2026 Tenure Recipients
Seven faculty members honored at this year’s tenure reception
Pictured (L to R): Board Chair Marilee Scarbrough, Trustee Jeanne Bennett, Nicole
Mottier, Sarah Blanchette, Tina Jenkins, Jeff Rush, Kevin Edwards, Bo Li, President
Karin Edwards, and Dr. Terry Brown. Not pictured: David ZonanaClark College welcomed seven newly tenured faculty members at the 2026 Tenure Reception on June 4. Together with their families, colleagues, and members of the Clark community, recipients celebrated the incredible effort they made throughout the three-year process.
“I’m excited for you because you’ve reached an important milestone in your career and you’ve earned every bit of it,” President Edwards said. “I have witnessed your commitment to this college and to our students and to this community ... We are very fortunate to have you here at Clark College.”
Board Chair Marilee Scarbrough compared the tenure journey to that of a mountain climber. Upon arriving at the top of the mountain, she explained, the climber enjoys the view, but then notices new paths, valleys, and peaks they hadn’t seen before. “Tenure is not the end,” she said. “Tenure provides a new view and opens new possibilities for discovery and impact.” Chair Scarbrough encouraged faculty to continue to grow as scholars, teachers, and leaders as they celebrated this achievement.
The Board of Trustees unanimously granted tenure to the following outstanding educators:
Sarah Blanchette, Addiction Counselor Education
Sarah exemplifies leadership, community-building, and dedication to student success. With decades of field experience, she has helped expand programs and strengthen community partnerships to improve student outcomes. For Sarah, education is an act of connection and liberation, and emphasizes the importance of leading with humanity and preparing students to support others through life’s most vulnerable moments.
Kevin Edwards, Library
Kevin’s role supports much of the essential infrastructure of the library’s online resources, and his help ensures that those resources are organized, discoverable, and accessible. Recently, he created an art research guide for the community that helps users find specific media based on art technique or topic. Students share that Kevin is creative in his lessons and makes learning engaging for everyone.
Tina Jenkins, Mechatronics
Driven by a deep love of learning, technical skills, and helping others succeed, Tina exemplifies a professor who fosters a collaborative classroom environment. Her greatest joy is helping others achieve their educational and career goals so that they can build successful futures. When students don’t understand a concept, she goes the extra mile to guide them in the right direction, providing extra support and trouble-shooting project issues. Tina brings real world experience into the classroom conversation, helping students connect theory to practice.
Bo Li, Nursing
Bo genuinely thrives on learning, bringing ideas, questions, and curiosity to the nursing department. His clinical knowledge is exemplary, and he guides students with ease and skill. Formerly a nurse in China, Bo repeated much of his education after moving to the United States. He earned teaching certificates from Harvard University to become a certified nurse educator, completed an MBA certificate (just for fun!), presents at national conferences, and publishes articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Nicole Mottier, History
Nicole’s love of history is obvious in every class she teaches. Always willing to try something new, she has revitalized a host of history courses, shaped AI policy discussions, and consistently creates learning experiences that have earned her strong support among her students, often creating repeat enrollment. Nicole brings extensive expertise to Clark after many years teaching at a private institution and has successfully transitioned to serving Clark’s diverse population.
Jeff Rush, Diesel
A continual advocate for students and the Diesel program, Jeff ensures curriculum matches industry needs. He builds partnerships with industry leaders, bringing thousands of dollars' worth of equipment donations to the college and creating opportunities for students that extend beyond the classroom. Jeff has high expectations for his students, which his students respect and exceed. At the same time, students are at ease in his class as Jeff fosters a safe environment for students to take risks.
David Zonana, Environmental Science
David’s passion for wildlife, conservation, education, and biology has made this milestone a long time in the making. With a background in population biology and evolutionary research, his teaching is guided by a philosophy of learning by doing. He combines years of scholarly research and outdoor education experience to provide his students with learning opportunities that focus on data literacy and the scientific process, opening them up to try new things and connect to the natural world.
About the Tenure Process
Tenure is awarded by the college’s board of trustees based on professional excellence and outstanding abilities in their disciplines. The granting of tenure is based on the recommendations of tenure review committees to the Vice President of Instruction, which are then forwarded to the President, who presents a final recommendation to the board of trustees. Recommendations are based on self-evaluations, tenure review committee evaluations, student evaluations, supervisory evaluations, and peer evaluations. The final decision to award or withhold tenure rests with the board of trustees.
Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley — See all photos from this year’s tenure reception on Clark’s Flickr account.
Story by Malena Goerl, Staff Writer, Communications and Marketing