Schools
O'Fallon Professor Wins Instructor Of The Year
Tabitha White receives major award from the Missouri Association of Private Career Colleges and Schools.
O’Fallon, MO resident Tabitha White was recently honored for her efforts in teaching criminal justice.
White teaches at Anthem College in Maryland Heights. The Missouri Association of Private Career Colleges and Schools awarded White the Instructor of the Year award. The award was made public on April 21 at an Anthem faculty meeting.
“I was so excited,” White said. “It was a very emotional thing for me, and I teared up. I didn’t realize how important it was until I received it.”
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An Anthem employee nominated White for the Instructor of the Year award. Anthem’s students, faculty and staff then wrote recommendations and submitted them to MAPCC on White’s accomplishments. White said it was an honor to be chosen for the award out of all the teachers in career colleges in Missouri. She delivered a speech at an award dinner in front of Anthem staff and faculty at Harrah’s casino in Maryland Heights last Friday.
“One of the students said in their recommendation that I am Anthem College,” she said. “It was a wonderful feeling.”
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The O’Fallon resident started teaching at Anthem four years ago. Before teaching, she spent 20 years working in corrections, law enforcement and mental health. White graduated from Wentzville High School in 1986 and earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Missouri, St. Louis in 1990.
After college she worked at the Missouri Hills child detention facility in Bellefontaine Neighbors for two years. Following her stint at Missouri Hills, she worked eight years at the Crider Center, a facility for mentally ill adults in Wentzville. White graduated from the Eastern Missouri Police Academy in St. Charles and spent eight years working as a police officer in O’Fallon. She also earned a master's degree in human resource management from Lindenwood College in St. Charles in 1998.
“Making the transition to law enforcement wasn’t that bad,” she said. “Many of the criminals I encountered were mentally ill and I had experience in that. I knew how to handle those crises situations.”
White was an experienced teacher before starting at Anthem. She trained O’Fallon police officers in crime scene technology.
“Teaching is something I love,” she said. “When I teach in the classroom the only real difference in it and teaching as a police officer is that I have more people in the classroom.”