award,” Verkennes said. “The committee votes were tied, and after much deliberation, we ultimately decided not to try to break the tie and give out two awards to two very deserving nominees.”
While Salliotte was at the meeting to receive her award, Wood was absent from the evening’s event.
Prior to the Fall semester 2022 award, the last time two faculty members were given the honor was in Fall 2012, when Tracy Rayl and Randy Daniels received the award.
Regarding Salliotte’s nomination, Verkennes read a nominator’s words about her nomination, saying “She is a hard worker and is extremely dedicated to MCCC. She is truly an asset to not only her department, but the college in general.”
Salliotte said she did not know she would be nominated for the award.
“I was surprised and I felt very honored that a co-worker thought enough of me to nominate me,” she said. “It felt really good.”
In June, Salliotte will celebrate eight years at MCCC.
“We’re here for the students, and I was always taught that you treat people the way you want to be treated,” she said. “And if you’re only giving 100 percent, you’re just doing your job. So my parents always taught me to go above and beyond, and that’s been the work ethic I’ve always lived by.”
About Wood, Verkennes read “Dan should be recognized for the passion he has for MCCC’s criminal justice program and all the work he is doing to expand career pathways to hopefully one day include a police, fire and EMT academy in Monroe County.”
Like Salliotte, Wood also did not know he would be nominated for the award.
“I felt great. All of us do a lot of good work here, all the faculty and all the support staff,” he said. “So to be singled out like that, it was a little interesting.”
Wood was nominated for his work in organizing a youth police academy at MCCC.
“We exposed them to the forensics lab, we exposed them to dispatch, pretty much the whole criminal justice system,” he said.
In addition to this, Wood has been instrumental in adding a police de-escalation simulator to MCCC.
