Ten Faculty Members Receive Critical Thinking Teacher of the Year Awards

Ten Eastern Kentucky University faculty members were presented the University’s first Critical Thinking Teacher of the Year awards during a May 3 ceremony.

The awards program, developed by the Office of Quality Enhancement Programs, recognizes outstanding faculty members who have had an effect on developing their students’ critical and creative thinking skills.

Faculty members honored were Dr. Michael Collier, Safety, Security and Emergency Management; Dr. Terry Cox, Criminal Justice and Police Studies; Dr. Scotty Dunlap, Safety, Security and Emergency Management; Stephen J. Haggerty, Student Support Services/NOVA; Dr. MaryAnn Kolloff, Curriculum and Instruction; Dr. Rosanne Lorden, Psychology; Dr. Erik Liddell, Foreign Languages and Humanities; Dr. Fred May, Safety, Security and Emergency Management; Dr. Robert Mitchell, Psychology; and Dr. Peggy Wittman, Occupational Therapy.

“The award recognizes the hard work of faculty members who have adopted EKU’s QEP mission of developing ‘informed, critical/creative thinkers who communicate effectively’ into their classrooms,” said Kate Williams, director of Quality Enhancement Programs. “These faculty members have made it apparent to their students that they are indeed helping them develop their critical thinking skills to further aid them in the future.”

EKU’s Quality Enhancement Plan was approved in February 2007 as part of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools reaffirmation process.

Current students submitted nominations for Critical Teacher of the Year and judges looked for evidence of critical thinking teaching strategies within the student remarks, reviewing each description for key language from the Paul/Elder framework of critical thinking and/or Bloom’s Taxonomy of Higher Order Thinking Skills. Six individuals independently scored the applications and faculty members receiving the highest scores earned the honor.