Professor Bevans Receives Regents’ Teaching Award

By Press release submission

Mar 10, 2022

Western Nevada College recently issued the following announcement.

Dr. Rebecca Bevans has been a faculty member at Western Nevada College since 2017, and it hasn’t taken long for her to be recognized with one of the most prestigious higher education honors in the state.

WNC’s psychology professor has been selected as the recipient of the 2022 Nevada Regents’ Teaching Award — an honor approved by the Nevada System of Higher Education at its quarterly meeting in Henderson.

“It is wonderful to be recognized for my hard work and dedication to our students,” she said. “It is because of the support from my colleagues and fellow collaborators that I am able to do what I do. I am very grateful for that support and for this award.”

WNC Interim President Dr. J. Kyle Dalpe has seen the impact that Dr. Bevans has made with students over the past several years and knows she’ll continue to support and motivate WNC students into the future.

“Dr. Bevans works tirelessly to support our students in class and out,” President Dalpe said. “I am pleased her hard work is being honored through this award and look forward to seeing the great work she will do going forward.”

Some of the psychology courses she leads are Introduction to Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Child Development, Psychology of Adolescence and Social Psychology. Although Dr. Bevans became a full-time faculty member in 2017, she has been teaching at WNC since 2007.

“Teaching is exciting to me!” Rebecca said. “Students arrive with questions and we work on finding answers. I love assisting them in their acquisition of knowledge. My students don’t only learn about psychology, but they also learn more about themselves.”

Interestingly, the longer that Dr. Bevans teaches at WNC, the more she shoulders. She serves as the adviser for the Psychology and Nerd Herd (a club for homeschool students who attend WNC). Bevans also is the coordinator for homeschool students and has helped dramatically increase enrollment for those students.

“Dr. Bevans’ positive impact on the WNC Community is seen not only in the classroom but also in the success of our programs and access we provide to Nevada’s students,” said WNC Liberal Arts Division Academic Director Scott Morrison. “Her expertise in psychology has inspired WNC students for more than 10 years, and she’s built a pipeline into science with engaging classroom presentations and top quality online courses. In the areas of student support and recruitment, Dr. Bevans’ work with the homeschool community has helped WNC to grow as a leader in innovative dual credit opportunities for our future leaders. Her award is well-deserved, and her success is representative of the high caliber of professionalism at Western.”

Moreover, in 2019 she brought former NHL goalie Clint Malarchuk to campus to talk to the community about mental health issues. As the Healthy Campus Committee chair in 2016, she was instrumental in the implementation of the no-tobacco policy on WNC’s campuses.

Forbes Magazine featured Dr. Bevans in 2019 for her work on the consumption of food dyes. To name just a few of her community endeavors, Dr. Bevans volunteers at the Nevada State Railroad Museum and for Sassabration, a community diversity celebration.

Prior to becoming a professor at WNC, she was a very successful adjunct faculty member at the college. And, yes, she did that very well, too. For the 2016-17 school year she was voted Adjunct Faculty Member of the Year.

Dr. Bevans earned her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Psychology (Cognitive and Brain Sciences) at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Original source can be found here.