College Honors
Seven Distinguished Alumni With Special Awards
Seven alumni were honored for their career achievement by
UGA’s College of Education on April 21 with the presentation
of special awards at the college’s annual Spring Celebration
to recognize faculty accomplishments and retirees.
Karen L. Rutter, (MEd
‘82, EdS ‘83, EdD ‘98) of Snellville, Career and Technical
Education Coordinator for the Walton County School System,
received the Crystal Apple Award, an honor given to
an alumnus in K-12 education who has made a significant impact
on student, school or school district performance.
Rutter, who received national board certification in 2002,
was selected as one of the top 20 teachers in the country
as a USA Today First Team teacher in 2001. Her program in
early childhood education at Loganville High School was chosen
as “Exemplary” by the National Centers for Career and Technical
Education in 2001. She received the Atlanta Journal Constitution Honor Teacher
Award in 2000 and 1995, and was Walton County Teacher of the
Year in 1991 and 1986.
Sally Krisel, (EdD ‘00) of Athens, the Gifted Education
Specialist at the Georgia Department of Education, received
the Professional Achievement Award, an honor given to alumni
for distinguished service in the diverse fields of academia,
healthcare, business or government.
Krisel provides technical assistance to Georgia school systems
and Regional Education Service Agencies to help implement
education department rules and state laws guiding gifted education
programs. She assists Georgia school districts with the development
of assessment and identification procedures, curriculum guides,
instructional delivery models, and professional development
activities for gifted education teachers.
She has been recognized with several awards for her work in
gifted education and was selected for first cadre of Nationally
Certified Trainers in the National Association for Gifted
Children’s Parallel Curriculum Model in 2002. She taught K-12
in both public and private schools in Athens for 13 years.
She received the Clarke County Foundation for Excellence in
Teaching Award in 1990 and was Clarke County Teacher of the
Year in 1989-90.
Cecile Waronker, (BSEd ‘57) of Atlanta, now retired
after teaching for 20 years in Atlanta area schools, received
the Alumni Service Award, given to an alumni that has demonstrated
outstanding and continued dedication in service and/or philanthropy.
As a UGA student in the 1950s, Waronker served on the College
of Education Student Council and was active in several educational
organizations on campus. She taught for 20 years in the DeKalb
County School System, the Atlanta School System and a private
school in Atlanta.
She was appointed by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan
to the Presidential Scholars Commission. Waronker has served
on the College of Education’s Scholarship Committee for the
past few years and currently serves on the College’s Capital
Campaign Development Board.
Four alumni were recognized with Lifetime Achievement Alumni
Awards, an honor given to senior alumni who demonstrate outstanding
success in the diverse fields of academia, healthcare, business
or government. This year’s winners are:
Wally Bassett, (MEd,
‘73) of Warner Robins, principal of Centerville Elementary
School in Houston County for 28 years. The school is a Georgia
School of Excellence and was selected as a National Blue Ribbon
School, ranking it among the top two percent of schools in
the nation.
Colleagues, parents and co-workers praise Bassett for his
active role in all aspects of the school operation, his leadership-by-example
and an unyielding quest for excellence.
Deborah Dillon, (PhD
‘85) of Edina, MN, professor and chair of the department of
curriculum and instruction at the University of Minnesota.
Dillon has been a leading teacher and researcher in the field
of literacy teacher education over the past 20 years. She
has served as editor for The Journal of Research in Science
and The Reading Teacher. She received an outstanding teaching
award from Purdue University where she served as associate
dean for research and development from 1993-97.
Sharon Webber, (BSEd ‘80) of Greenville, S.C., who
co-founded Super Duper Publications with her husband, Thomas
Webber, in 1986. For the past 19 years she has authored
and created a wide variety of innovative educational materials
for speech-language pathologists, special educators, teachers
and parents. In 1997, her company established the University Partner
Program for all accredited Masters level speech-language training
programs in the U.S. and Canada. This program has donated
millions of dollars worth of complimentary therapy and educational
materials used by student clinicians in training. She established
a scholarship in 1998 at UGA for graduate students in speech-language
pathology. In addition, she established scholarships at the
University of Notre Dame and the University of South Carolina
School of Law.
Roger Winston, (PhD
‘73) of Athens, a UGA faculty member for 24 years, has been
recognized nationally, regionally and locally as an outstanding
researcher and teacher in the field of student affairs. The
excellence of his work is reflected in the several major awards
he was won over his career and capped off by the National
Association of Student Personnel Administrators’ Outstanding
Contributions to Literature and Research Award in 2003.
2004 Spring Celebration
Program pdf
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
WRITER: Michael Childs,
706/542-5889, mchilds@coe.uga.edu
CONTACT: Karen Watkins,
706/542-4355, kwatkins@coe.uga.edu