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CITY (NewsDakota.com) The VCSU Student Senate presented Associate Professor Hilde Van Gijssel with the “Teacher of the Year” award on April 25. The award is given annually to a professor who shows dedication to the students of VCSU through innovative teaching methods and continued professional development in and out of the classroom.

Van Gijssel, a native of The Netherlands, has been with VCSU since 2002. Her previous experience includes working at Leiden University in The Netherlands and the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD. At VCSU, she is responsible for the Health Science major and the new Medical Laboratory Science major, she runs the Toxicology Lab, and she was instrumental in creating the Valley City site of the Dakota Nursing Program. She is the advisor of the Pre-Professional club, involved with the Great Plain STEM Education Center and is currently enrolled in VCSU’s online Master of Education program working on a concentration in Technology Education. Van Gijssel said, “One of my greatest pleasures is to be involved recruiting new students and advising. Advising gives me an opportunity to meet the students and get to know them better.”

This is the second time Van Gijssel has been recognized with the “Teacher of the Year” award; the first was in 2002-03.