QCC Professor Elected to National Education Association Board of Directors

Worcester, Ma. –  Quinsigamond Community College professor Bob Gillies has been named to the National Education Association board of directors for 2008-‘11.

Already a member of the Massachusetts’ Teachers Association board, Gillies was most recently an alternate on the NEA board of directors before being elected to complete the term of a retired member last September.  However, an election held in 2008 has afforded Gillies the opportunity to serve another term.  He will be one of five National Education Association directors from Massachusetts representing over 107,000 educators in the state.

“We are very proud to have another national figure on our campus,” QCC President Gail Carberry said of Gillies, referring as well to professor Jim Rice, who serves as president of the National Council for Higher Education in Washington.  “Bob has an incredible dedication to higher ed and we are happy to have him still teaching at our College after many wonderful years of service.”

In fact, Gillies has spent years serving the higher education community throughout Central Massachusetts and beyond. He has taught courses and lectured at WPI and Worcester State, as well as Manchester Polytechnic Institute in Manchester, England on a Fulbright Scholarship, and has been teaching at QCC for over 42 years. He recently spent three days with the NEA board in Washington DC, where he met with members from the House of Representatives and Senate, suggesting plans and ideas for education.

Gillies explained, “What impressed me most was an email I received afterwards from one of the reps.  He told me how our discussions had impacted his vote on an education bill.  It was wonderful to see first hand the difference that the NEA is making in education.”

Gillies is looking forward to his next trip to Washington, which will take place February 5-10.  In the meantime, his “retirement” consists of active involvement in the NEA and Massachusetts Teachers Association boards and continued teaching as an adjunct faculty member for the spring semester at QCC.