Jackson Community College
Academics Faculty HighlightLibby WarnerFaculty award winner thrilled to see students learn
For Professor Libby Warner, teaching is all in the family. This year’s recipient of the J. Ward Preston Outstanding Faculty Award has a special connection with the man the award was named in honor of – she’s his daughter. Libby (Preston) Warner began her career teaching in high schools in Massachusetts and Jackson. She taught as an adjunct instructor at JCC for a number of years, and became a full-time instructor in January 1984. Originally from Jackson, she attended Jackson Junior College for two years after high school, then transferred to the University of Michigan where she received her bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry and a master’s degree in biology. She also holds a master’s degree in human nutrition from Michigan State University. Warner said she’s always had a curiosity in knowing how things work and why they are as they are, which attracted her to biology and chemistry. Her father, the late Ward Preston, taught and worked as an administrator at Jackson Junior College and later Jackson Community College for 40 years, and her mother, Margaret, was a teacher as well. She also gives credit to a number of excellent teachers who inspired her. “The sciences make sense, you can see how things work together,” Warner said. “In teaching, I enjoy seeing students learn and seeing the satisfaction that they feel when they finally start understanding things. I like being part of that process.” Warner was surprised to receive this year’s award, a fitting end to her career at JCC as she plans to retire at the end of the fiscal year. She hopes to travel more in her retirement. She has two grown children, a 31-year-old son who teaches in New York City and a 28-year-old daughter who is a field biologist and graduate student in Delaware. |