The passion to teach and the ability to relate to her students is what set one local professor apart.

"I feel I can relate to our mostly military student population since I've experienced both serving and supporting my soldier as a family member. I understand how difficult it can be to juggle job, family and going to school," said Pierce College professor Janine Hornung, who served as a helicopter pilot in the Army for five years herself and is married to a retired soldier.

"I've been teaching for the Pierce College Military Program (PCMP) for almost 9 years. Before that I worked everywhere, as military spouses do," she said.

The Pierce College Military Program provides educational programs at Joint Base Lewis-McChord that are designed to serve the needs of active-duty military and their family members, VA benefit recipients and civilians in the community. This includes shorter terms, arranged courses, continuous entry courses and online courses to meet the needs of non-traditional students.

"I'm always going back to school. I love being the student, and I love sharing what I've learned. That's why I also love being the teacher. I enjoy taking classes that help me be a better instructor," Hornung explained.

Currently she teaches courses in Natural Science, Environmental Biology, Human Biology and Oceanography. It was the latter that actually netted her the Quality Matters award, which is given annually to a person who champions the QM process and makes significant contributions to students' online experience through instructional design, faculty professional development or related initiatives.

Hornung was selected from a large field; there are 3,786 peer reviewers and 570 master reviewers nationwide that certified through QM, all of who were eligible for the award.

"I was amazed when I found out I'd been chosen for the award. My first question was whether I got to go to Nashville to accept it!" she said.

QM is a quality assurance organization to which Pierce College belongs, along with more than 800 other technical colleges, colleges, universities, K-12 schools and systems, government entities, corporations and other institutions.

"I got involved with QM a few years back as part of a team to help us guide our instructors in achieving excellence in quality in our online course designs. We realized courses online should be about more than ‘read this, take a quiz'," Hornung said.

The members of the Pierce College team are now all Master Reviewers for QM, which means they are eligible to serve as the chair on review teams with two peer reviewers from colleges and universities around the country. They also review online college courses all over the country, which includes guiding the faculty member in designing a quality online course following QM standards, from course navigation and technology to engaging students and aligning learning objectives with assessments.

"It's all about making online courses the best they can be for students. Several of our other instructors have also received various certificates at QM as well," she added.

Last month, Hornung did travel to Tennessee to attend the QM Program's 5th Annual Conference on Quality Assurance in Online Learning and receive her award.

"Receiving the Making a Difference for Students Award means that the Pierce College Military Program is doing what we need to do to help and guide our students' toward their educational goals," she stated. "I don't consider this just my award. I consider this an award for the Pierce College Military Program and the entire team."

For more information on the Pierce College Military Program, go to www.pierce.ctc.edu/dist/military/.