KNOXVILLE—Five educators, including a husband-and-wife team, who have significantly influenced students’ lives will be honored Thursday, March 29, when they are inducted into the Educators Hall of Honor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The 6:30 p.m. event will take place at the UT Visitors Center, near the corner of Neyland Drive and Kingston Pike.
WBIR Channel 10 anchor Moira Kaye will preside over the ceremony.
The Educators Hall of Honor is a place to acknowledge the work of professionals who have established themselves in the field of education. It is open to any professional in the United States, and members have come from throughout Tennessee and the nation. It has featured educators from elementary school to college ranks, coaches, organizations, and non-traditional educators who have made an impact on improving education. The hall is housed in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences.
Nominations are made with a contribution of at least $1,000, which supports an endowed scholarship fund. The $2,000 scholarship recipient this year is Tiffany McLean, an assistant principal at Knox County’s Ritta Elementary School. She chose to pursue a doctorate after completing the college’s Leadership Academy.
The new group of honorees includes:
- Gina Barclay-McLaughlin, a retired UT professor of early childhood education. During her decades-long career, she worked with Head Start programs locally, regionally, and nationally in a variety of positions. In the mid-1980s she founded the Beethoven Project, an early intervention program which offered comprehensive services to children from birth to age 5 and their families in the Robert Taylor Homes community in Chicago, the largest public housing complex in the country. The project became the model for comprehensive child development programs across the country.
- Patricia A. Brown, a retired music supervisor for Knox County Schools. She was instrumental in developing the first curriculum guide for the school system and the state. She also served on a committee that developed the Tennessee Arts Academy. She was a special consultant for the Holt, Rinehart, and Winston and Silver Burdett music textbook companies. She served thirty-four years as an educator and later a supervisor in Knox County Schools. She has conducted and judged choruses across the state and presented clinics at state and national music conferences.
- David and Cheryl Garner, a husband-and-wife team of educators. David Garner began his career as a physical education teacher for Knoxville City Schools in the 1970s. He taught at South High School and South Middle School before going in the late 1980s to Maryville City Schools, where he eventually retired. He is currently an active substitute teacher and volunteers weekly to read to students. Cheryl Garner spent her career in Maryville City Schools as an elementary school teacher and reading teacher. She also worked with preschool students.
- Randolph Shields, a biology professor and department head at Maryville College, who will be honored posthumously. He taught lessons in the classroom and then enhanced students’ experience by taking them on weekly walks in the woods surrounding the college or for longer hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In the late 1960s, he put together a cooperative arrangement between the college and the National Park Service that designated Maryville to operate an environmental center at Tremont in the Smokies. He wrote five books, one of them on the history of Cades Cove.
The Educators Hall of Honor was founded in 2002 by C. Glennon Rowell, the late dean of the former College of Education, as a way to recognize deserving teachers and supplement the education of future students.
For more information about the hall, visit the website.
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C O N T A C T :
Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)