By Payton Tholstrup

Mark MacConnell is an Automotive Technology instructor at North Central Kansas Technical College on the Hays campus. He has been awarded the 2023 Kansas Council for Workforce Education – Outstanding New Teacher Award.

This award was created to recognize faculty members with less than five years of teaching experience who show fantastic teaching skills, both in career and technical education.

He was nominated for the award by Richard Cox, who is the Automotive Technology Department Chair. He emphasized how Mark brings his knowledge from the industry directly into the classroom setting, making him an amazing educator. Jennifer Brown, Dean of Instruction, shared how Mark isn’t afraid to try new ideas to keep students engaged.

Mark himself is a graduate of the program and even served on the advisory board at the college previously.