Since 2002, Chan Sommers, the College of Education's 2007 recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Award for Visiting Faculty has been a key player in the Department Human Resource Education. Chan, through her long professional and academic experience, combined with a commitment to her students' success, has helped create an environment where practice and theory combine to create opportunities. From course development to creating new relationships across the campus with groups such as the Illinois Fire Institute and University Housing, Chan has constantly worked to bring classroom experiences into line with real world practices. One of her former students probably describes it best. “Dr. Sommers is rigorous, demanding, caring and professional in everything she does. She is an outstanding role model for her students and epitomizes the kind of human resource professional I hope to become.”