Campus & Community

Palm Beach State College has selected professors Dr. Emmanuel Alvarado and Dr. Matt Klauza as its 2021 recipients of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Excellence Awards.

NISOD presents the awards annually to faculty and staff chosen by their respective community and technical colleges for excellence in teaching, learning and leadership. This year’s honorees will be recognized during NISOD’s annual International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence, which will be held virtually April 28-30.

“It’s quite an honor to get this recognition, especially alongside Matt,’’ Alvarado said. “I’m only able to receive an award like this because of the teamwork I do at the College. No person could effectively serve our students without working with others.”

“It is a great honor,’’ said Klauza, who led the creation of PBSC’s new Center for Teaching and Learning. “It’s really a nice capstone for the work that I’ve done for the last three years.”

Alvarado joined the faculty in 2013 and teaches Spanish and sociology at the Palm Beach Gardens campus. He is a facilitator for the New Faculty Experience, a comprehensive program designed to orient and mentor newly hired full-time faculty. He has organized PBSC’s Spanish Language Celebration for several years, drawing students, employees and members of the community. He is the advisor for the Spanish Club, which through a grant from Insight Through Education, a Palm Beach Gardens nonprofit organization, sponsored student trips to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Alvarado also spearheaded a partnership with the University of Florida to secure a grant to offer new Portuguese courses, which began at PBSC this spring.

He has published numerous articles and presented various conference papers in the fields of sociolinguistics and Hispanic studies, and he co-authored two books — “Intimacies and Cultural Change” and “Transnational Popular Psychology and the Global Self-Help Industry,” — and a book chapter. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Monterrey, Mexico and earned his Master of Arts in Spanish and Ph.D. in Comparative Studies from Florida Atlantic University.

Klauza has been teaching for over 20 years, starting as a high school English instructor in Michigan. After joining the faculty at PBSC in 2011, he became immediately involved in professional development opportunities. Through his work leading the development of the Center for Teaching and Learning, which replaced the Professional Teaching and Learning Center, faculty now have a more comprehensive resource to learn best practices in teaching and ultimately increase student success. He also created the New Faculty Experience and the faculty CARES certificate program. This is not the first time that Klauza, English Department chair on the Lake Worth campus, has been recognized for his work. He won a Stewart Distinguished Teaching Award from PBSC in 2013. In addition to his doctorate in English from Auburn University, he holds master’s and bachelor’s degree in English from Eastern Michigan University. He also completed nearly 40 additional credit hours in graduate-level coursework in the practice and innovation of teaching and learning.

“I’m continuously inspired by the dedication and excellent work of our faculty, and this year is no different,” said PBSC President Ava L. Parker, J.D. “Dr. Klauza and Dr. Alvarado are outstanding professors who have helped advance our institution and ensure that all of our faculty receive consistent and continuous support and professional development to best serve our students. I am pleased that they were chosen for this recognition.”