SANFORD - Morgan Steele, Marketing Coordinator/Web Developer with Central Carolina Community College's Marketing and Public Affairs Department, has been named the college's Staff Member of the Year for 2014-2015.

Steele is the college's nominee for the North Carolina Community College System's 2015 Staff Member of the Year Award.

"Mr. Steele is an extraordinarily self-motivated employee who works at the highest level of excellence," said CCCC President Dr. Bud Marchant. "His redesign of the college's website included a multi-platform layout that works not only on computers, but also mobile phones and tablets. His skill and ability also saved the college the significant cost of having to out-source the redesign."

Steele also was an integral part of developing the college's mobile application, an innovation that only exists at a small number of community colleges in North Carolina.

Steele's creativity was indispensable during the development of a new, award-winning college logo and branding guidelines to shape the future direction of the college.

Steele also has taken time to work with a variety of students on website-related projects. Through this process, the students have gained skills, knowledge, information resources, and high standards of performance. They have applied these things, resulting in greater quality and quantity in their web-related work.

Daisha Gaines, CCCC's Associate Director of Human Resources, says that Steele was nominated and selected by his colleagues. "Mr. Steele has taken on many varied responsibilities at the college," said Gaines. "His efforts have been beneficial in many areas."

Steele said he is very honored and humbled to accept this college award. "I have the opportunity to work with an amazing group of people who this award would not have been possible without," he said.

Steele has won national and regional awards from the National Council For Marketing And Public Relations, including recognition for mobile application, logo design, promotion campaign for a special event, online newsletter, and others.

Celia Hurley, CCCC Vice Presidential of Institutional Advancement (retired), said of Steele: "First and foremost, Morgan is focused on the college's success. His actions and attitude reveal an individual who is deeply committed to achieving departmental and institutional goals. Morgan is willing to contribute in any way needed, whether it involves deciphering the complexity of website analytics or supporting a 5K event by erecting tents for runners."

MontE Christman, CCCC's Associate Director & System Administrator, Information Technology, said that Steele is often seen assisting others with projects or workloads of their own. "Morgan is the kind of person that will jump in and help where help is needed, without needing it to be part of his job description," he said. "Whether it is a subject he is skilled in, or just that he is the closest pair of hands in proximity, Morgan is never afraid to lending a hand."

Amanda Carter, CCCC's Director of Distance Education and Instructional Technology, said she has worked with Steele for the past seven years. " ... I have been able to observe his strive to develop and discover even better designs, materials, and resources for both print and web. His continued growth as marketing coordinator shows his dedication and passion to his work."

Steele serves as webmaster of the Public Relations Information & Marketing Association and is a member of the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations.

Steele, a 2006 graduate (BFA in Art Design) of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, has been at CCCC since 2006.