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��«Ӱҵ English instructor Laura Hammons, a native of Brandon, won the Cowan Award, the top teaching award given by Two-Year College English Association—Southeast (TYCA-SE).

Hammons has a Bachelor of Arts in English from Belhaven University and a Master of Arts from Mississippi College. She has also done further coursework at both the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University.

She has been teaching at ��«Ӱҵ’s Raymond Campus for 16 years. Among the subjects she has taught for ��«Ӱҵ are Developmental English, Composition I and II, American Literature, World Literature, and a new course, Writing for Publication.

As part of the award, Hammons delivered the Cowan lecture during the February conference in Charleston, S.C. In it, she gave tribute to many of her former and current colleagues, including retired ��«Ӱҵ instructor Beverly Fatherree. The two co-authored an English textbook called “For Our Students.” The book is sold at a low cost to students at a number of community colleges, and the two of them get no profits from the book.

Hammons said in her Cowan Award address that nearly 5,000 ��«Ӱҵ students bought the textbook “For Our Students” since the first edition appeared. And that only includes ��«Ӱҵ students.

“I did simple math, the only math I’m capable of doing, and calculated that at ��«Ӱҵ CC alone, our book has saved students — very conservatively — $250,000.  And in the poorest state in the Union, that’s a lot of money,” she said.

Hammons noted that she is the seventh ��«Ӱҵ instructor to win the Cowan Award. “Honoring me with the Cowan Award is the highlight of my professional life. I am grateful to my college and to TYCA-SE for helping me grow as a human being and as a teacher,” she said.

��«Ӱҵ is celebrating its 100^th year of Community Inspired Service in 2017. ��«Ӱҵ opened in September 1917 first as an agricultural high school and admitted college students for the first time in 1922, with the first class graduating in 1927. In 1982 ��«Ӱҵ Junior College and Utica Junior College merged, creating the ��«Ӱҵ District. Today, as Mississippi’s largest community college, ��«Ӱҵ is a comprehensive institution with six locations. ��«Ӱҵ offers quality, affordable educational opportunities with academic programs of study leading to seamless university transfer and career and technical programs teaching job-ready skills. To learn more, visit or call 1.800.��«ӰҵCC.

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