What People Say . . .
As an associate director, Ms. Van Sickle dedicated herself to making Tar River Writing Project’s summer institute sustainable and of a high caliber. Additionally, TRWP contracted with her as a consultant to design and facilitate an online writing module for North Carolina teachers’ professional development in writing.
— Dr. Todd Blake Finley
I have seen her speak and teach in multiple venues: she always is, without variation, clear and insightful—a professional that can be relied upon to get it done. She is fun to work with and someone who makes a substantial contribution to any enterprise without being a glory seeker.
Tenured professor of English Education at
East Carolina University
assistant editor / blogger at
Edutopia: George Lucas Education Foundation
http://www.todd-finley.com/home-page/
https://www.edutopia.org/profile/todd-finley
Terri Van Sickle is punctual, professional, and very knowledgeable of developmental English subject matter. She is very comfortable with classroom management and adaptable to the dynamics of the different learning abilities of her students.
—Dr. Maggie Brown
Vice President of Instruction and Student Support Carteret Community College
https://carteret.edu/leadership-administration/leadership-team
It was my privilege to work with Terri at Bellagurl Publishing, Marketing, and Advertising (now BG Digital Group). In her role as Contributing Writer and Account Executive at Crystal Coast Parent and Eastern Carolina Parent magazines, Terri continuously impressed with the caliber of her writing and her dedication to creating quality publications. In addition, Terri is a skilled editor. She is meticulous in editing and proofreading for both clarity and correctness. Beyond her impressive writing and editing skills, Terri is one of the most hardworking and trustworthy individuals I have ever worked with. She is a true professional who can manage multiple projects while working under strict deadlines. In addition, her professional and personable demeanor makes everyone feel at ease. Terri’s admirable professional and personal strengths make her a true asset, either as part of a team or in a management position.
–Tricia Morris
Director of Product Marketing
8 x 8 (a VoIP Products Company)
https://www.8×8.com/
Terri’s leadership brings unity to projects involving many voices. She increased the instruction in visuals and data analytics within the ENG 114 course, making it an especially relevant and useful course for students who are planning to enter the workplace or transferring from Craven to pursue a baccalaureate degree.
She also participated in an extensive, 10-month program to learn the Quality Matters criteria, and she served as a Quality Matters reviewer, mentoring other faculty as they developed Craven Certified, shareable online courses.
Terri has extremely strong organization and communication skills. She is a strong writer and editor and often lends this skill set to college and departmental materials.
In 2017-2018, Terri authored the digital textbook for Craven CC’s College Transfer Success course, embedding the textbook within the master course in our LMS, Moodle. As a writer, Terri draws upon her academic training in Professional and Technical writing to develop a clear, positive message. As an editor, Terri’s strong attention to detail is invaluable.
As a presenter, Terri is always prepared, presents well and engages audiences, whether they are students, faculty, peers, or other college stakeholders.
Her strong interpersonal skills make Terri a trusted collaborator who is always pleasant to work with and is always open to listening to another point of view.
Terri has been exemplary in every way. She has contributed to the scholarly community on campus, made a positive improvement to the culture within the department, and was always someone who was willing to go above and beyond. In short, Terri has been a pleasure to work with and a teammate I could always count on.
— Dr. Betty Hatcher
Dean of Liberal Arts and University Transfer
Craven Community College
http://cravencc.edu/academics/degrees/laut/
Terri Van Sickle is a champion for teaching and learning, and she is an innovative leader. We have worked closely together on various committees and special projects for Craven Community College over the past few years. I value Terri’s opinion as a dependable, knowledgeable, trusted, and highly collaborative colleague.
One of my early experiences working with Terri was when I was seeking someone who was well-versed in building online learning communities to accept a contract with the NC Virtual Learning Center. Their Quality and Assessment division needed scholars to develop and deliver professional learning for educators across the state. Terri stepped up to the challenge. After an impressive first project, the VLC hired her again to develop training on a second topic. Over a two-year span, Terri collaborated with three other NC community college leaders to research these professional development topics:
Effective Communication and Collaboration among
Instructors and Students in Online EnvironmentsStandardization of Grading—
Aligning Standards and Learning Outcomes across an InstitutionAfter several months of research on these topics, added to their own expertise, Terri and her teammates wrote white papers, created PowerPoints, and presented webinars to educators across the state. The white papers and recordings of the webinars remained available for a couple of years in the VLC’s learning repository, accessible by all educators in each of the 58 counties of North Carolina.
When our college was a pilot site for the state’s new developmental co-requisite model of instruction, Reinforced Instruction for Student Excellence (RISE), Terri and her fellow department chair led a year-long pilot and then full implementation. They learned the new instructional model and then trained others across our multi-campus college including advisors, faculty, and admissions teams. Terri and I worked together to coordinate RISE course updates from the system office and integrate them into our Learning Management System, Moodle.
Over the years, Terri continues to impress me with the way she manages multiple roles while keeping teaching and learning at the forefront. She is a stellar motivator and leader. Terri demonstrates highly effective communication with her colleagues. She takes time to understand them and their needs and to determine which strategies will help achieve her purpose—providing the best teaching and learning experiences for faculty and students.
— Dr. Jenifer Marquis
Director of Distance Learning and the Center for Teaching and Learning
Craven Community College
Write around the Block 