Cranford, NJ – UCNJ UCNJ UCNJ of UCNJ County, NJ is proud to announce that Chemistry Professor Shahrzad “Sherry” Heidary, will receive the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) 2023 Northeast Region Faculty Award. Professor Heidary will formally accept the award in October at the Awards Presentation during the 54th Annual ACCT Leadership Congress in Las Vegas. By receiving the Northeast Region award, Professor Heidary is eligible to receive the national William H. Meardy Faculty Member Award. The winner will also be named at the Leadership Congress in Las Vegas.
Professor Sherry Heidary joined the College in 2006 as an adjunct instructor. During her time at the College, she has served as an advisor to the Student Government Association, American Honors Council, and Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society. Additionally, she serves as a Trustee on the UCNJ County College Foundation Board and as a board member of the YWCA of UCNJ County. Professor Heidary is highly present and visible on campus, goes above and beyond for students, and extremely active in scholarship and fundraising endeavors. In fact, both of the College’s 2023 Jack Kent Cooke Foundation transfer scholarship recipients received the Professor Heidary scholarship to help fund the cost of attendance. She has a B.S. in Polymer Engineering and a M.S. in Polymer Science.
“We are very proud of Professor Heidary. There is no one more deserving of this recognition. She is a master teacher, and she loves her students. She goes above and beyond to help them excel in their classes. For a chemistry professor to be truly beloved, it is quite the feat. We count Professor Heidary among our most outstanding faculty at UCNJ,” stated UCNJ’s President Dr. Margaret M. McMenamin.
The ACCT is a non-profit educational organization that represents more than 6500 elected and appointed trustees who govern more than 1200 community colleges, and over 11 million students, throughout the United States. The ACCT annually recognizes trustees and other community college leaders in each of its five regions for their contributions.
UCNJ UCNJ UCNJ of UCNJ County, NJ is a public, comprehensive community college that provides quality, affordable, accessible educational programs to the greater UCNJ County region. It is the first of New Jersey’s 18 two-year colleges, serving both career-minded and transfer-oriented students since 1933. The College offers a wide variety of academic and extracurricular activities. UCNJ provides many experiential learning opportunities such as access to a Bloomberg Business Center, Innovation Center, and Student Research hub. Additionally, students at UCNJ attend one of the top 25 community colleges in the country for 2023 as designated by the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program. To learn more, visit www.ucc.edu.