Piedmont Community College (PCC) chemistry instructor, Dr. Cheston Saunders, has received Dissertation of the Year from William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri.
His dissertation, “Exploring a Virtual Community of Practice for College Chemistry Faculty,” focused on the benefits of at Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) for chemistry instructors. A VCoP is a group of people who share a common passion, profession or problem and interact virtually to deepen their knowledge or expertise.
Saunders was inspired by this topic as he joined a VCoP during the COVID-19 pandemic as instructors rapidly transitioned from in-person to online classes. He says that they were able to pool their collective knowledge to help provide students with quality instruction during a difficult time.
For his research, Saunders interviewed a diverse faculty pool from across the country and found that support needs vary based on institution and career experience. He explored the motivating factors that drove faculty to join a VCoP and found that it often resulted from an urgent need. Many instructors felt that they had nowhere else to turn to until they found a group that offered informal mentoring.
Saunders says that he wasn’t even aware that he was being considered for Dissertation of the Year. He was nominated by his research chair who sent his completed dissertation to the selection committee comprised of nine faculty members. The committee members read and discussed each nominated dissertation and then voted on the winner.
For Saunders, this achievement was validation of the countless hours of hard work he poured into his dissertation. He says that there were moments when he thought he would never finish or produce a “good enough” product.
When asked how he balanced teaching while furthering his own education, Saunders admits that this was the hardest part of the process.
“Sometimes you simply have to make sacrifices, which is easier said than done,” Saunders said. “Sure, there were times when I would have loved to go to the movies or take a small trip but, like my students, you have to focus on your end goal.”
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