College announces recipients for Roueche Excellence Awards

Butler Community College instructors Jared McGinley and Davis Laughlin have been honored with the John and Suanne Roueche Excellence Awards for 2020.

The awards are presented by the League for Innovation in the Community College, and honor faculty for abilities in teaching, leadership and innovation. Butler students and faculty nominate teaching staff for this award annually. One nomination is for full-time faculty and the other is for adjunct faculty.

John and Suanne Roueche are believers that community college instructors have a great impact on the well-being and success of students in the classroom and have developed a partnership with the League for Innovation in the Community College in order to recognize the abilities of the top community college teachers nationally.

This year, more than 100 nominations were submitted at Butler. Mark Jarvis, who is Butler’s Director of Faculty Development and was the first Butler recipient of the Roueche Award in 2010, leads a committee to pick the winners each year.

“It’s challenging to try to pick the winners from the nominees,” Jarvis said. “I just want folks to know how many talented individuals we have at this place. It’s nice that we have so much to recognize from here.”

McGinley, who teaches business and marketing, is Butler’s full-time instructor nomination for 2020. Laughlin, who teaches education courses, is the adjunct nomination.

Jared McGinley

McGinley has been teaching at Butler for 19 of his 21 years in education, teaching courses such as marketing, entrepreneurship, management, ethics and personal selling.

He also has been the sponsor of DECA during his entire tenure at Butler, which is an extracurricular club that gives business students a chance to compete against other students in business and entrepreneurship activities. Under McGinley, Butler students often fare well on the regional and national levels.

“I like the relationships that are a result of teaching,” McGinley said. “I love learning, as well as being around people who love learning. I really appreciate the hope and energy college students bring to the classroom.”

McGinley, displaying his well-known sense of humor when learning of his nomination.

“At first I wondered if they had run out of people to give it to, but when I saw Davis had also won, I figured it must be a pretty cool thing.” “But really, I am very humbled to be a recipient of this award. I am grateful for those that have been involved in the creation of this type of award and I want to thank everyone.”

Davis Laughlin

Laughlin has been a teacher for more than 40 years. After decades as a high school teacher, Laughlin came to Butler and has educating future educators for six years.

Laughlin has earned national teaching honors in the past. In 2010, he was selected as one of the top five high school teachers in the nation by the “Live with Kelly and Regis show.”

“I don’t think there is a better teacher on Butler’s campus,” a Butler student said of Laughlin in their nomination letter. “There are only so many people in the world that are as true and genuine as Mr. Laughlin and I’m not sure I’ll ever meet another one. He inspires with the discussions he starts and he cares about each answer he gets back. He is the teacher I hope to be one day, and nothing less.”

Laughlin extends that care well beyond the students' time in the classroom.

“My favorite teaching moments actually happen after I have students in class,” Laughlin said. “I try to follow them as their lives unfold and they accomplish great things. Once I have a student in class, he/she will always be a part of my ‘family’ and I will always be there to support and encourage him/her in any way I can.”

Laughlin continued, “In a related way, my greatest accomplishments as a teacher are always those my students achieve in their lives after I have them in class. There is nothing more fulfilling than seeing former students succeed in life. I’m excited to receive this honor but I must share it with my students and colleagues at Butler. Butler is a magical place.”