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Arizona Private School Association Awards Collins College Interior Design Instructor Trudy Christ-Taddeo Teacher of the Year

Tempe, Arizona (June 4, 2008) - Trudy Kathryn Christ-Taddeo, ASID, IIDA, IDEC, an interior design instructor at Collins College, took top honors at the annual Arizona Private School Association (APSA) awards ceremony. Christ-Taddeo was named Teacher of the Year.

The APSA is the oldest and largest association of private post-secondary schools in Arizona, with more than 56 member schools and more than 40 associate members who provide valuable products and services to the private post-secondary sector. There are approximately 164 private schools operating in over Arizona. These schools enroll almost 230,000 students at any given time. More students are enrolled in Arizona private proprietary institutions than the state university systems combined.

Christ-Taddeo was nominated by Catherine Pliess, Collins' interior design department chair, based on her outstanding student evaluations and her ability to relate what students are learning to real life experience. Collins offers a Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design. Christ-Taddeo employs hands-on projects and has students participate in a number of out-of-class activities.

According to Pliess, "Trudy is extremely active with her students. It is not unusual for her to spend her Saturdays taking her students to different events that will assist them professionally. In addition, she is quite creative in the classroom, which is illustrated by the quality of her students' projects."

Christ-Taddeo has been an instructor at Collins for two years. Before joining Collins, she worked with design firms in Arizona and New York and has more than 12 years of professional experience. Christ-Taddeo teaches a range of interior classes from basic interior design to advanced courses. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Christ-Taddeo heads up the internship program required by all interior design students. She is also the faculty advisor for the American Society of Interior Designers' Student Chapter.

Christ-Taddeo has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design from the New York Institute of Technology. Professional memberships include the International Interior Design Association, American Society for Interior Designers and Interior Design Educator's Council.

About Collins College
Collins College, a school of design and technology, provides students with a career-focused education. Approximately 2,000 students from across the nation attend Collins College. Collins offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in game design, visual arts with a major in game art, graphic design, interior design, film & video production, and a Bachelor of Science in information technology. Associate degrees are offered in information technology, digital video production and graphic design. Collins is part of the Career Education Corporation network of schools (NASDAQ: CECO). For more information, visit www.collinscollege.edu.

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