Joe Haverly, Rock Valley College Associate Professor of Life Sciences, has been honored as the 27th recipient of RVC’s Faculty of the Year award.

Haverly has worked at Rock Valley College for 14 years now and has taught a variety of courses ranging from Anatomy & Physiology to Environmental Science.

During his tenure he has served on numerous committees, including Distance Learning, Shared Governance, Faculty Council, Earth Day, and RVC Recycling. His dedication to the environment led to Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful awarding him 2010 “Outstanding Individual Friend of the Environment” for the Rockford area.

“It’s always a great honor to be nominated for Faculty of the Year and to know that students feel the way they do about my classes and my teaching,” Haverly said. “I see part of my job as both a sort of life coach who urges my pupils to be better students as well as better members of this world’s community.”

His work in revamping the curriculum for RVC’s Environmental Science course was praised by colleagues for continuing to make the course evolve and grow. Because of Haverly’s efforts, the Environmental Science course now includes a service learning component that has seen him travel with students to locations such as Canada, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Yosemite.

When not teaching, he is working on his coursework for the M.S. in Environmental Education through University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, leading workshops at Angelic Organic Learning Center as an On-Farm Educator, volunteering at his kids’ school, and tending garden and raising animals on a small, self-sustaining farm with his family.

The RVC Faculty of the Year award winner also receives a monetary stipend from the Rock Valley College Foundation.