By her own admission, Julia Fennell is shy, yet she has made her living by teaching in front of a classroom.
Ms. Fennell is a professor of English at Community College of Allegheny County. She also is director of the college’s honors program, and in that role, she has been selected as one of two in the country to receive the inaugural National Collegiate Honors Council Ron Brandolini Award for Excellence at a Two-Year Institution.
Ms. Fennell of Pleasant Hills was honored Nov. 8 in Denver. Jeff Portnoy from Georgia Perimeter College was the other recipient of the award at the council’s conference.
“This isn’t really an honor for me, it is for our entire program,” Ms. Fennell said. “We couldn’t have done this without the work and commitment of our honors council, our students and our faculty.”
Ms. Fennell began her professional career at CCAC in 1988 and has remained there. The daughter of a college professor — her late father, Earl Lammel, taught at Westminster College, where she attended undergraduate school — Ms. Fennell always wanted to be a professor herself.
“It was either that or be a senator, which tells you how much I knew about being a senator,” she joked.
In addition to teaching English, Ms. Fennell, 58, was the honors program coordinator at the CCAC South Campus from 2002 until 2005, when she assumed the role of director.
“We have coordinators at each of our four campuses, then I serve as the director of the entire program,” she said.
The honors program offers a component that many might not associate with a community college. In addition to adding a more rigorous element to classroom studies, the program offers students the opportunity to take advantage of extracurricular activities, including lectures, field trips and in-depth projects.
“We would love to include international travel in our honors experience for our students. We're working on this goal, hoping to take students to India in 2016 with North Campus honors coordinator, professor Srujana Kanjula,” Ms. Fennell said. “We have a strong commitment to leadership and development.”
JULIA FENNELL
AGE: 58
HOMETOWN: Pleasant Hills
OCCUPATION: Professor of English and director of honors program at Community College of Allegheny County
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in speech and theater, Westminster College; master’s in teaching English, University of Pittsburgh
FAMILY: Husband, Robyn Fennell; three sons; four grandchildren
WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO YOU: Family, education, civic engagement
FIRST JOB: Proofreader at New Wilmington Globe newspaper
WHEN YOU WERE A KID, YOU WANTED TO BE: A college professor like my father, Earl Lammel, who taught at Westminster College, or a senator
HOBBIES: Reading, writing and biking
READING MATERIAL ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND: “Cutting for Stone” by Abraham Verghese and “The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted” by Elizabeth Berg
WHAT’S PLAYING ON YOUR TV: “The Newsroom”
FANTASY CELEBRITY DINNER DATE: Ann Patchett, author
PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO KNOW: I line-dance
BEST USE OF A $100 GIFT CARD: Going to Barnes & Noble
MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT: “I’m too embarrassed to share this.”
WHO WOULD BE YOUR PARTNER ON “DANCING WITH THE STARS”: John Travolta
WHO WOULD PLAY YOU IN A MOVIE ABOUT YOUR LIFE: Diane Keaton
GUILTY PLEASURE: Curling up with a book instead of grading papers
FAVORITE SPOT IN THE WORLD: “I’ve been to so many wonderful places. Blue Mountain Lake in New York is just one of so many.”
PROUDEST MOMENT SO FAR: “I can’t pick just one. My life has been full of proud moments from my sons, my grandchildren and my students.”
GOALS: To continue to enrich students’ lives through the classroom and the honors program. To take the students from the honors program to India and offer them other international experiences.
WHAT’S ON YOUR BUCKET LIST: To go on a European vacation with my whole family
First Published: November 20, 2014, 5:00 a.m.
