Welcome

Sunnye Pruden pictureHello, I’m Sunnye the Speech Professor!

My love for speech communication began back in middle school with my very first public speaking competition.  I think I loved the fact that I had a whole room full of people who had to listen to what I had to say!  Throughout high school, I competed on the speech team and enjoyed the performance aspect of the activity.  It wasn’t until I began my communication studies at Trinity University, that I realized communication is so much more than a one-way dialogue with an audience. After receiving my B.A. in Speech Communication, I went on to complete a M.A. in Speech Communication from Texas A&M University.  As a graduate student, I taught my first college courses.  I have been teaching ever since.  In fact, I have been teaching for almost half my life.  Wow.

I truly believe communication is power.  Once you find your voice and learn how to get others to hear it, you have the power to shape the world in which you live.  It is my true honor to help guide students down the path to finding that power. You can check out my more detailed teaching philosophy  at HERE

And I’m Sunnye the Teaching and Learning Advocate!

In the 21 years I have worked at Lone Star College, my passion for advancing the art and science of teaching has been evident in the many ways I have served my campus and the system: Adjunct Certification Program design and facilitation, Instructional Skills Workshop facilitation, Quality Matters trainer and course builder, Faculty Fellow with LSC-CyFair’s Teaching & Learning Center, and hundreds of presentations on pedagogy, online education, instructional technology, adjunct career advancement, communication and more. (See a partial list HERE)

Two factors explain my commitment to teaching and learning over these two decades.  The first is a personal conviction that teaching is a privilege and that what we do in the classroom matters beyond meeting stated course objectives. We don’t teach subjects, we teach people. The more time and energy we can spend figuring out the best way to do that, the better our students’ lives can be. Every time I get to share a new idea with a fellow teacher, I don’t just see that spark of excitement in them- I see it spreading to impact every single student they go on to serve. The second factor that keeps me doing what I do is my love for collaborating with other educators. We are a special group of people and the energy that emanates from our shared passions is incredibly motivating.

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