Three SGTC Instructors selected as finalists for 2021 Rick Perkins Instructor of Year competition

Three South Georgia Technical College instructors have been selected as finalists for SGTC’s 2021 Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year award, announced SGTC President Dr. John Watford recently. Those instructors include Dr. Raven Payne, English/General Education instructor; Chester A. Taylor, III, Math/General Education instructor; and Ludwig “Ricky” Watzlowick, Culinary Arts instructor. These instructors were nominated for the honor by other members of the South Georgia Tech faculty.

All three of the SGTC instructors thanked their peers for nominating them for this honor and expressed their gratitude at being able to work with South Georgia Tech students.  Each instructor believes that helping to change individuals lives through workforce education is a tremendous honor.  

Dr. Raven Payne of Americus has been a full-time English instructor for SGTC’s Americus campus since 2009. She was selected as the SGTC Instructor of the Year in 2015.  In addition to her teaching duties, she also serves as the English Advisor for Developmental English, Business Communications, College composition and Literature.  She is also currently serving as QEP Writer and Co-Director of Implementation and Marketing for SGTC’s SACSCOC reaffirmation visit. 

Prior to joining South Georgia Technical College, Dr. Payne worked with the Sumter County Schools and the Americus Times Recorder.  She is very active in the community and is the founder of twenty40 Young Professionals Group, and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Georgia Association of Women in High Education, and the National Association of Student Success.  She is a 2020 graduate of the South GeorgiaLEADS Leadership Program.

Dr. Payne earned her Bachelor of Arts in English from Spelman College in 2006, a Master of Science in Management from Troy University and has 18 hours toward a Masters of Arts in Critical Literacy from Georgia Southwestern State University.  She received a Doctor of Education in Organization Leadership with an Emphasis in Organizational Development from Grand Canyon University in 2019.

Chester A. Taylor, III, has been the Mathematics Instructor at South Georgia Technical College since 2015.  He is also the advisor for the National Technical Honor Society.  Prior to joining South Georgia Tech, Taylor was a mathematics instructor at Central Georgia Technical College and was a Mathematics Faculty Coordinator at Albany Technical College.  He earned a Bachelor’s of Mathematics and a Master’s in Mathematics Education from Albany State University.

Ludwig “Chef Ricky” Watzlowick has been the Culinary Arts Program Director and Instructor at South Georgia Technical College full-time since 2015.  He also worked as a part-time evening instructor for three years prior to accepting the full-time position.   He was the food director for the Baker County School System from 2009 to 2015 and was the Culinary Arts Instructor at Albany Technical College from 2004 to 2009.

Chef Ricky received an associate of applied science in Culinary Arts from Albany Technical College in December of 2003.  He earned a GED from Meadows College in August 1988.  He was a member of the National Honor Society and Who’s Who and assisted the American Red Cross with different fund raiser events.  He and his students also support the SGTC Foundation Donor Dinner banquets and Christmas Gala’s.

The selection committee for the Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year competition consists of Harley Calhoun, Schley County High School Principal; Dr. Dorothy Ingram, Webster County High School Assistant Principal; Brian Barnhill, Taylor County High School Principal, Dr. Donald Gilman, Sumter County High School Career Academy Director, and Martha Arrington, retired SGTC Cosmetology Instructor.

The Instructor of the Year selection committee will interview each candidate and decide who will be named South Georgia Technical College’s Instructor of the Year. That instructor will go on to compete regionally and then for the statewide Rick Perkins title for the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) in Atlanta.

SGTC Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and two-time former SGTC Instructor of the Year Vanessa Wall serves as the Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year Coordinator for SGTC.

Dorothea Lusane-McKenzie, Cosmetology instructor at South Georgia Technical College, is currently serving as the SGTC 2020 Instructor of the Year.  She was a regional finalist in the state competition.