Mummery Honored 4th Time
Influential, patient, caring, passionate and dedicated – these are just some of the words used to describe Fullerton College’s 2015 Teacher of the Year and Economics Professor, Francis Mummery. He was presented with his fourth Teacher of the Year award on March 23 during a surprise visit to his classroom.
The campus community is invited to a Teacher of the Year celebration reception in his honor on April 29 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the quad and will be honored at Fullerton College’s Commencement Ceremony on May 22.
After receiving several nominations from students, past and present who have been greatly affected by Mummery’s teaching, the Teacher of the Year selection committee concluded Mummery deserved a fourth title of the award. He also received the award in 2003, 2006, and 2008. The nominations highlighted his teaching style and mentorship, which on many occasions inspired students to pursue degrees in economics, improve their study habits, or changed the way they view college and the world all together.
“He believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself, and because of him, I’ve pushed myself further every day,” one nominator said. Another student added, “There are not many professors in the community college system today that can leave a great long-lasting impression on their students such as Francis Mummery has done.”
Mummery’s thorough explanation of course material combined with examples of real-world personal stories has positively impacted his students, according to many of the nomination forms. His teaching career spans across 20 years with 15 of those years teaching full-time at Fullerton College. He currently serves as the chair of the Economics Department at FC and teaches part-time at Cal State Fullerton where many of his FC students transfer just to continue enrolling in his classes.
Mummery attributes his teaching ability and philosophy to a high school teacher, who took the time to help him explore college and secure a scholarship, which led to a domino effect of higher education and teaching. “I benefited immeasurably from the action of a teacher who cared,” he said. “It has been my lifelong desire to do the same thing for others.”
In addition to the amount of time Mummery spends in the classroom teaching his students, he is active in the Fullerton community, tutoring elementary school students, providing gift baskets to veterans, and raising money to support scholarships for FC students. He has personally funded over $22,000 in scholarships at FC and has helped raise more than $120,000 to support technology and physical education for Sunset Lane Education Foundation. He serves as president of his consulting firm, Mummery Economic Consulting, Inc. and provides part-time consulting to businesses in the Fullerton community.
The campus award triggers his nomination for the district’s 2016 NOCCCD Teacher of Year and will be in the running for the Orange County Department of Education’s 2016 OC Teacher of the Year. The regional award seeks to recognize community college teachers in Orange County whose efforts have inspired and enabled students to improve their lives in ways specifically attributable to that teacher.
The Four (4) “Teacher of the Year Finalists” for 2015 include:
Mr. Guy Dadson – Natural Sciences Division Chemistry Dept.
Ms. Sheilah Stokes-Dobyns – Humanities Division; English Dept.
Mr. Stephen Plett – Mathematics and Computer Science Division; Mathematics Dept.
Ms. Amanda Walzer-Prieto – Humanities Division; English Dept.
The “Top 10” include the following:
Ms. Angie Andrus – Social Sciences Division; Sociology
Ms. Annie Bianchino – Natural Sciences; Chemistry
Mr. Gary Graves – Business & CIS Division; Business
Mr. Jay Seidel – Technology and Engineering Division; Communications/Journalism
Ms. Maria Agalde – Humanities Division; Foreign Languages-Spanish
