Massage therapy professor receives Morrisville State College’s Distinguished Faculty Award
Laurie A. Zbock of Madison has been named Morrisville State College’s Distinguished Faculty Award recipient for 2018.
The award is presented annually to a faculty member who displays professional growth, personal and professional achievement and has provided outstanding service to the college. She will be recognized during the college’s 107th commencement ceremony on May 5 at 1 p.m. in the Recreation Center.
Zbock, associate professor and chair of the Massage Therapy Department, joined the Morrisville faculty in 2007.
An alumna of the program, Zbock has been instrumental in developing the curriculum through the creation and revision of a variety of courses. She has also developed self-care regimens for her students to promote wellness.
Zbock has also provided her students with real-world experience, chaperoning them at several statewide conventions such as the New York State American Massage Therapy Association Convention in Syracuse, New York, and the National Massage Therapy Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Additionally, her students have been chosen to represent Morrisville at the SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference, where she served as their faculty advisor.
A Continuing Education Provider for New York State Massage Therapy, Zbock also created a continuing education program at Morrisville, which offers six continuing education classes to graduates and other therapists in the surrounding community.
Her dedication to the college is further evidenced through her service on countless college committees. The chair of the School of Science & Technology Promotion Committee, Zbock is also the current vice president and past treasurer for the Morrisville Auxiliary Corporation Board while also serving on the Phi Theta Kappa Advisory Board. She was also chair of both the Student Affairs Committee and the Continuing Appointment Committee.
A member of the college’s Massage Therapy Advisory Board, Zbock is also former advisor to the Massage Therapy Club, a past member of Faculty Congress and served as an FFA workshop leader.
Always on the quest to enhance her knowledge, she is a regular attendee of the National Massage Therapy Schools Summit and the Annual Massage Therapy Council of Educator’s Conference. A member of the American Massage Therapy Association, she has also attended the association’s National Convention for national continuing education certification.
Zbock is also active in college life and the local community, engaging her students in many community service initiatives through the Hope Network, athletics events on- and off-campus, numerous health and wellness fairs, county health department events and The Great New York State Fair. She also regularly organizes multiple massage events on campus for students, faculty and staff.
A past member of the Madison Central School Board of Education, Zbock is also chair of the Morrisville State College Children’s Center Board of Directors and a member of the Children’s Center Board of Directors Finance Committee.
Zbock holds many specialty certifications, including CPR teacher, yoga teacher training, prenatal massage, infant massage (parent educator and practitioner), lomilomi (Hawaiian massage), aromatherapy, eastern massage theory and practice, eastern meridian study and pathology study.
Zbock earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in massage therapy from Morrisville in 2004, along with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology (2005) and a Master of Science in science (2008), both from Utica College.
Zbock and her husband, Jason, currently reside in Madison, where she maintains a private massage therapy and yoga practice.