Dr. Linda Norris, a faculty member in the English Department, has been named the 2009 Teacher Educator of the Year by the ϳԹ Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators, a state unit of the Association of Teacher Educators and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
Criteria for the award include professional preparation, degrees and certifications, professional experience, scholarship, and service.
“It is gratifying and humbling to receive an honor for doing the work that you are passionate about,” Norris said. “I share this award with all those who have dedicated their time and efforts to teaching, scholarship, and service for improvements in training and high-quality mentoring of both new and experienced teachers.”
Norris received bachelor's degrees in English and French from Penn State, a Master of Education in language communications, and a Ph.D. in instruction and learning from the University of Pittsburgh, where she received the Outstanding Dissertation Award.
She has been a teacher educator at IUP for eighteen years and directed the undergraduate English education program for the past twelve years.
With coauthor Dr. sj Miller, Norris received the 2007 Richard A. Meade Award from the National Council of Teachers of English, recognizing excellence in English education research for their book Unpacking the Loaded Teacher Matrix: Negotiating Space and Time Between University and Secondary English Classrooms (2007, Peter Lang).
This is the second time the ϳԹ Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators has recognized an IUP faculty member with this honor. Dr. Valeri Heltebran, a member of the Professional Studies in Education faculty, won the award in 2005.