EPCC professor honored for online learning, book

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — An El Paso Community College English professor is garnering some national and regional recognition for her work reaching online students and for her work as an author.

Yasmin Ramirez, an associate professor of English at EPCC, received two awards in the past week recognizing her efforts.

Ramirez was awarded the 2023 Award for Excellence in eLearning as Outstanding Distance Educator or Staff member for the South Central Region from the Instructional Technology Council (ITC).

“She has not only influenced student success in her classes, but has gone above and beyond for her English faculty colleagues. She has developed numerous courses for online instruction and these shells are shared with those teaching these sections. The course shells offer a road map for new faculty and increase consistency between faculty members,” according to a news release sent out by EPCC.

“Her continuous dedication to improving distance education at the institution is vital to student success,” said Daniel Guerra, EPCC dean of Communication and Fine Arts at the Valle Verde Campus. “I look forward to Yasmin having more opportunities to increase the level of online instruction for her department.”

Ramirez said she believes strongly in the power of distance learning to help reach people who may not traditionally enroll for on-campus courses.

“Distance learning allows anyone to become a student. That is magic,” Ramirez said. “I love distance education because it allows me to connect with students from any place anywhere.”

Ramirez has also been recognized again for her award-winning book, “¡Ándale, Prieta!” with the 2023 Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association.

Since 1971, the Southwest Book Awards have been presented in recognition of outstanding books about the Southwest published each year in any genre.

The novel previously received a silver medal at the International Latino Book Awards from Empowering Latino Futures, a California-based nonprofit organization with a mission to remove barriers to success and recognize greatness in various fields for Hispanics and other underserved communities, according to the news release.

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