Bellevue College has conferred the first of five biennial Lockwood Distinguished Faculty Awards, which carries a prize of $10,000, on Ron Radvilas, of Kingston.
Radvilas developed and now leads the college’s Bachelor of Applied Science degree program in Radiation and Imaging Sciences, in addition to chairing BC’s Radiologic Technology associate degree program.
The Lockwood Foundation, a family foundation headquartered in Seattle, created the series of awards to highlight for the BC campus and the surrounding community the quality and creativity of Bellevue College faculty.
Lee Kraft, outgoing Chairman of the Bellevue College Board of Trustees and a Trustee of the Lockwood Foundation, made the presentation at the June 17 Bellevue College Board of Trustees meeting.
“We are deeply grateful for this extraordinary expression of support from the Lockwood Foundation,” said Bellevue College President Jean Floten, “both for the prestige it confers on the college and the recipient, and for what it says to all our faculty and to the community at large: that some of the finest instructors teaching today teach at Bellevue College.”
Radvilas joined the BC faculty in 1980. Since then he has earned a reputation as an exceptional educator and innovator.
“The list of Ron’s contributions is lengthy, but at the top has to be his vision and leadership in creating our first baccalaureate degree program,” Floten said. “This program contributes to the well-being of the entire region by addressing a severe shortage of medical professionals in the field of Radiation and Imaging,” Floten said.
“And through the work of the program’s graduates, Ron’s vision, professionalism and compassion will exert a positive and lasting impact on the lives of medical patients for decades to come,” Floten added.
Bellevue College’s first class of seniors in Radiation and Imaging Sciences, totaling 19 students, graduated June 18.
Radvilas was honored, as well, for his for his success over the years in developing BC’s Radiologic Technology associate degree program.
He has made room for more students, strengthened alliances with clinical sites and established collaborative relationships such as that with Columbia Basin College in Pasco, which through telecourses brings the opportunities and benefits of BC’s bachelor’s degree program and Radiologic Technology associate-degree program to students and medical consumers east of the Cascade Mountains.
Radvilas also is widely acknowledged as an extraordinary educator, known especially for his skill in engaging students through individual encouragement and his ability to build in them a commitment to professionalism, compassionate patient care and lifelong learning.
Radvilas’ students over the years have passed their professional certification exams at an average success rate approaching 100 percent, with many classes achieving 100 percent success and individual students often placing in the top 1 percent nationally.
Other finalists for the award included Pauline Christianson, of the college’s English faculty, and Marcia Williams, who is on the faculty of three BC programs: Business Technology Systems, Database Administration, and Programming.
