Category: Faculty and Staff

The 2026 Black & Gold Celebration raised more than $58,000 for the Black Hawk College Foundation and welcomed seven new members into the BHC Alumni Hall of Fame.

To celebrate Women’s History Month 2026, we talked to some female Black Hawk College employees who once were BHC students.

Following a national search, Dr. Mary Barnes-Tilley has been appointed vice president for instruction at Black Hawk College.

Abigail Swidergal, associate professor in the Occupational Therapy Assistant program, received the Illinois Occupational Therapy Association’s first-ever Occupational Therapy Assistant/Occupational Therapist (OTA/OT) Partnership Award at the group’s annual conference.

Black Hawk College faculty members Jacob Pender and Isaac Stewart recently received the Golden Apple Award from the college’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter at the Quad-Cities Campus.

Congratulations to Isaac Stewart, associate professor of biology, for winning a National Association of Biology Teachers award!

Black Hawk College has been recognized as one of the Top 250 trade schools in the country – and one of just 13 in Illinois – by USA TODAY.

Black Hawk College is proud to announce that it has been certified as a Great Place to Work®, a national recognition based on direct feedback from employees about their workplace experience.

Four Black Hawk College faculty members recently received the Golden Apple Award from the college’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter at the Quad-Cities Campus – Krisann Bergo, James Larrabee, Karen Marks and Annie Oldenburg.

English instructor Claudia Alonzo received the Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Member Award at the Board of Trustees’ April 2025 meeting. She was selected by the Black Hawk College Labor Management Council as part of the college’s new Employee Recognition Awards program.