2004 Distinguished Alumni Award Winners
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.
Crystal Apple Award - Karen L. Rutter
Professional Achievement Award – Sally Krisel
Alumni Service Award - Cecile Waronker
Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award – Wally Bassett
Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award – Deborah Dillon
Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award – Sharon Webber
Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award – Roger Winston
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.
Professional Achievement Award
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.
Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award
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.