School of Education Achievement Awards announced

A Madison teacher will be among those receiving alumni awards from the UW–Madison’s School of Education on May 9.

Donald Hunt, a long-time teacher and chair of the art department at Madison West High School, will receive one of two Outstanding Recent Graduate Awards. Hunt received a master of arts degree in 1988 and a master of fine arts in 1989, both from UW–Madison’s art department. During his tenure at West, Hunt has been responsible for numerous innovations, including the school’s studio for ceramics and sculpture and its art gallery. Among the honors he has received are the Madison Public Schools Distinguished Service Award and the award for Wisconsin’s Secondary Art Educator of the Year.

The other recipient of the Outstanding Recent Graduate Award is Alison Price, a teacher at Lincoln Elementary School, an innovative choice school in Mundelein, Ill.

Receiving alumni achievement awards will be: Donald Dessart, a professor of mathematics and mathematics education at the University of Tennessee, whose scholarly writings and reviews of research have received international attention; Barry Franklin, a professor of education at the University of Michigan-Flint, who is widely known for his historical research on special education and on the school curriculum; Randall Parker, a professor in the department of special education at the University of Texas and a prominent leader in rehabilitation counseling; and Larry Toothaker, a professor of psychology at the University of Oklahoma and a highly acclaimed researcher specializing in quantitative methods.

Susan Fish, a second-grade teacher at the Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle, will receive the Lois Gadd Nemec Award, given to distinguished alumni of the elementary-education program.

The awards presentation will take place May 9 at 9:30 a.m. in 204 Educational Sciences Building, 1025 W. Johnson St., as part of the School of Education’s annual alumni weekend program. The guest speaker will be Gloria Ladson-Billings, UW- Madison professor of curriculum and instruction, who will speak about “Expert Teachers for ALL Students.”

On April 29 the School of Education presented its annual Distinguished Achievement Awards to six members of the UW–Madison faculty and staff. They were Lisa Armstrong, administrative assistant in the Consortium for Policy Research in Education in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research; Jack Damer, professor of art; George Kliminski, clinical professor of educational administration; Ginny Moore Kruse, director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center; Kenneth Thomas, professor of rehabilitation psychology and special education; and Sandra Treptow, budget and personnel coordinator in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.