Bergen Community College

Claudia Rubner and Bonnie Platter.

PARAMUS, N.J. – Bergen Community College adjunct professors Bonnie Platter and Claudia Rubner have earned the 2026 National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) Excellence Award for their commitment to teaching and student success. Nominated by their faculty peers at Bergen, the pair traveled to NISOD’s annual International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence in Austin, Texas last month to receive their awards.

“Bergen Community College faculty bring incredible expertise and passion to the classroom,” Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost Andrew Tomko, Ph.D., said. “Professors Platter and Rubner were honored by NISOD for their commitment to excellence.”

Platter has instructed foreign languages at Bergen since 2015. Prior to Bergen, she taught French for 33 years at Midland Park High School and won the Governor’s Teacher of the Year Award prior to her retirement. Platter holds a bachelor’s degree in French and Spanish education from Rutgers University and a master’s degree in educational administration and supervision from Montclair State University. A second-generation Holocaust survivor, Platter said she builds success through warmth, trust and creating a safe, encouraging classroom.

“Teaching a language allows me to tap into the talents of my students,” she said. “Over my fifty years as an educator, including a decade as an adjunct professor of French, I have been continually inspired by the diverse cultural backgrounds and talents my students bring to the classroom.”

Meanwhile, Rubner has taught English at Bergen since 2023 after working in journalism, marketing, sales and as a middle-school education teacher. In the Scottsdale Unified School District in Arizona, she wrote, taught and implemented curricula in journalism and served as a co-designer of the Gifted Twice Program, an initiative that empowered students through their unique strengths and abilities. She holds a master’s degree in education from the University of Phoenix. Rubner said she approaches each day with a great sense of purpose and wonder.

“I am proud to be a teacher,” said Rubner. “It allows me the ability and privilege to make a difference in the lives of my students and in return they have made a difference in my life and profession as an educator.”

During the 48^th annual NISOD Conference, Bergen also received its “Most Promising Places to Work in Community Colleges Award” from the organization, which recognizes colleges with a demonstrated commitment to diversity through student and staff recruitment and retention practices, inclusive learning and working environments and meaningful community service and engagement opportunities. Coordinator of Adjunct Administration Michael Vivenzio accepted the award for the College. This marks the the third consecutive year Bergen has earned the award.

NISOD, a consortium of community and technical colleges committed to promoting and celebrating excellence in teaching, learning and leadership, established the Excellence Awards in 1991.

Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls more than 24,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.

# # #