Contact: Liz Carroll
Phone: 413/775-1420
E-mail: carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Media contact: Liz Carroll
Marketing & Publications
413/775-1420 | carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Release date: November 8, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GCC "People on the Move"

Deborah Ensign, Director of Human Resources, has been tapped to teach Human Resource Management to upper-level business students at Greenfield Community College. In addition to her certification as a Senior Professional by the Human Resources Certification Institute, Ensign brings more than 15 years of experience in Human Resources with nonprofit and educational institutions. Her teaching background includes workshops, seminars and co-teaching at Deerfield Academy. "When you're passionate about your subject,” says Ensign, "it's so rewarding to see other people get excited about it too.” In her new role as adjunct instructor, Ensign offers her upper-level business students the benefits of hands-on experience in addition to theory of human resources. "My philosophy,” says Ensign, "is that when you empower your employees in the workplace and they feel valued, everything's better all around. There's far less conflict, and actually it can increase productivity. I really believe that people are your human capital, so to speak, and when you treat your employees well, everything else turns out well, too.”

Teaching is a second career for John Zinn, who is a new adjunct faculty member in the GCC math department. His first career was in the business world, where he managed software support groups for Digital, which later became Compaq. "I semi-retired about six years ago,” says Zinn, "and we moved from Colorado back to New Hampshire.”

Zinn taught high school for one year, and decided that it wasn't for him. "I didn't have that kind of patience.” But community colleges became just the right fit, first at Mt. Wauchusett Community College in Gardner, and now also at GCC. "I like community colleges,” says Zinn. "What I run into quite a bit in my classes are people who have been away from school for a while, they've come back, and they seem to be a lot more interested in learning. They want to get somewhere.”

Zinn has developed his own technique for helping the many students who come into his class with math phobia. "I just tell them, ‘Math's easy, because it's a process: Learn the process, apply the process, and get the right answer,” explains Zinn. "Once students realize that, you'd be amazed at how they turn around. By the end of the semester of my Fundamentals of Math class, they're saying, ‘Wow, this is easy! I don't know why I've been so scared.' And then they move on to the algebra course and they do just fine.”
Zinn has a bachelor's degree in mathematics and an MBA in accounting and finance, both from the University of Hawaii.

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