Dr. Steady Moono Earns National Designation of ‘Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate’
Feb. 28, 2008, Blue Bell/Pottstown, Pa.—Dr. Steady Moono, of Collegeville, Dean of Student Success at Montgomery County Community College, is one of only 10 educators nationwide to be named a “2008 Outstanding First Year Student Advocate” by the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina and Houghton Mifflin Publishing. The award honors faculty, administrators, staff and students for their outstanding work on behalf of first-year students and for the impact that their efforts have had on the culture of their institution.
Since accepting the position of Dean of Student Success in 2005, Dr. Moono has led the College in three grant-funded national initiatives that builds on its strategic advancements in student success. Through “Foundation of Excellence in the First College Year,” the College developed a new student experience test model, which helped refine its comprehensive approach to educating new students. As a result, new college-wide initiatives were implemented, including a call center and a student database system to better document and track records. The College also started a Peer Mentoring program, which increases students’ probability for academic success by connecting them with experienced students who can provide them with resources to assist in navigating the college experience.
Through the “Achieving the Dream” initiative and the “Title III” grant program, the College worked with national experts to identify strategies to increase student success, particularly in the area of developmental education. The College increased student engagement through new instructional techniques, including collaborative learning and learning communities, where students who test below college-level math, English and reading courses learn as a cohort. The College also implemented software programs to better track and manage the progress of students through their learning process and intervene directly when a problem occurs.
Dr. Moono was born and raised in Zambia and moved to the United States in 1981. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Messiah College, master’s degrees in Theology and Counseling from Biblical Theological Seminary and in English from Arcadia University and a doctorate in Education Administration from Immaculata University.
Dr. Moono lives in Collegeville with his wife, Kelly, and their two children—Micah, 13, and Naomi, 11. In his spare time, he referees high school soccer games for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA). He also belongs to the non-profit organization Africa-American International Administrates for Christ, which provides aid to people in Africa who live in drought stricken areas. Moono and his wife have visited Africa and have helped dig wells to increase the flow water in the area.
