February 23, 2022

East Mississippi Community College Humanities Teacher of the Year Award recipient DeLisa Brand will present a lecture titled “Stitching Cultures” on Feb. 28. The public is invited to attend the free lecture, which will be followed by a reception. 

The lecture begins at 12:30 p.m. in the board dining room inside the F.R. Young Student Union on EMCC’s Scooba campus.

“My topic will be about how literature is similar to a quilt; each piece of literature makes up the fabric of who we are as a culture,” said Brand, who is the English Department chair for the Scooba campus. 

Each year the Mississippi Humanities Council presents Humanities Teacher of the Year Awards to humanities faculty at each of the state’s colleges and universities. The recipients will be recognized this year during a public ceremony and reception March 25 in Jackson. Recipients receive a $400 cash award and are required to prepare and deliver a public lecture.

“I feel like it is an honor to be selected,” Brand said. “Instructors work very hard, and I appreciate it any time instructors are recognized for their dedication to the field of education.”

Brand is in her sixth year as an instructor at EMCC, where she teaches English Composition I and II, as well as World Literature. She is a member of numerous committees, including the Procedures Committee, the Commencement Committee, the eLearning Committee, and the Achieving the Dream Committee. 

She is a former president of the Scooba campus Faculty Association, serving two terms as vice president of that body. In 2020, she was named a William Winter Scholar at the 31^st Annual Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration.

“DeLisa is a gifted instructor who is committed to helping her students succeed,” EMCC Fine Arts/Humanities Division Chairperson Janet Briggs said. “Having taught Delisa at Northeast Lauderdale years ago, it has been especially rewarding for me to see her grow into the instructor that she is, and  I am pleased she was selected for this award.” 

Brand is a Meridian native who earned her master’s degree in English and Secondary Education at Livingston University, which is now the University of West Alabama.

She taught high school English for 10 years in Thomasville, Alabama, and 10 years at Meridian Community College before accepting a position at EMCC’s Scooba campus, where her son Kade Brand is studying Electrical Technology.

“I know I made the right choice when I decided to pursue a career in education,” Brand said. “At times, teaching can be challenging, but I can’t think of anything more rewarding than helping prepare students to become the next generation of leaders. My parents taught me to try and make a difference every day. Teaching allows me that opportunity and privilege.”