The foundation selected 30 individuals from among 678 nominations nationwide to receive graduate scholarships of up to $50,000 per year for up to six years of study. Last year, awards for the first year of graduate study averaged $36,000.

            Hansen, the daughter of Anita and Thomas Hansen of Springfield, Mo., graduated with distinction from OU in 2007 with a double major in international studies and psychology and a minor in Spanish. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in international affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in New York City.

Hansen’s career goal is to work with development and aid organizations on the design, implementation and evaluation processes pertaining to displaced persons and refugees. She is interested in a career with such organizations as the International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps or the U.S. Agency for International Development. Next month, Hansen will complete two years in Jordan with the Peace Corps, where she teaches English as a foreign language and organizes several health initiatives.

– From University of Oklahoma public affairs

The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence presents Medals for Excellence annually to outstanding

Each honoree will receive a $5,000 cash prize and a glass “Roots and Wings” sculpture.  

A former business executive, Dr. Bhattacharya decided at age 40 to quit his career as a marketing manager to begin teaching. Through his pioneering courses in Portfolio Management I and II, students manage real money bond and stock portfolios funded by a $1 million line of credit from BancFirst. Profits from the bond portfolio have been used to fund the stock portfolio and other Cameron projects such as endowed lectureships. The classes culminate in a formal presentation to senior executives of the bank, stockholders and university officials.

Many agents from the metro area earned $500 grants for their favorite organizations. The winners and their charities are Heath Anderson of Edmond for Greyhound Pets of America’s Central Oklahoma Chapter, Monica Baker of Edmond for Autism Speaks, Chris Dykstra of Oklahoma City for Smart Start Central Oklahoma, Pat Gillespie for Oklahoma Harness Horse Association, Micha Hughs of Midwest City for Junior Hospitality Club, Jon Luecke of Edmond for Habitat for Humanity, Susan Malloy of Bethany for Must Love Dogs Rescue, Tim Missaghi for Infant Crisis Services, Roxanne Morrissey of Newcastle for the Newcastle Police Department, Cathy Polony for Oklahoma People First, Ciani Portillo for Southern Hills Elementary School, Glenda Rogers for City Care, Bobby Thompson of Edmond for the Putnam City Athletic Association Optimist Club and Nancy Vann for Distributive Education Clubs of America at Moore High School. Also, Chris Taylor, an Allstate employee with Allstate Claims operations in Oklahoma City, won a grant for volunteer work with the American Heart Association’s South Central Affiliate.

Thornburg changed her name and started a Web site by the same name to protest animal dissections in schools, according to this article.

Separately, Oklahoma City science teacher Sherry Groeger-Godwin was selected from Northeast Academy as one of 185 middle and high school teachers nationwide as a fellow in the year-long 2008 New Science Teacher Academy. The program is designed to curb what the National Science Teachers Association says is a high attrition rate of science teachers.

Groeger-Godwin is one of four teachers selected from Oklahoma. The others are Holdenville resident Orvilla Coleman of Moss Public School in Holdenville, Mead resident Angela Joines of Silo Public School in Durant, and Pryor resident Leland “Terry” Newton of Union Intermediate High School in Broken Arrow.

Share your thoughts on dissections and science education in general in the comments section below.

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

The meeting started out with a rather significant turnout, and Chairman Kirk Humphreys told the crowd they made up “the greatest number of happy people I’ve seen in some time.”

The school’s choir kicked off the meeting with two songs, and first-graders from Martin Luther King Elementary School followed with one more. I don’t know what to make of it, but I did notice that only two of the twelve first-graders were boys.

The audience dwindled to just less than 50 people, including district administrators, once those presentations and the recognitions of more than 70 teachers and students were done. In other words, there were no more public comments than usual — three people spoke last night — because the meeting was held out at a school site.

Still, I liked seeing more of a school, even if the lack of wireless Internet access meant I had to wait to file my story about a truancy contract until after the meeting. (UPDATE: This link will take you to the PowerPoint presentation made to the board last night about the truancy program.)

The move also made for a little more banter among board members. At a previous meeting, Thelma Parks made a small fuss about traveling elsewhere, and Humphreys offered to pick her up and alluded to the movie Driving Miss Daisy.

“I did come as Miss Daisy, and he was really nice to me,” Parks said Monday as the meeting came to a close.

“And she was totally charming,” Humphreys cut in before Parks wound down her remarks.

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

All Kinds of Minds, a nonprofit organization that tries to help struggling students, issued a congratulations today to Sparks.

Sparks graduated from an All Kinds of Minds program called Schools Attuned and went on to become a program facilitator.

The Oklahoma City Taft Middle School teacher said the professional development she received through Schools Attuned “significantly changed” her teaching and helped her with her algebra and pre-algebra lessons.

Oklahoma was the second state to launch a statewide Schools Attuned program thanks to funding from the state Legislature and Department of Education. The funding allows people to go through the training without paying the standard $1,500 fee.

More than 2,500 Oklahoma educators have gone through the program to date. If you’re one of them, share your thoughts on the program below.

UPDATE: Sheryl Flowers with Schools Attuned called me this morning, Oct. 7, to update the number of Oklahoma educators who have gone through the program. She said it’s up to 3,904 in 231 districts.

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

The announcer joked over the loudspeaker that he felt a bit like Bob Barker just before introducing the priciest of them all: a new car!

Sparks’ entire prize package is valued at $50,000. The Oklahoma City School District, where she teaches, received an additional $5,000 cash award.

Here are the awards Sparks received:

MONETARY AWARDS
$100 savings bond, Education Retirement Services
$250 cash award, AFT-Oklahoma
$1,000 gift card, American Fidelity Assurance Company
$1,000 cash award, Stillwater National Bank of Oklahoma City
$2,000 cash award, Data Recognition Corporation
$5,000 cash award, Masonic Fraternity of Oklahoma

(When asked what his mother should do with all the money, Sparks’ youngest son, 10-year-old Harrison, told me she should give it all to him.)

UNIVERSITY AWARDS
$1,750 stipend, Marvin Stokes Endowed Lecture at East Central University
36 hours graduate tuition waiver, Oklahoma State University
36 hours graduate tuition waiver, University of Central Oklahoma
36 hours graduate tuition waiver, Northeastern State University
36 hours graduate tuition waiver and 16 hours undergraduate tuition waiver for the winner’s child or a local student, University of Oklahoma
One-year full tuition waiver for the winner’s child or a local student, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma

INSTRUCTIONAL AWARDS
One year of professional services, AFT-Oklahoma
One year of professional services, Oklahoma Education Association
One year of professional services, Professional Oklahoma Educators
Classroom Performance System, eInstruction
SMART Board with projector and accompanying software, SMART Technologies
Technology training workshops, SMARTer Kids Foundation

OTHER AWARDS
Framed certificate, Oklahoma State Fair
Glass trophy, Midwest Trophy Manufacturing Company
Rose bouquet and plaque, Professional Oklahoma Educators
Lapel pin, Oklahoma Chapter of the National State Teachers of the Year
Art print, American Fidelity Assurance Company
Book, Oklahoma Historical Society
Gift basket and one-year family zoo membership, Oklahoma City Zoological Society
Laptop computer, Oklahoma Schools Insurance Group
Toyota Prius for one year, Gulf States Toyota

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

Toyota representatives who came to Oklahoma City to present a hybrid Prius to the 2009 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year today weren’t present at the ceremony.

They were with Gulf States Toyota — based in Houston — and had to return home to clean up from Ike, said Tim O’Toole, president and general manager of the Oklahoma State Fair.

O’Toole extended some words of thanks and hope to the representatives and others in the hurricane’s path before stepping aside for the teacher recognition program to continue.

Check out NewsOK.com and tomorrow’s Oklahoman for more about the state’s new Teacher of the Year, math teacher Heather Sparks of Taft Middle School in Oklahoma City.

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

But already, the list of nearly 200 Oklahoma students who are semifinalists in the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program is out.

The 195 students are among 1,600 nationwide who will go on to compete for $35 million in college scholarships. About half will win, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

I did a few breakdowns of the list of Oklahoma semifinalists:
   143 attend public schools.
   42 attend private schools.
   9 are homeschooled.
   1 goes to a charter school.

Three schools yielded more than 10 semifinalists:
   The Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, with 22.
   Jenks High School, with 14.
   Holland Hall School in Tulsa, with 13.

The students qualified by earning the highest scores among state test-takers on the 2007 Preliminary SAT exam.

The list of seniors will be narrowed down to a list of finalists before the scholarship winners are announced in the coming months.

Click here for a list of all the Sooner semifinalists.

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

A middle school social studies teacher in New Jersey was named as the 2008 Outstanding Young Educator. Now, the organization that bestows the title – the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development – is taking nominations for 2009.

The organization will, for the first time, honor not only one teacher but also one administrator. Nominations are due Aug. 1; the nominees must be age 40 or younger.

To nominate someone you know, visit www.ascd.org/oyea. And if you’d like, share your stories here about a great educator — young or young at heart – that has crossed your path.

Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter