Starnes named SPCC Faculty of the Year

It was a bittersweet moment when Lori Starnes returned to her seat after being awarded South Piedmont Community College’s Faculty of the Year award during commencement on May 11. But, not because it put to rest the Susan Lucci jokes about annually being a finalist and not winning.

When she sat down, she thought about her aunt, Betty Whitley, who had died exactly two weeks earlier.

“I think I got a lot of her sense of helping and wanting to change somebody’s life,” said Starnes, director of the Medical Assisting and Medical Lab Assisting programs at SPCC. “When I sat down with the award, I thought I probably would have gone by the Brian Center that night and shown her this. It was a happy moment. It was emotional.”

When Starnes said she would have shown it to her aunt, she was speaking figuratively. Betty Whitley was born blind. That did not stop her, however, from earning two master’s degrees at the University of Virginia – one in education and one in human services. She was a social worker for years in Anson County.

“I just think about how much education meant to her,” Starnes said. “She would have felt that plaque and just been all so proud, because she was smart as a whip.”

Starnes had delivered the eulogy at her aunt’s funeral the Monday after graduation. “I talked about how where she lacked in sight, she made up for in other senses,” Starnes said. “She always kept my weight in check,” she joked, noting that Whitley would hug her, then squeeze her arm and suggest she might have added a pound or two.

“She would feel a piece of china and say, ‘Look at the flowers on this china,’” Starnes said. “I’d think, ‘How does she know there are flowers on this china?’”
When Starnes’ daughter, Whitley McCray, was a student at Marshville Elementary School, she had to give a report on Helen Keller. Betty Whitley attended and demonstrated her Braille typewriter, Starnes said. Betty Whitley’s influence has also rubbed off on McCray, who is now studying education at Wingate University.

Starnes’ selection as Faculty of the Year came in the third consecutive year she had been a finalist. “The third time’s the charm,” Starnes said.

Some co-workers had already begun to compare Starnes to Susan Lucci, the “All My Children” actress who famously came up short 18 times as a Daytime Emmy nominee for her role as Erika Kane before winning in 1999. “I got some grief about it before that night,” Starnes said.

All kidding aside, Starnes said that just “being nominated and a finalist is an extreme honor. When I look at who I was nominated against, and they didn’t make finalist, it is an extreme honor. You work so hard, and I don’t think that a lot of people know how much work is involved in just being a nominee.”

The other finalists were Early Childhood Education Instructor Sharon Little and Criminal Justice Technology Instructor Miriam Sallee. Each nominee has to write an essay on his or her philosophy about teaching. They are also observed by a panel from the selection committee.
“It’s very intense,” Starnes said. “The other two finalists – they’re such excellent teachers in their area. They should get more recognition, too. The process is very rigorous. It started about the middle of April. I actually had my classroom observation two weeks before graduation. It’s down to the wire.”

Starnes has used the same essay three years in a row, updating it each year. “I talked about how being a leader was in my blood, talked about my father (Sherrill Haney) being a plant manager for 40 years and never missed a day.”

And, of course, she talked about her Aunt Betty and other family members who have been educators.

But, Starnes did not take a direct path into education. After earning an associate degree at Wingate College, she worked in human resources for 12 years at Yale Security and eight at Pennsylvania House. She was employed at the latter when the plant shut down in 2003. “That’s why I chose to go back to school,” she said. “When I came back to school here, I remember (then Instructor) Connie Stack telling me, ‘I’d love to have you teach one day.’”

That was in July 2005. In December, Stack called Starnes and she began teaching part time in January 2006. She was hired full time in August 2006 and became program director in 2007.

“It’s just like doors were opened, but it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be,” Starnes said. “I don’t think I’ve ever loved a job as much as this one. I never dread coming. I love the classroom. There’s nothing like being hands-on and being in there with those students. I have to know what kind of personalities they have because I have to fit them into clinical. … I know what type of personality fits with what office.”

Starnes needs five classes to finish her bachelor’s degree in health management through Gardner-Webb University. But, she plans to keep teaching.

“I think something in my blood says I’m natural at being an educator,” she said. “I just had to find my niche in life. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

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Media inquiries: Jim Muldrow, 704-272-5441, jmuldrow@spcc.edu