Jun 23, 2022
LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 23, 2022) – The University of Kentucky Alumni Association started the Great Teacher Award program in 1961 to honor excellent teaching at the university. There have been 307 teachers honored since that first year. Nominations may only be submitted by current students.
To receive the award, a candidate must:
- Hold the rank of full-time lecturer or above and have been a member of the faculty for the past three years at UK.
- Have superior knowledge of the subject matter.
- Have original and innovative classroom presentations.
- Demonstrate concern for students, both inside and outside the classroom setting.
- Not have been a recipient of the award for the past 10 years.
A committee of the UK Alumni Association Board of Directors and a representative from the student organization Omicron Delta Kappa select the recipients based on objective rating and ranking of the eligible nominations submitted.
This episode of Behind the Blue spotlights one of the 2022 Great Teacher Award winners. Beth Rous, from the UK College of Education, has spent her career working to advance knowledge on how people design and lead complex human service systems. She believes that all children have a right to high quality educational experiences and has generated more than $98 million in grants and contracts to help realize this vision.
A professor in the Department of Educational Leadership Studies, Rous teaches courses in research methods. She earned her bachelor’s degree in learning disabilities, moderate disabilities and elementary education from Morehead State University; her master’s in special education: interdisciplinary early childhood education; and her doctorate in instruction and administration from the University of Kentucky. Rous serves as a research and policy associate at the Human Development Institute, serving as the founding director for the Kentucky Partnership for Early Childhood Services from 1996-2017. She is a technical advisor/consultant for the U.S. Department of Education and Health and Human Services.
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