Dr. Jordan Sanderson, chairperson of the School of Language Arts at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s Jackson County Campus, was awarded the 2021 Dale P. Parnell Faculty Distinction Recognition.  This recognition, named in honor of former American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) president and chief executive officer Dale P. Parnell, has been established to recognize individuals making a difference in the classroom.

Sanderson is one of only 23 faculty members at the nation’s institutions of higher learning to receive the award. Winners are chosen for their passion for teaching, support for students inside and outside the classroom, participation in college committees and going above and beyond to ensure students are successful in their academic endeavors.

Devoted to the college and his students, Sanderson also directs the college’s QEP, and serves on several college committees. He teaches Technical English, English Composition I and II, Creative Writing, and a variety of literature courses.

“Receiving the Dale P. Parnell Faculty Distinction Recognition is a tremendous honor, and I’m grateful for it,” Sanderson said. “Working at MGCCC has given me the opportunity to work with innovative and inspiring colleagues and dedicated students who motivate me to excel every day.”

Sanderson grew up just north of Hattiesburg and earned a PhD from the Center for Writers at The University of Southern Mississippi, where he was an Excellence Fellow. He has published more than 100 poems and several critical articles and reviews. He’s the author of Abattoir (Slash Pine Press, University of Alabama) and The Formulas (ELJ Publications), and his work has been anthologized in Next Line, Please (Cornell UP), The Best of Clapboard House, and The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume II: Mississippi (Texas Review Press). 

Since coming to MGCCC in 2009, he has been named a William Winter Scholar, Mississippi Humanities Professor of the Year, MGCCC Instructor of the Year, and HEADWAE faculty representative.

For more information on the award, visit https://www.aacc.nche.edu/about-us/awards/dale-p-parnell-faculty-distinction-recognition-2021/.