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UNC School of Education to honor distinguished alumni Sept. 21

CHAPEL HILL -- Former West Virginia Gov. Gaston Caperton, now president of the College Board, will be one of eight alumni honored Saturday (Sept. 21) by the University of North Carolina School of Education. Also receiving Distinguished Alumni Awards for 2002 will be:

Dr. Charles Coble of the Education Commission of the States in Denver, formerly a vice president in the office of the president of the University of North Carolina system;

Dr. Elson Floyd, president of Western Michigan University, formerly executive vice chancellor at UNC-Chapel Hill;

Tate Gould, a math teacher at East Wake High School in Raleigh;

Dr. Howard Maniloff of Chapel Hill, a retired teacher and administrator in North Carolina public schools and member of the UNC School of Education faculty;

Darlene Ryan, science curriculum resource teacher for the Chatham County Schools, who has taught for 19 years;

Dr. Sofia Villenas, an assistant professor at the University of Utah and former public school teacher in North Carolina and California; and

Reeves H. Wells, 92, of Candler, who taught in North Carolina public schools for 38 years, from 1933 to 1971. He was nominated for the award by his granddaughter, Erica Locklear of Lehi, Utah, a technical software writer and a 2000 graduate of the UNC school.

All eight are expected to be present to accept their awards on the school’s Alumni Day Saturday (Sept. 21) at the Carolina Club, inside the George Watts Hill Alumni Center on Stadium Drive. The event will begin at 9 a.m. with a reception and Carolina Showcase, a display about projects of area teachers and the school. Brunch will be served at 10 a.m.

Admission to the event is $20. To reserve a space, contact Jenny Jones-Goodwin, associate director of alumni relations at the school, at (919) 843-6979, jennyjg@email.unc.edu or CB 3541, No. 1 Bolin Heights Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.

"The faculty and staff of the School of Education and our alumni enjoy this annual opportunity to celebrate the vision and vigor of educators who have made important contributions to our public schools," said Dr. Madeleine R. Grumet, school dean. "In the midst of declining resources, accountability pressures and the myriad demands of their work, these award winners continue to bring innovation, inspiration and dignity to the work of educating our children."

This year's award winners were nominated by friends, faculty and alumni of the school and chosen by a committee of 16 alumni volunteers. Each will receive a plaque and have his or her name engraved on a large wall plaque in Peabody Hall, the school's home.

"As I look over the list of this year's winners, I am struck by how truly they represent UNC as a university of the people," said school alumna Dr. Barbara Holland Chapman, principal of New Hope Elementary School in Orange County and program committee chair for the UNC education school's Alumni Day. "It is overwhelming to contemplate the breadth and level of their efforts to insure the highest quality of universal, free public education."

Caperton will receive the Peabody Award, for an outstanding individual who has made extraordinary contributions to the field of education and demonstrated a sustained and significant commitment to improving education in North Carolina and/or across the nation.

A 1963 graduate of the school, Caperton was elected governor in West Virginia in 1988 and 1992. While in office, he made improving the state's schools a top priority. He developed a plan emphasizing the use of information technology in schools and maintained an aggressive school building and renovation program that benefited two-thirds of West Virginia's students.

He raised teacher salaries and trained more than 19,000 educators through a statewide Center for Professional Development. After leaving office, Caperton taught at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, then founded, directed and taught in the Institute on Education and Government at Columbia University. A native of Charleston, W.Va., he lives in Shepherdstown, W.Va.

Coble, who will receive an Achievement in Education Award, earned bachelor's, masters and doctoral degrees in education at UNC. He taught in public schools and was dean of the East Carolina University School of Education. Later, in the office of the UNC president, he was associate vice president for academic affairs and vice president for university-school programs.

Floyd, one of two winners of a Leadership in Education Award, also earned three education degrees at UNC. He began his career at Carolina in 1978, serving in dean posts in student affairs and in the general college and the College of Arts and Sciences. "Elson offers a rare mix in a leader," said the late UNC Chancellor Michael Hooker. "He is a consummate professional who knows how to get the job done, yet tempers his leadership with the compassion, honesty and integrity that have won him respect from all of our campus constituencies."

Gould, a 1997 school graduate, will receive the Outstanding Young Alumni Award. He teaches high school calculus, geometry and algebra. His UNC classmate and fellow East Wake teacher, Christopher Lassiter, nominated him for the award, saying "Tate has not only played an integral role in his mathematics department, but also, he has dedicated his life to his students and to their pursuit of a quality mathematics education."

Maniloff will receive the other Leadership in Education Award. He wrote the Basic Education Program, which in the mid-1980s defined the education that every North Carolina child should be guaranteed. As a result of his efforts, "basic" was defined as not only reading, writing and arithmetic, but also advanced sciences, mathematics, health and physical education, the arts, and second languages. The plan also included well-stocked and staffed libraries, guidance counselors and programs to meet the needs of exceptional children. Through Maniloff's efforts, the program became legislation and subsequently law in North Carolina.

"Howard has a depth of knowledge about public education which is rarely equaled," C.D. Spangler Jr., UNC president emeritus, once said of Maniloff. "The intensity of his commitment to education is a beacon for me and others."

Ryan and Villenas will receive Excellence in Teaching Awards. Ryan helped create the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools' elementary physical education curriculum in 1989. She has coached softball and basketball. Ryan received the 1999 Technology and Learning North Carolina Teacher of the Year Award and the 2001 North Carolina Region Five Outstanding Science Teacher Award, both from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. She is a National Board Certified Teacher in Early Adolescent Science.

Villenas was a research assistant and instructor in the UNC School of Education from 1994 to 1995. In 1996, she was director and principal teacher for the Afterschool Bilingual Language Arts Program in Siler City Elementary School.

While earning her doctorate at UNC, Villenas began a two-year ethnographic study of Latino family education within the dynamics of culture and politics in a small North Carolina town. The study focused on Latina mothers' roles as educators in the family and the community, and their status as both transitional workers and social services clients.

Villenas was recognized for the study by UNC with a J. Minor Gwynn Award in 1993-94, an Ira J. Gordon Fellowship in 1996 and a Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship.

Wells, who began his own education in a one-room school in 1916, earned a degree in education at UNC in 1932. He taught in Granville County, then Buncombe, at Asheville high schools including West Buncombe, Woodfin, Biltmore, Oakley, Reynolds, Hall Fletcher and South French Broad. Wells also taught at night, for $100 per month, from 1948 to 1960 at Asheville-Biltmore College, now UNC-Asheville.

"He continues to dumbfound younger generations with his sharp intellect, outstanding career achievements and kind demeanor," said Locklear.

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Note: Reporters needing more information or wishing to cover the event should contact Linda Baucom at (919) 962-8687, lbaucom@unc.edu.

News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589, laura_toler@unc.edu