Nicolet College Information Technology Instructor Scott Biscobing was recently honored with two prominent awards, one for his teaching skills in the classroom and the second for his work connecting students with jobs in the IT field.

“Scott is so much more than a very capable instructor,” said Nicolet College President Richard Nelson. “These two honors, given by different organizations, recognize the many dimensions Scott brings to higher education and his strong commitment to students during every step of their journey at Nicolet.”

The Wisconsin Technical College System honored Scott with the statewide Information Technology Outstanding Service award.

That honor was followed with the Reaching Out award from the Interface Project, a federally-funded grant program that, in part, connects IT students with employers early in their academic careers.

“Scott is a highly-skilled professional who always puts students first,” said Nicolet Dean Emily Stuckenbruck, who nominated him for the statewide WTCS award.

“He’s incredibly thoughtful in his approach to education and is always up to date with the latest advancements in the rapidly changing IT field. The real winners are his students. They graduate with great skills and consistently thrive when they enter the workplace.”

Biscobing has been teaching Information Technology at Nicolet College for 18 years. Before that he worked for Ministry Health Care, starting as a biomedical electronics technician in the early 1990s. At that time computer networking was just beginning to come on strong. With a long-standing interest in computers, he saw this as an opportunity and migrated over to IT, becoming one of the health care provider’s first network systems analysts, a position he held for seven years before becoming a member of Nicolet faculty.

“If there’s anything I like more than information technology, it’s teaching people about IT,” said Biscobing, who holds a master’s degree in Technologies Management from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. “I love seeing the lights go on in students’ eyes. You can just tell when they first understand a difficult concept and everything just clicks. It makes all of the hard work worthwhile. For me, personally, it’s incredibly rewarding when that happens.”

Biscobing also receives high marks from his students.

“It’s easy to tell that Scott really cares about each and every one of his students,” said Argonne resident Kelly Heidenreich, who is studying to be a network technician. “He genuinely wants to see every one of us succeed.”

Neil Breitenfeld, from Tomahawk, is in his second semester of the IT program, also studying to be a network technician.

“Scott is very easy to relate to and is very approachable,” Breitenfeld said. “When you are having a problem understanding something, he won’t give you the answer. But he will guide you to the answer, making sure we can solve issues on our own. I’m absolutely confident that the skills I’m learning will get me a job in the IT field.”