Tia Maria Como

Tia really cares about her students and enjoys being involved in their activities.  As a Professor of Civil Engineering Technology and the award-winning advisor for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Student Chapter, she spendt a lot of time with students in class and out of class, and that is important to her.  Her efforts have paid off.  During her tenure, the ASCE Student Chapter was the 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2016 runner up to the top national award, the Ridgeway Award, given by the ASCE Committee on Student Members (CSM), and received the Zone IV Governor's award in 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2016.  Out of 300+ student chapters nationwide, the chapter has received national awards for their overall activities which include professional, service, and social activities, every year except one, since its inception.  In addition, Fairmont State represented the entire region at the National Concrete Canoe Competitions for 14 consecutive years and has been the only West Virginia college invited to this event.  Continuing this trend, the chapter remains successful and holds the record for consecutive appearances at the National Concrete Canoe competition.Tia, who has been a full-time professor here since 1998 also conducted research for the West Virginia Department of Highways on pile walls used to stabilize landslides, wanted to teach full-time at FSU because of its smaller class sizes.  Having earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in civil engineering from WVU, she wanted to teach classes where students receive more personal attention.  For her efforts helping students, Tia was honored with the Excellence in Academic Advising Award and was nominated for the Boram and Straight teach awards twice at FSU and was honored by ASCE as Zone IV Advisor of the year.