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Dr. Whaley Selected by TEA - 2011 Distinguished Higher Education Award

May 23, 2011 - The Tennessee Education Association Distinguished Educator Award Program is designed to honor TEA members who work at all levels of education. The higher education faculty member is defined as one who spends fifty (50%) or more of his/her time in instructional programs working with students at the college or university level. One higher education faculty member is selected statewide.
Dr. Carrie L. Whaley was honored at the Tennessee Education Association Awards Luncheon and presented to the annual TEA Representative Assembly, held on May 20-21, 2011 in Nashville, TN, as the 2011 Distinguished Higher Education Faculty Member recipient.

Whaley responds:
"The greatest contribution that teachers can make is pouring themselves into the next generation. This is true whether they are teaching kindergarteners or college students. As they enter into their classrooms, teachers should never underestimate their students’ potential. Students may not always rise to our expectations of them, but rarely do they exceed them. Teachers have the unique ability to see students not as they are but as they could be. A teacher who expects more of a child than the child expects of him(her)self is in a position to inspire that child to achieve more than would otherwise be possible. The truth is that none of us know what our students are destined to become. We should view each student encounter as an opportunity to sow into their destiny." I've been doing that at Union since 1997 and serving as Union's STEA advisor since 2001. In those years, Union has won the state's Most Outstanding Chapter award 7 times. I am a Jackson native and a graduate of Union University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Texas Women's University.

Congratulations, Dr. Carrie Whaley!

Related Web Resource: http://www.teateachers.org/cms/2008+DEAP+Winners/642.html