Soderquist, ECC president honored for service, ethics by ICCTA

The Illinois Community College Trustees Association honored Elizabeth Soderquist, an adjunct instructor in Elgin Community College's English as a Second Language program, with its 2016 Outstanding Part-Time Faculty Member Award during its annual awards banquet June 3.

Since 2009, the award recognizes the high achievement of Illinois' part-time community college instructors.

Soderquist has been in education for 32 years, 14 of them at ECC's Adult Basic Education Center (ABEC). During her time at the college she has been instrumental in developing the curriculum for a new ECC health care bridge program in 2010, served as an ESL supervisor, has shared her experiences in program development with other adult education instructors throughout the state, and has worked in the college's Workforce Transitions Department to offer unemployment services at Streamwood Village Hall.

Soderquist also serves as a coach/navigator for an AARP Foundation grant the college received that targets unemployed/underemployed women over the age of 50. More than 80 percent of those participants were successful in finding jobs during her tenure.

Also during the ICCTA banquet, ECC President David Sam, Ph.D., JD, LLM, received the 2016 Gary W. Davis Ethical Leadership Award.

Established in 2004, the award recognizes the importance of fostering ethical values systems both within the Illinois community college system and in the larger communities they serve. Special consideration is given to those nominees whose ethical leadership has positively impacted community colleges or educational access in a local, national or global way.