Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Briscoe Top Teacher At Garland County

It's been a good semester for Barbara Briscoe, GCCC speech instructor and founding faculty member.

Briscoe is an instructor in the Communications and Arts Division of Garland County Community College in Hot Springs. She holds both an MSE and a BSE from Henderson State University. She was an English instructor at Arkadelphia High School before joining the GCCC faculty.

Briscoe received the two-year College Faculty of the Year Award for 1997, making her the top educator at Arkansas' 22 two-year colleges and instructors.

The award was presented October 17 by the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges during its conference at Little Rock's Excelsior Hotel.

Briscoe, a Clark County resident has commuted from Gurdon to Hot Springs for some 25 years, trying as she put it to receive the "minimum of speeding tickets along the way." She said her main objective at GCCC is - is to show students a love of learning, to share an excitement about teaching, and to motivate them to be successful.

Briscoe has been involved in numerous organizations during her career. She has served as president of the Clark County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), chair of the Gurdon Public Housing Authority, and chair of GCCC communications and arts division.

She has also been advisor or sponsor of several campus organizations, including the International Students Association, and is the current advisor for Alpha Beta Psi chapter of Phi Theta Kappa International Scholastic Society.

Other awards and honors received by Briscoe include State of Arkansas Certificate of Award for Outstanding Service, 1981; out-standing service awards from Gurdon Bethel A.M.E. Church trustees and youth department; Who's Who Among American Women, 1977; and Outstanding Young Women of American, 1974.

Briscoe does not like to talk about herself or her qualifications. Instead she said she prefers to "quietly go about doing my job very well everyday."

About her teaching philosophy, she said, "My entire life has been spent helping other people. I not only want to help my students learn, but I want them to become more responsible citizens."