Soo-Young Hong receives faculty excellence award from Great Plains IDEA


Soo-Young Hong

Soo-Young Hong receives faculty excellence award from Great Plains IDEA

14 May 2020    

Soo-Young Hong, associate professor in the Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies in the College of Education and Human Sciences, has received the 2020 faculty excellence award from the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (IDEA). 

As part of Great Plains IDEA, Hong teaches in the early childhood education in a mobile society program offered collaboratively online by seven universities. Since joining the program in 2011, she has served as one of its founding members, led program-defining initiatives, and demonstrated a steadfast commitment to the student experience.

“Dr. Hong’s contribution to the development and implementation of the Great Plains IDEA’s first bachelor’s degree, early care and education for a mobile society, has been pivotal to the successful launch and growth of this valuable program,” said Hope Gerde, associate professor at Michigan State University, about Hong’s commitment to program development.

Hong serves as the assessment coordinator in the program, where she leads initiatives in program evaluation and assessment. Within this role, she developed the program’s multipronged practicum evaluation, which is deeply rooted in research and provides a high touch approach throughout all points of the student’s academic journey.

Hong consistently collaborates with her colleagues at Nebraska and within the alliance. She developed a new faculty onboarding process that includes an orientation and a formal introduction to program faculty and staff. These are all processes that are now implemented across multiple universities within the early care and education for a mobile society program. 

“She is an asset to have on our team and I know moving forward she will continue to contribute to the accomplishments of our program in remarkably meaningful ways,” Gerde said.

Hong received the faculty excellence award at the Great Plains IDEA online annual conference April 20, 2020. It comes with a $2,000 cash award.

Through Great Plains IDEA, 17 accredited member institutions and two accredited affiliate institutions, in various combinations, offer online courses in 18 academic programs. Students can choose from 11 online degrees and 15 online certificates. The University of Nebraska–Lincoln participates in eight human sciences programs and five agricultural programs through the consortium. To take part in the inter-institutional programs, a student chooses one partner as a home institution for enrollment, transcript, and graduation.         


College of Education and Human Sciences
Child, Youth and Family Studies