Education Professors Receive National Recognition for Leadership and Impact on Education

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Three University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa professors in the College of Education recently received national awards in recognition of their personal accomplishments and their impact on education, specifically in the areas of early childhood, health, and economic education.

Gail Tamaribuchi, director of the Center for Economic Education, recently received the 2002 John C. Schramm Leadership Award from the National Association of Economic Educators (NAEE) and the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE). She was honored for her quality leadership over many years in making certain that Hawaiʻi is in the forefront on all economic education developments, and continuing in her efforts to give economic educators a more significant role in the National Council of Social Studies.

"Gail has worked tirelessly on behalf of her beloved teachers in Hawaiʻi. She travels all through her state as the only center director offering economic education workshops, as well as working to improve teachers skills with technology so that they may better utilize available resources," said Dr. Rich McDonald, president of the NAEE.

"It is indeed an honor to be recognized by the NAEE with this prestigious award," said Tamaribuchi. "I humbly join the illustrious group of people who have previously received this award. The most gratifying is the recognition of my work these past 16 years by educators across the nation who share my passion and commitment to economic education."

The mission of the Center for Economic Education is to raise the economic and financial literacy of Hawaiʻi‘s youth in grades K-12. Affiliated with the Hawaiʻi Council on Economic Education (HCEE) and the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE), the center is an outreach arm of the College of Education offering activities focusing on four areas: training teachers, developing curriculum materials, maintaining a library of resource materials for classroom use, and consulting with teachers and administrators.

Beth Pateman, an associate professor in the college‘s Institute for Teacher Education, was selected as the 2002 recipient of the Willard W. Patty Distinguished Alumni Award from Indiana University, and was recently honored at the Indiana University Memorial Union. The award, named for the first dean of the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, is presented annually to graduates of the school who have demonstrated outstanding personal and professional achievement.

"I was surprised to receive the award from Indiana University and very honored. Their health education program is No. 1 in the nation. I am heartened to be recognized by my former professors and colleagues, who have kept track of me even across the Pacific Ocean," said Pateman.

Pateman received both a Master of Public Health degree and a doctorate in School and College Health Education from Indiana University. After graduation, she taught in the Department of Health Science Education at the University of Florida for one year and then worked for five years in the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. Her research interests include the assessment of health-risk behaviors among youth over time and the implementation and evaluation of standards-based school health education programs to promote health and reduce risks.

Stephanie Feeney, professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies, received the "Early Childhood Teacher Educator of the Year" award from the National Association for Early Childhood Teacher Educators at the association‘s annual conference in New York City. The award recognizes meritorious leadership and professionalism in early childhood teacher education.

It is based on leadership in efforts aimed at improving early childhood teacher education; advocacy, expertise, and high ethical standards; commitment to the profession and to professionalism; and mentoring through modeling dimensions of teaching that nurture the professional development to students, beginning teachers, faculty and colleagues. Feeney has been teaching early childhood education courses at UH and has been a leader in early childhood education in Hawaiʻi and nationally since the 1970s.