Emporian is Kansas Master Teacher
Special to The Gazette
Originally published 01:06 p.m., January 22, 2008
Updated 01:06 p.m., January 22, 2008
Emporia State University professor Kenna Reeves has been named a Kansas Master Teacher for 2008.
Names of the seven winning teachers were announced this morning by Emporia State University.
Other winners are: Alice Bertels, Auburn-Washburn School District; Lisa Colwell, Hays High School; Lori Goodson, Wamego High School; Ronda Hassig, Harmony Middle School, Blue Valley District; Deborah Nauerth, Amanda Arnold, Bluemont, and Lee Elementary Schools, Manhattan-Ogden School District; and Shannon Ralph, Dodge City.
The winners will receive their awards during a dinner on Feb. 27, after a day of activities in their honor on-campus.
Reeves has been an instructor in the communications department at ESU for more than 20 years. She previously taught at Emporia, Chase County, El Dorado and Wabaunsee high schools.
She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from ESU.
She is co-chair of the ESU Strategic Planning Task Force and is a member of the academic review university-wide committee and has been recognized for her abilities as an academic advisor.
Reeves was Educator of the Year in 2003 and received the Xi Phi Outstanding Faculty Award in 2001 for overall commitment, the “Make a Difference” award in 1998, and the Outstanding Advisor Award from the National Academic Advising Association in 1994.
Colleagues wrote letters of support for Reeves’ nomination for the award.
“She encourages her students to think, to make connections, to practice, and to feel that if they make mistakes they will not be ridiculed or treated negatively. What a gift she possesses; the love for her students and the love for teaching,” one wrote.
Another commended her for successes in high school and university settings, and for her “legacy of training teachers ... ”
“She has begun a legacy of training teachers to be successful teachers in the public schools,” the colleague wrote.
The Kansas Master Teacher Award will celebrate its 55th anniversary this year. ESU has honored 401 teachers since the annual award was founded in 1954.
Kansas Master Teachers are educators who have “served the profession long and well, and who also typify the good qualities of earnest and conscientious teachers,” committee chairman Lori Mann said.
The master teachers will present a seminar, “Teachers: Lighting the Way,” from 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. Feb. 27 in the Walter and E.C. Jones Conference Center in Visser Hall as part of induction-day activities. The seminar and a reception from 5:15 to 6 p.m. in the Kanza Room are open to the public.
Other activities will include a tour of the National Teachers Hall of Fame and the one-room schoolhouse on campus, lunch with President Michael Lane and the awards dinner.
Reservations are required for the dinner and must be made by 5 p.m. on Feb. 15. Information is available online at www.emporia.edu/teach/dean/master.