2003 Regents' Medal for Excellence in Teaching
Awarded by the Board of Regents, the teaching excellence medal pays tribute to faculty members for their extraordinary level of subject mastery and scholarship, teaching effectiveness and creativity and personal values beneficial to students.
Excellence in Teaching
Lee Stein
Lee Stein is an instructor of human services at Maui Community College. She sincerely cares about her students and works with them until she is assured that their needs are met, even when they are no longer in her classes. Stein has a solid grasp of her content area, which comes from years of experience and an ability to bridge the theoretical and practical.
Stein’s nomination forms were filled with supportive comments such as, "She challenges us to see ‘humanity’ in our clients and to work with the empathy, compassion and honor that we have for ourselves and to transfer it to others." She truly loves her work and brings that excitement to class." Another writes "Lee Stein has been a powerful role model for me in my healing process from domestic violence and just plain life. She has been a strength to me to remember never to quit and to keep moving on to learn and have a better life. I know that she has helped many people on Maui."
Stein is an active advisor to the college’s human services club, Malama Lahui Kanaka, and to the national honor society, Phi Theta Kappa. Both within and outside the traditional educational setting, she inspires greatness and internal growth among her appreciative students.