Madison educators to be honored

Two Madison educators, Gerhard Fischer and Dina Weinbach, are among the seven people to be honored Saturday, May 13, with the School of Education‘s highest alumni awards.

Fischer, an education consultant with the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), will receive the Outstanding Recent Graduate Award. Weinbach, program director at the Madison Jewish Community Council, will receive the Lois Gadd Nemec Distinguished Elementary Education Alumni Award.

During his eight years as a German language consultant with DPI, Fischer significantly changed the face of German education in Wisconsin. Among his many contributions, he initiated partner-school connections between the Badger state and Germany, developed e-mail exchanges linking Wisconsin and German classrooms, and created study-abroad opportunities for teachers. Fischer received his Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University in 1996.

Weinbach received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UW–Madison. As program director at the Madison Jewish Community Council, she supervises all of the organization’s educational programs, including a summer camp serving more than 500 campers, a preschool, family education programs, and programs for teens and adults. Weinbach’s past honors include induction into the Atlanta Public School District’s Hall of Fame.

Other award recipients include those receiving Alumni Achievement Awards: Elfrieda Hiebert, University of Michigan professor and reading expert who will give the award program’s address on “The Reading Wars”; David Berlow, a typeface designer who developed fonts for Apple Computer and was a pioneer in converting metal typefaces into computer fonts; Rod Dishman, professor of exercise science at the University of Georgia and authority on exercise adherence; and David Marsh, professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Southern California, and expert on school restructuring and teacher professional development. Tim Glenn, a dancer and choreographer who unites the worlds of art and technology, will receive an Outstanding Recent Graduate Award.

The free program is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 13, in 204 Educational Sciences Building, 1025 West Johnson St. Information: (608) 265-7875, or visit: http://www.education.wisc.edu