PeopleAdmin honors Pennsylvania professor as latest Inspired2Educate award recipient during annual customer conference

PeopleConnect 2016 sets the stage for sharing trends, strategies and successes in higher education, including adjunct history professor’s inspiring story about the teacher who changed his life’s course

James Robertson

AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PeopleAdmin, a leader in talent management software for K-12 and higher education, today announced the latest recipient of its Inspired2Educate recognition program during its annual customer conference for higher education.
Kermit Randa, CEO of PeopleAdmin, presented the award to James Robertson, an adjunct history professor at Montgomery County Community College in Pennsylvania, for his inspiring story about Miss Alma Ash, a reading specialist. Robertson said Miss Ash took the time to uncover the root of his learning challenges and inspired him to pursue teaching.
“Miss Ash believed in me when everyone else in my school did not,” Robertson recalled. “The man I am today and the teacher I became can be traced to the loving work of Miss Alma Ash.”
An award also was presented to Montgomery County Community College.
Launched in February, Inspired2Educate honors and celebrates our nation’s educators, and aims to inspire young people to consider a career in education. Current educators share stories of a teacher, administrator, or school staff member who inspired them to pursue education as their life’s work.
This month’s Inspired2Educate awards were presented at PeopleConnect 2016 as part of the company’s 13th annual customer conference kickoff. The event runs June 22-24 in Austin.
PeopleAdmin serves more than 700 higher education organizations and over 5,000 K-12 schools and districts by providing a suite of proven solutions that improve operational efficiency, minimize risk, and organize the entire talent management lifecycle. PeopleAdmin is the only company focused on K-20 education talent management.
PeopleConnect 2016 features industry presentations, topical breakout sessions, specialized training, product innovations, and more. The conference will feature SelectSuite, PeopleAdmin’s recently enhanced cloud-based talent management solution used by colleges and universities for applicant tracking, position management, reporting, onboarding, analytics, performance management, and more.
“PeopleConnect is time well-spent,” said Michelle Morris, director for Employment & Clinical Support Services, East Carolina University. “The conference gives you lots of opportunities to hear from peers — I’ve learned things that I didn’t know the system could do.”
Attendees this year also got to hear Robertson’s inspirational story, read by Randa. As a child, Robertson’s teachers recommended that he repeat the fourth grade because it seemed he did not read at the same level as his peers. But one visit with Miss Ash, the school’s reading specialist and psychologist, revealed that his struggle was not with learning the required material, but with undiagnosed dyslexia, ADHD, and a slight vision impairment. Miss Ash not only worked one-on-one with Robertson to increase his reading comprehension and confidence, but also ensured that he received glasses, a library card, and an unending supply of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone biographies — his favorite kind of books to read.
After a career that spanned both the Air Force and various Fortune 500 companies, Robertson returned to his love of history later in life and became a full-time history professor. “Miss Ash molded my opinion of educators as miracle workers who do what they do because of the lives they impact, and not for the monetary reward. From the fourth grade on, because of Miss Ash, I wanted to be a teacher just like her,” said Robertson. “I’m 70 now, and I get a chance to do for the rest of my life what I wanted to do all my life.”
“James Robertson’s story reminds us all of the incredibly powerful and positive impact one educator can have on the direction of their students’ lives,” Randa said.
Click here for more information about the Inspired2Educate program and how to participate.  Follow along with the latest conversation and updates by using the #Inspired2Educate hashtag on Twitter and Facebook.
About PeopleAdmin
PeopleAdmin is the leading provider of cloud-based talent management solutions for education and government. Its software enables clients to streamline the hiring process, onboard new employees, efficiently manage positions and employee performance, develop compliant and defensible audit trails, and utilize industry-leading reporting and metrics. PeopleAdmin’s integrated talent management suite includes applicant tracking, faculty search committee management, position management, onboarding, and performance management. PeopleAdmin solutions are rapidly deployed, easy to use and supported through a world-class customer service organization.