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National Professor of Year award goes to GCC instructor

René Díaz-Lefebvre credits his grandmothers with his success as a man

His nana's words remain clear today as they did when Glendale Community College psychology professor René Díaz-Lefebvre first heard them as a small child in southern Arizona.

"La educación abre puertas' (education opens doors) and 'saber es poder' (knowledge is power). She taught me a lot, especially by using dichos, those wonderful, timeless sayings that many older Americans of Mexican descent can identity with," says Díaz-Lefebvre, winner of the 2006 Arizona Professor of the Year Award, of his paternal grandmother.

His maternal grandmother was one of the first Mexican Americans to earn a degree from Arizona State University (then Tempe Normal School) when women were more likely to be found at home than in a classroom.

Díaz-Lefebvre, whose recent award is the latest addition to an impressive resume and lengthy list of accolades, credits these two women with his success as a man.

"Little did I know how much (their) guidance and love would influence me for the rest of my life. Nanas have the power to do that, you know!" he says.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching honored Díaz-Lefebvre for strides in his innovative instructional theory, Multiple Intelligences, at the community college level in a special ceremony in Washington, D.C., last November.

He is one of eight community college professors in the nation and the first Latino from Arizona to win one of the most prestigious, competitive awards in higher education, competing against more than 300 counterparts from major private and public universities nationally.

The Professors of the Year program salutes the most outstanding undergraduate instructors in the country and is considered one of the most competitive and prestigious.

"It totally caught me by surprise. Just the magnitude of knowing I was nominated to represent all of higher education of Arizona is quite humbling and honoring. Being the first Latino from Arizona makes it more pleasing and enjoyable," says Díaz-Lefebvre.

INNOVATION LEADS TO SUCCESS

More than 3,600 students have benefited directly from MI instruction at GCC since Díaz-Lefebvre introduced it in 1991, his first year at the college. The MI theory states that human intelligence is comprised of eight or more intelligences. Díaz-Lefebvre's work has grown into a learning and assessment program used by many professors at GCC and has gained national and international prominence.

A fifth-generation Arizonan, Díaz-Lefebvre was born in South Tucson. The family soon moved to Tombstone so his father could care for his ailing parents. Inspired by his scholarly-minded nanas, Díaz-Lefebvre became the first student to enroll in Pima Community College. He also earned a doctorate in counseling from Union Graduate School.

Díaz-Lefebvre believes innovative teaching methods are necessary for the success of future generations of Latinos.

"The education system is going to be challenged to look at how people learn. We can't continue with a one-size-fits-all mentality. Everybody learns differently. For Latino students and the high dropout rate that we hear about, we're going to have to roll up our sleeves and really look at not only why they drop out, but what we are going to do about it," he says.