Joann La Perla- Morales EDISON — Joann La Perla-Morales, president of Middlesex County College, was awarded the 2014 Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction by Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), the international honor society for two-year colleges.
The award was presented at “NerdNation,” the society’s 96th annual convention in Orlando last month.
“I’m honored to receive this award, and I want to thank the leadership and members of PTK for all they have done to make this chapter so vibrant,” La Perla-Morales said. “In a short amount of time, they have improved from a two-star chapter to a five-star chapter, the highest level possible.”
Twelve other community college presidents and one provost also received the award.
Honorees were selected based on their outstanding efforts toward promoting the goals of PTK. The award is named for the late Dr. Shirley B. Gordon, Phi Theta Kappa’s longest- serving board of directors chair and president emerita of Highline Community College in Des Moines, Wash. Gordon was named Phi Theta Kappa’s Most Distinguished College President in 1984.
Also during the convention, Ronald Rubanick, co-president of the Middlesex chapter of PTK, was presented a Hallmark Award for his leadership.