Lander University's College of Behavioral and Social Sciences has named Ginny Gast as its Part-Time Faculty Member of the Year for 2019-2020.
The award was recently created by Dr. Lucas McMillan, dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, to recognize part-time faculty members who have demonstrated sustained excellence in classroom teaching and mentored students for successful entry into their chosen profession or acceptance into graduate school.
Gast is the first recipient of the award and has been teaching at Lander since 2014. She has an undergraduate degree from College of Charleston, an Educational Specialist (Ed.S) degree from The Citadel, and works full-time as a school psychologist at Emerald High School in Greenwood School District 50. At Lander, Gast has taught the introductory psychology course as well as the Interviewing and Counseling course, but her most valuable contribution has been offering a School Psychology course, which is offered every semester and is one of the most popular classes among psychology majors at Lander.
"It is rare for an undergraduate program in psychology to be able to offer a course in the specialty of school psychology," said Dr. Jonathan Bassett, chair of Lander's Department of Psychological Sciences and Human Services. "We are extremely lucky to have Ginny teaching this course for us on a regular basis. Her real world experience and expertise in the field give students valuable insight into an applied aspect of the discipline."
Gast receives consistently high evaluations from students who praise her enthusiasm, knowledge of the subject matter and ability to keep students engaged. In addition to being a skilled teacher in the classroom, Gast is also a mentor who advises students about graduate school options and writes strong letters of recommendation.
Since Gast began offering her School Psychology course at Lander, a number of her students have been accepted into graduate programs in school psychology at Georgia Southern University, Winthrop University, the University of South Carolina and others.