Rushe Hudzinski selected as STC’s 2020 Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Savannah Technical College Business Management instructor Rushe Hudzinski has been selected as STC’s 2020 Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year. The Rick Perkins Award for Excellence in Technical Instruction honors outstanding faculty members at each of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) institutions. She will represent Savannah Technical College in the statewide competition.

“Ms. Hudzinski’s professional excellence and service in the classroom, as well as the local community, combined with her passion for helping students achieve their dreams and goals for college, career and life make her the perfect ambassador for technical education across the state,” said STC President Dr. Kathy Love.

Hudzinski has been an instructor at Savannah Technical College since 2010 when she began working as an adjunct instructor. She became a full-time instructor in 2016. Leading up to this transition, Hudzinski was Chief Human Resources Consultant for New South Financial Group. Before coming to New South she served as the Director of Human Resources for Effingham County Board of Commissioners and oversaw personnel matters concerning the County Staff, Elected Officials and Constitutional Officers.

Prior, Hudzinski was the Training and Development, Staffing/Faculty Coordinators at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She served as a District Recruiting Specialist for Eddie Bauer, South East Region and held positions in several management capacities in the apparel, home and outlet divisions. Her early positions in management have retail and hospitality influence to include Talbots, Paradise Island Resort and Casino, the Hilton Corporation, and Walt Disney World.

At Savannah Technical College, she serves as a SkillsUSA advisor for the Entrepreneurship state competition team and is vice-president for the STC Faculty Senate. 

She serves as a board member for Heads-Up Guidance Services (HUGS). She is also a member of the following organizations: Lions Club of Savannah, Savannah Area Employer Committee, Association of Georgia Contractors, and Society of Human Resources Management.

She is a graduate of Elmira College where she earned a bachelor’s of science degree in International Business and Marketing. She completed her MBA at Syracuse University and participated in the international graduate programs in England and Italy. She currently holds the Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR) and is a graduate of Leadership Southeast Georgia.

HR on Campus and CUPA-HR have recognized Hudzinski’s development of training programs in customer service and human resources office staff organization regionally and nationally. Two of Hudzinski’s community projects for Human Resources, Preserving Human Capital – An Active Shooter Response and the Community HR Collaboration Project, have won Best in Georgia and been a two-time recipient of the SHRM National Pinnacle Award. Her articles on human resource management trends and strategies are featured twice per year in Workplace Health magazine. Early in her career she received the Eddie Bauer Stine Award for her work in employee training, talent acquisition, and district revenue performance.

The Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year award has been an ongoing statewide event since 1991 and is designed to recognize technical college instructors who make significant contributions to technical education through innovation and leadership in their fields.  Formerly known as the Commissioner’s Award of Excellence, the Rick Perkins Award was renamed in memory and honor of Thomas “Rick” Perkins, an instructor at West Central Technical College, now West Georgia Technical College, who received the Commissioner’s Award of Excellence prior to his untimely death. TCSG provides oversight for the Rick Perkins Award program through the system office’s programming staff, the presidents’ Academic Improvement committee and the state planning committee.

###      

#2025 | February 17, 2020

Media Contact: Amy Shaffer, APR
912.443.5512 or ashaffer@savannahtech.edu