AUSTIN, Texas—The University of Texas at Austin’s alumni association, the Texas Exes, has chosen nine high school and two elementary school teachers from throughout Texas as winners of the 2002 Texas Excellence Awards for Outstanding Teachers.
The teachers will be honored during the Conference on Texas Excellence in Education on Feb. 21-22 at the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center on The University of Texas at Austin campus. The Men’s Intercollegiate Athletics Department sponsors the conference.
The program highlight will be the president’s dinner and awards presentation at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 22. The teachers, who were nominated by their respective principals and chosen for the award by a committee of alumni volunteers, will be recognized individually for their accomplishments as educators.
The Texas Excellence Awards are intended to recognize teachers who are supportive of their students and who bring credit and inspiration to the teaching profession.
The Texas Exes, in collaboration with the university’s College of Education, have administered the Texas Excellence Awards for Outstanding High School Teachers since 1986, honoring 156 teachers through the years. More than 2,600 teachers have received local recognition as a result of being nominated. Since 1995, the Texas Exes organization has honored elementary school teachers as well, with nominations coming from current students in the university’s College of Education.
The cumulative strength of the past years of honorees brought a new dimension to the program in 1994, when the Exxon Education Foundation sponsored the first Conference on Texas Excellence in Education. The conference, which has been held each year in conjunction with the awards ceremony in February, provides award recipients an opportunity to discuss their theories and methods of teaching.
“Conceived, designed, selected and recognized by alumni of The University of Texas at Austin, the Texas Excellence Awards for Outstanding High School Teachers are making a difference for education throughout the country,” said Carol Lamme, awards coordinator for Texas Exes.
Teachers selected for the 2002 Excellence Award for Outstanding Teachers are:
- Tom Anderson, science, Winston Churchill High School in San Antonio, the Glaxo Teaching Award.
- Darla Barker, computer science and math, Harper High School in Harper, the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Teaching Award.
- Edith Barnhart, chemistry, Memorial High School in Victoria, the Lillian B. Rhodes Teaching Award.
- Roy Burrell, government, Martin High School in Arlington, the Mrs. Harold B. Myers Teaching Award.
- Linda Culp, chemistry and physics, Thorndale High School in Thorndale, the Lillian B. Rhodes Teaching Award.
- Isela Gonzalez, English, Roma High School in Roma, the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Teaching Award.
- Mary Ledford, Latin, Roosevelt High School in San Antonio, the Lillian B. Rhodes Teaching Award.
- Bobby Pierce, biology, Whitney High School in Whitney, the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Teaching Award.
- Joseph Schottland, social studies, Lubbock High School in Lubbock, the Gordon Appleman Teaching Award.
- Roger Nelson, fourth grade, Cedar Creek Elementary in Cedar Creek, the Carolyn and Mario Benitez Teaching Award.
- Nancy Lyde, fourth grade, Baronoff Elementary School in Austin, the Verna Rogers Teaching Award.
