Mohammad Morovati, a professor at College of DuPage (COD), was one of 300+ faculty and staff members nationwide selected to receive the League for Innovation Excellence Award, recognizing excellence in community colleges. Five faculty members from COD received this award on Dec. 3, 2025.

“To be honest with you, it was a total surprise,” Morovati said. “I had no idea. I really didn’t expect it.”

The League for Innovation in the Community College Excellence Awards honor faculty and staff whose work advances innovation in teaching, focusing on students’ success and has made significant changes within their community. This year’s recognition reflects contributions across multiple departments and areas of the college. Alongside Morovati, the 2025-2026 awardees include Kathleen Hess, Debra Smith, Julie Adams and James Ferro. Each was selected through COD’s nomination process to represent the college at the national level.

Morovati teaches in the Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) department and has played a key role in expanding COD’s technology curriculum to keep up with the growing influence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) across industries. He has previously added courses on Windows, ethical hacking and JavaScript. Now, he recently developed a new Certificate in Machine Learning that teaches students how to strategically apply AI when solving complex problems. Morovati has focused on helping students develop their problem-solving skills to match industry standards, ensuring students gain more practical skills.

“We have a long road ahead with AI. It’s taking over, and it is something that you need,” Morovati said. “Whether you are working on a farm, in a pharmacy or in education, no matter what you do, AI is something you need.”

Through new programs and classes, Morovati wants to encourage students to understand how to use technology responsibly and critically so they aren’t reliant on AI, he said. COD’s AI programs are designed to prepare students for a changing workforce by teaching them how to adapt in a technology-driven world.

“You don’t want AI to do the thinking for you,” Morovati said. “You want to use it as an assistant, because in the end, you are responsible for the decisions, not the AI.”

That same student-centered mindset resonates across the work of the other award recipients. Chemistry professor Kathleen Hess said she felt both excited and proud to learn she had received the honor, particularly after discovering she had been nominated by her dean. Hess has led efforts to modernize COD’s organic chemistry laboratories, giving students hands-on experience with advanced scientific instruments typically found at four-year institutions.

“When we study molecules, we need instruments to tell us what they are,” Hess said. “When I came here, we didn’t have the right instruments to do that sort of thing.”

Through professional research and collaboration with college leadership, Hess helped secure advanced laboratory equipment, including a mass spectrometer and an upgraded nuclear magnetic resonance instrument. Both devices are now fully integrated into the organic chemistry curriculum. 

“That’s been my push since I’ve been here, to modernize the lab so that students coming to COD are getting the same type of experience as students at four-year schools,” Hess said. “Once I got here, I automatically started to work on changing experiments, making them better, easier to do and making them data-focused.”

Since joining COD staff in 2018, her passion for chemistry and hands-on learning has guided her work at COD. Hess hopes her teaching helps students rethink how they view chemistry.

“I love being in the lab,” Hess said. “I’d like more people to think that chemistry is a good subject to study. I always say [it’s] challenging, not hard. It’s definitely rewarding.”

For Debra Smith, the recognition highlights her work that connects academic research, public health and community engagement through COD’s library. Smith works as the Nursing and Health Sciences liaison librarian and was honored for leading a traveling exhibit from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) this past fall. The exhibit showcased student research, public health initiatives and community partnerships. 

“The exhibit itself is just five panels, but what it represents is much bigger than that,” Smith said. “It’s about connecting students, faculty and community to public health and the work happening at COD.”

Smith’s work with the traveling exhibit later received additional recognition. A photo collage she created from the exhibition and its related programming won an award in the Network of Illinois Learning Resources in Community Colleges annual photo contest. Smith explains that the success of the project demonstrates COD’s collaborative culture and shared commitment to student support.

“I am incredibly honored and touched by this award, but the award is a representation of all the people who helped with the NLM exhibit and those who collaborate with me on a daily basis,” Smith said. “When I say that, I don’t just mean my coworkers; I mean students that I interact with and the amazing things that they do.”

The remaining awardees, Adams and Ferro, who were contacted for comment but did not respond, were also recognized for their contributions to student learning and their contribution to the innovation at COD. Smith said this recognition highlights the importance of supportive college communities.

“You can’t be innovative unless you’re in a space that allows and embraces innovation,” Smith said. 

The awardees will be recognized at the League’s 29th annual Innovations Conference, in Indianapolis, Ind., from March 15 to 18.