Scollay recipient of Great Teacher Award

The University of Kentucky Alumni Association presented Susan Scollay, associate professor in the College of Education and pioneering teacher and researcher in graduate level distance learning programs, with a 2002 Great Teacher Award on Tuesday, February 19, 2002. She was one of six university professors to receive the honor.

Scollay is the sixth faculty member from the College of Education to receive a Great Teacher Award and the first to be honored from either of her two departments:  Administration & Supervision (EDA) and Educational Policy Studies & Evaluation (EPE). In her acceptance speech, Scollay expressed appreciation to the selection committee for recognizing a professor who teaches exclusively at the graduate level. She also recognized and thanked Jenny Hoobler, a doctoral student in the Gatton School of Business and Economics, who led the team of a dozen EDA and EPE graduate students and doctoral graduates who nominated Scollay for the Great Teacher award.

The Great Teacher award is the oldest, continuously given award at the University of Kentucky and arguably one of the highest honors conferred on university faculty. All nominations come fromstudents. Recipients are chosen by the UK Alumni Association’s Great Teacher Award committee in cooperation with two student organizations: Omicron Delta Kappa and Mortar Board.

UK President Lee Todd, himself a Great Teacher award recipient in 1982, remarked that the Great Teacher award is very important because it recognizes faculty for their teaching, a quality he said should be placed above research and service in the University’s progress toward top 20 status.Scollay joined the faculty  just as the first doctoral program dependent upon  distance learning technology was being offered through the College of Education. With no models anywhere from which to work, Scollay helped develop and propel distance learning doctoral programming to excellence through her dedication and creativity. She has also served as a director of graduate studies for nine years.  Thus far, Scollay  has chaired the  doctoral committees of 14 students who have completed their doctoral work successfully, and she has served as an Advisory Committee member for another 31 students have earned their doctoral degrees at the University of Kentucky.

“She [Scollay] talked me through a dissertation related conflict that had the potential to terminate my progress toward a doctorate. Through her listening ear, level-headed analysis, and sympathetic advice, like many of her mentees, my degree is soon to become a reality,” noted one student nominator. In addition to a citation and plaque, recipients of the Great Teacher also earn a $2000 cash award.

Other College of Education Great Teacher Recipients: Rayma Beal – 1999, Charles Byers – 1976 and 1988,  Albert Levy – 1963 and 1970, Angene Wilson – 1989, Constance Wilson – 1977.

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