Six receive 2015 College of Education and Human Ecology awards of distinction
The College of Education and Human Ecology has honored six faculty and staff members for providing outstanding service, research and teaching to their EHE colleagues and students, as well as to their profession.
"The College of Education and Human Ecology has many 'stars,' and this year's honorees represent all that is wonderful about our family," said Cheryl Achterberg, dean of EHE.
The 2015 recipients are Jackie Goodway, associate professor of human sciences, Faculty Service; Andy Zircher, director of assessment and curriculum, Staff Leadership; Sue Sutherland, associate professor of human sciences, Teaching; Belinda Gimbert, associate professor of Educational Studies, Research; Faith Haleem, fiscal officer for educational studies, Staff; and Valerie Kinloch, professor of teaching and learning and director of diversity and inclusion, Diversity Enhancement.
Each winner received a plaque and a $1,000 honorarium at the “Undisputed Champions of EHE” celebration, April 24, 2015, in Columbus.
EHE Distinguished Faculty Service Award
Jackie GoodwayAssociate Professor Jackie Goodway spends numerous hours to enhance the research environment and teacher education in the College of Education and Human Ecology. The Department of Human Sciences and the Kinesiology program benefit from her unstinting leadership.
You can’t count the amount of time she has given to the college and university. While serving on Ohio State’s Institutional Review Board, which ensures human subjects are protected, she has taken on the role of liaison. She explains the college's special needs for working with schools to IRB committee members. In turn, she helps EHE applicants manage the process.
Her role as the Sport, Physical Education and Exercise Science section head is only the latest of her many administrative posts. In each, she has streamlined paperwork and created training materials.
And while doing duty in the college and university, she travels through the United States, Japan, Indonesia and Turkey to educate government agencies, teachers and parents about the importance of motor skill development and fitness in early childhood.
EHE Distinguished Staff Leadership
Curriculum and Assessment Director Andy Zircher is invested in supporting faculty, administrators and staff in their work. He keeps data at his fingertips and swiftly provides answers.
Curriculum and assessment touches all the college does, from recruitment, to enrollment, to graduation. Zircher’s goal is to get the job done. Faculty and peers say his leadership makes it a privilege to work with him.
For Ohio State’s transition to semesters, he helped steer 1,276 EHE courses through the arduous college, university and state approval process. Curriculum management can be mysterious and complicated, but Zircher explains and guides faculty and administrators through multiple rules and steps. His checklists ensure consistency and effectiveness.
Using his careful assessment, faculty members decide what they want students to learn and how to make sure they learn it. Analysis indicates areas of success as well as need for improvement as programs are built and maintained.
EHE Distinguished Teaching Award
Associate Professor Sue Sutherland creates an emotionally and physically safe teaching environment where students share honestly, are valued and respected, agree to disagree and challenge their personal perspectives. One future educator said she “actually changed the way I look at teaching.”
She guides Adventure-Based Learning ( ABL) and physical education teacher preparation majors in examining their own attitudes to learning. And along the way, they gain insight into what kind of teachers they will be – whether in K-12 schools or as faculty members.
She constantly sees ways to improve the student experience. With multiple grants she enhances instruction. She also created an exchange with the University of Bedfordshire in Britain to give grad students international experience.
EHE Distinguished Research Award
Professor Belinda Gimbert saw districts struggling to serve disadvantaged children – handicapped by teacher turnover. She studied how to increase human capital for K-12 education while maintaining quality. Her answer was to expand the pool of candidates to new grads, mid-career professional and paraprofessionals – and combine technology with their training.
As a result, she has received $20 million if federal funding for Project KNOTtT and m-NET, which will produce 1,600 educators for schools crying out for highly qualified teachers. Data show that 95 percent of the projects’ participants will become teachers in high-need and hard-to-staff schools, and 80 percent will stay for at least three years.
Thousands of young learners benefit from Gimbert’ s work, while our society gains.
EHE Distinguished Staff Award
No matter what knotty problem is presented to Fiscal Officer Faith Haleem, she finds a way to straighten it out. She can even help co-workers in the Higher Education and Student Affairs program walk through their needs until they can frame the right questions.
Even when she has to say “no,” she is fair, clear and highly professional. One nominator says Faith patiently listens to rants – then gives faculty and staff the “why” of every decision while explaining the fiscal constraints.
She has educated her colleagues in budgeting, which helps them fulfill their needs within their means.
Another nominator said in a 35-year higher education career, she has “never worked with anyone who is as helpful, as dedicated, as responsive and as professional as Faith.”
EHE Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award
Staff and faculty gave Professor Valerie Kinloch a double round of applause at the April 24 celebration. They had just learned she also received Ohio State’s 2015 Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award.
She has given new energy to the college’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s mission to create a stage in EHE for honesty. She holds open conversations, implemented monthly recognition of faculty and staff, ODI Faculty Fellows, built networks for undergrads and graduate students, and more.
All the innovations build on her long commitment to opening the door to social justice in student and colleagues’ personal as well professional lives. She motivates others to take a stand. As one nominator said, she reflects “the possibility, the hope and the promise” of being a leader and humanitarian.
To accomplish her goals, she created spaces where it is safe for professors, staff and students to interact in meaningful ways. And she takes those spaces with her in her teaching, writing and studies.