KSC Adjunct Faculty Members are Driven to Excellence
Gary Guzouskas Receives National Award for outstanding contributions to the field of traffic safety.
Rod Hull Honored as a Teacher of the Year.
Guzouskas Receives Richard Kaywood Memorial Award
Gary Guzouskas, Coordinator and Adjunct Instructor for the Drivers’ Education Instructor Certificate Program at KSC, is the 2015 recipient of the Richard Kaywood Memorial Award, given annually to one individual for outstanding contributions to traffic safety. The award, established in 1985, is sponsored by the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, and by AAA. Gary is the first instructor from New Hampshire to earn this honor.
Nominated by Barbara Brody, President of the New England Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, she said, “I recognized early on that Gary understood that for students to do well in driver safety education, there must be a good curriculum and good teacher training. He is dedicated educator who wants to promote the best traffic safety education for all people of NH – not just teens, but adults and seniors, as well.”
KSC Director of Continuing Education Bob Baker supported the nomination and said, “Gary continuously researches and synthesizes best practices in the field of driver education instruction, informing colleagues at the college, and advising instructors in the field. He’s an integral resource for creative ideas used in both his classroom and shared with other instructors of the program.”
Gary, who began his career in 1970 and has been with Keene State since 2002, is passionate about driver education. He said, “Driving is a lifelong undertaking. The decisions people make from the time they’re teenagers to the point they’re senior citizens can impact not just their lives but the lives of their loved ones and the general community.”
Over the years, Gary has seen a number of significant changes in the field, including advances in automotive technology and increased awareness into teaching and learning techniques. “Vehicles themselves have dramatically changed - from vehicles that required a great deal of manipulation by a driver to computer operated, driver-absent vehicles. These changes make the business different and continue to keep me involved.”
Teaching techniques have also changed over time because, as Gary says, “We know a lot more about teaching as a profession. A long ago we taught to the middle of the population and if you were on the fringes you might not get what you needed. Now, we know a lot more about how people learn. It’s important that our new instructors understand that instruction must meet the needs of all the kids.”
Gary firmly believes that driver education is a collaborative effort. “The program we’ve developed at KSC recognizes that, and we spend considerable more time helping people with the delivery of instruction. We’re all out there on the roads together and we all want to get where we’re going safely.”
Hull Honored as a Teacher of the Year
Also honored nationally for outstanding achievements in the field was KSC adjunct faculty member Rod Hull, who he teaches Introduction to Traffic Safety for the program at Keene State. Rod was named one of the country’s top driving education instructors by the American Driver Education Traffic Safety Association.
In a statement to his hometown newspaper in Meredith, NH, Rod said, “I firmly believe that there is much more to driver education than teaching kids to pass the licensing test. The real success is when a student has had their license for five years or more, has been driving regularly, and has not been involved in a crash or received a ticket by the police. If students retain the information they are taught and put it to practice, they stand a much better chance of being safe on the road.”
Read more about the Drivers’ Education Instructor Certificate Program at KSC.
