Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

PCC instructor wins Intel's Educator of the Year

Photos and story by James Hill

Dorina Cornea-Hasegan, Portland Community College Microelectronics Technology instructor and department chairperson, has been named Intel’s Educator-of-the-Year. Her award will be presented at the SAME-TEC Advanced Technological Education Conference in Austin, Texas, on July 30.

The Intel Educator-of-the-Year Award recognizes a community college educator for outstanding contributions to semiconductor manufacturing technology education. Nominees for the award must have a demonstrated impact on technology education on both a local and national level. Cornea-Hasegan was recognized for her work with students and work with local industry to provide seamless pathways to careers.

“I am sincerely grateful for this great recognition,” said Cornea-Hasegan, a resident of Northwest Portland. “But even more importantly, what I see in this award is the recognition of the long-lasting, symbiotic relationship between Portland Community College and Intel Corp. Our college became, in time, one of the top strategic schools in the country that Intel recruits its workforce from, and Intel is, for a long time now, one of the most important mentors and sponsors of the program. The recent launching of Intel into solar cell manufacturing and with our new Solar Voltaic Technology degree, this relationship can do nothing else but grow and flourish.”

Cornea-Hasegan started her engineering career in Romania by working as a design engineer in an automated equipment and installation corporation. After 10 years of full-time work in the industry, she moved to the United States as a graduate student at Purdue University in Indiana where she received a master’s degree in industrial technology. It was at Purdue where she started teaching engineering classes. When she moved to Portland she started teaching at Oregon Institute of Technology and soon transferred to PCC. She works closely with Intel Corp., the biggest employer of her program’s graduates.

“Dorina is diligent in her support of the students in the program,” said Margie Fyfield, Division Dean for Science and Technology at PCC. “She will work with students individually or set up special tutoring sessions for groups. Dorina will explain concepts until students are able to grasp the points she is trying to make. It is not unusual to find her in the electronics lab patiently sitting with a student, trouble-shooting a pesky circuit until it agrees to cooperate. Dorina also celebrates each student’s successful hire.

“Dorina is also a tireless promoter of the Microelectronics Technology program,” she added. “She visits the high schools, local chamber offices, workforce development recruiting events, and any local event she feels could connect her with a future student in the program.”

The award represents Intel’s commitment to support and recognize community college faculty who make significant contributions to the education and training of today’s technology workforce. The national conference, SAME-TEC (www.same-tec.org), is sponsored by the Maricopa Advanced Technology Education Center, a member of the Academic and Student Affairs Division of the Maricopa Community Colleges in Tempe, Ariz. For more information, visit www.matec.org.