2006 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients Honored

The College of Education, in conjunction with the Educational Alumni Association will honor seven recipients with 2006 Distinguished Alumni Awards and one recipient of a Beginning Educator Award at an April 23, 2005, ceremony in Champaign. These awards, given each year, honor graduates of the College who have excelled in their personal and professional endeavors.

“These eight individuals have improved the lives of their students, the quality of their schools and of their communities,” said Susan Fowler, Dean of the College of Education. "They represent the best of the College of Education and we are proud to name them as part of our family.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards honor outstanding achievements and work of graduates of the College of Education. While the career paths of recipients often run the professional gamut, the one unifying factor is always the ongoing commitment to furthering education in any form.

The Education Alumni Association (the official alumni organization of the College of Education) created the awards in 1995 to recognize and honor the achievements of College graduates. Presented annually, recipients are nominated by peers and selected by a committee of College faculty, alumni and students. Winners’ names are inscribed on a permanent display in the South Lobby of the Education Building.

If you would like more information about the award recipients or about the nomination process, contact Bill Turner (217-244-4217).

2006 Beginning Educator Award Recipient

Sarah M. Obermark, Ed.M. '05
English Teacher, Danville High School

Sarah M. Obermark, our 2006 Beginning Educator Award recipient, currently teaches English at Danville High School in Danville, Illinois. Already in her young career she is known for being creative and engaging in the classroom. According to her school principal, “In the classroom, Sarah truly shines. Her energy and love of teaching make her one of the students’ favorite teachers.”

Ms. Obermark is dedicated to both teaching and service. In her short tenure in the English Department, she has started an advanced sophomore study group, is part of the district’s English curriculum committee, and a co-sponsor of the school newspaper. Further displaying her initiative, she has successfully written a grant through Ameren IP to secure a Smart Board for her classroom.

Professor Renée Clift, her advisor, recognized a special spark in Ms. Obermark. “She stood out as a passionate, caring young woman who was deeply interested in issues of social justice and in educating students who were not always successful in traditional settings.”

After graduating from the teacher education program, Ms. Obermark developed her repertoire of leadership skills at the Columbia Center Alternative School in Champaign. She was the reading/language arts teacher for grades six through eight, working successfully with middle-school students who had been transferred to Columbia from other Champaign Schools. In addition, she has been a creative writing tutor and, for the past three years, has taught seventh- and eighth-grade physical science at Kingswood Academy in Urbana.

She also earned a B.A. in English in 2002 from the University of Illinois.

2006 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients
(in alphabetical order) 

Randy J. Dunn, Ed.D. '91
Illinois State Superintendant of Schools

Randy J. Dunn is serving as State Superintendent of Education for the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). His term, which continues through 2007, has earned him the accolade of “friend of education” by educators throughout Illinois. Dr. Dunn is currently on leave from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, where he chairs the Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education.

As a K-16 educator, Dr. Dunn has served in almost every capacity, from classroom teacher and building principal to district superintendent and university professor. Fellow educators applaud him for his dedication, his leadership, and his tireless work to inspire teachers, encouraging them to use new ideas about instruction and effective schooling to improve teaching and learning in their classrooms.

In addition to his service to state and local schools, he has distinguished himself as a leading scholar and teacher. During his SIU tenure, he published over 29 professional articles and book chapters and made over 30 presentations at state and national conferences. Dr. Dunn has directly influenced hundreds of educators, teaching over 11 different graduate courses and serving on over 40 doctoral dissertation committees in the past ten years.

During his time at ISBE, he has been cited for his leadership in guiding the Board’s restructuring process. A colleague states, “Dr. Dunn’s knowledge and experience in public schools, his expertise on matters of school finance, and his quiet, confident disposition all combine to make him an effective state superintendent.”

Dr. Dunn holds a B.S. in elementary education/reading and an M.S. in educational administration and foundations, both from Illinois State University.

John T. Guthrie, Ph.D. '68
Professor, Department of Human Development, University of Maryland

John T. Guthrie is Professor of Human Development and Director of the Maryland Literacy Research Center at the University of Maryland. He is frequently cited as a “central” and “towering” figure in reading research and reading education, one who has brought into the mainstream research on motivation as related to reading development. He is a prolific author, producing 10 books, more than 80 journal articles, and over 40 book chapters in his career.

With renewed interest in middle- and secondary-school reading, Dr. Guthrie’s research is crucial in promoting literacy. As a new Ph.D., he left Illinois to join Johns Hopkins University, working in a research center to address issues of education for economically and educationally disadvantaged students. As Director of Research at the International Reading Association from 1974-1984, he interpreted research for the membership and wrote monthly columns for The Reading Teacher and the Journal of Reading for eight years.

As co-director of the National Reading Research Center, his mission was to explore the role of reading engagement in students’ achievement. He designed instructional contexts to foster the development of motivation and engagement, along with cognitive competencies in reading. Based on this work, the National Reading Conference awarded him the Oscar Causey Award for Outstanding Research. He has also been elected to the Reading Hall of Fame.

In 2004, Dr. Guthrie earned the Regents’ Award from the University of Maryland for scholarship, research, and creative activity. At the heart of his accomplishments is a commitment to education in public schools for all children.

He earned his B.A. in psychology from Earlham College in 1964.

Stafford L. Hood, Ph.D. '84
Professor, Counseling Psychology, Associate Dean for Research,
Arizona State University

Stafford L. Hood is Associate Dean for Research at Arizona State University, where he spearheads college-wide efforts to improve the quality and quantity of large-scale faculty-generated research projects. Dr. Hood has established himself as a nationally prominent scholar in program evaluation and assessment.

He is often described as a change agent in the field of education. After earning his Ph.D., he joined the Illinois State Board of Education. As a program evaluator, he pushed for more culturally relevant standardized test items on the teacher education certification test. Dr. Hood also led drives to increase minority student participation in teaching education.

As an assistant professor of educational psychology at Northern Illinois University, Dr. Hood taught courses and conducted research on policy implementation issues relating to evaluation and testing. He continued to serve the state with his representation on state boards and commissions that dealt with minority teacher certification issues in Illinois.

Dr. Hood is co-founder and co-director of a well-regarded forum on the Relevance of Assessment and Culture in Evaluation (RACE), now in its sixth year. This yearly national conference brings together scholars, practitioners and students to discuss the social and political dimensions of assessment and evaluation policies.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Hood has secured numerous large grants from national organizations, including the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Hood received his B.A. in political science and his M.S. in counseling and guidance from the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.

Mary Y. Jansson, Ed.M. '87
Elementary School Teacher, Olive-Mary Stitt School, Arlington Hts. Illinois

Mary Y. Jansson has spent 20 years teaching a multi-age classroom of first, second, and third graders at Olive-Mary Stitt (herself a past Distinguished Alumni Award recipient) School in Arlington Heights, Illinois. She also serves as co-coach for the women’s gymnastics team at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The former University of Illinois student-athlete is widely acknowledged as instrumental in continuing the strong multi-age program and philosophy at Olive school.

Ms. Jansson began student teaching at Olive School in 1986, under the mentorship of her graduate advisors, Ted Manolakes and Bud Spodek. The two educators were instrumental in helping Principal Mary Stitt establish innovative multi-age classroom programs that were modeled after schools in Bristol, England. Under their guidance, Jansson developed her deeply-held beliefs on the value of center activities, class meetings, cooperative groupings, and natural instructional differentiation.

Each year Ms. Jansson welcomes countless visitors from around the world to Olive School. Her current principal describes Jansson’s classroom as “A showcase for best practices in education.” Her multi-age classroom was featured in Newsweek magazine in 1992.

Ms. Jansson is a member of Kappa Delta Pi, an international honor society in education, and of Phi Delta Kappa, an international association for professional educators. With her husband, Peter, she has coached the UIC gymnastics team for the past 16 years.

Ms. Jansson also earned her 1982 B.S. in human resources/family studies from the University of Illinois.

Robert F. Long, Jr., Ph.D. '87
Vice President for Programs, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Robert Long, Jr., an Urbana native and a Vice President for Programs at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Michigan, has a career-long interest and commitment to volunteerism and philanthropy. He is nationally respected for his creative and strategic program leadership, direction, design, and implementation. For three consecutive years, he was named one of the top 50 most influential individuals in the nonprofit sector.

Dr. Long joined the Kellogg Foundation in 1993 as a program director, where he managed more than 250 projects with a financial commitment to the nonprofit sector of nearly $80 million. He launched three innovative programs, one of which, “Building Bridges between Practice and Knowledge in Nonprofit Management Education,” has grown immensely. The initiative started with a dozen emerging programs, now consists of over 200 academic programs, a range of curricula, a professional association, and a refereed journal.

His career in philanthropy and his leadership responsibilities have not kept him from the classroom, however. He continues to be an active scholar, serving as Distinguished Professor of Philanthropic Studies at Michigan’s Grand Valley State University and Senior Fellow at the Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Management at Arizona State University.

Dr. Long regularly welcomes numerous groups of young people to the Foundation to learn more about the world of philanthropy and the role it can play in contributing to the common good. He describes his 30-year career as a “commitment to human development deeply rooted in my family’s history of social responsibility and civic engagement.”

Dr. Long has a B.A. in program administration from Western Illinois University and an M.S. from the College of Applied Life Sciences at the University of Illinois.

Sharon Lund O'Neil, Ph.D. ‘76
Professor, College of Technology, University of Houston

Sharon Lund O’Neil earned her Ph.D. in business education and administration. Her dissertation was so outstanding that it was selected as one of five exemplary research studies at a national conference and later published in a collection of 20 exemplary research studies in vocational education. Throughout the ensuing years of teaching and administration, Dr. O’Neil’s career accomplishments have continued to impress.

Dr. O’Neil is a Professor in the College of Technology at the University of Houston. Widely acknowledged for her exceptional research, writing, and teaching, she has also demonstrated leadership in such administrative positions as associate vice provost for academic programs and chair of the Industrial Technology Department. A prolific writer, she is the author of over 120 publications. Her last three books on human relations, leadership, and motivation are extremely popular with both trainers and educators. Her most recent, Your Attitude is Showing!, has sold over a million copies.

Dr. O’Neil gives generously of her time and leadership. She has served as president to five national organizations, most recently the National Business Education Association (NBEA), representing over 260,000 business professionals. NBEA acknowledged her as Collegiate Educator of the Year in 1993 and presented her with the Distinguished Service Award, its highest honor, in 2003.

Her innovative ideas have provided extensive grant funded opportunities related to research, personnel, program and curriculum development.

Dr. O’Neil earned both her B.A. and M.A. degrees from Walla Walla College in College Place, Washington.

Robert J. Starratt, Ph.D. ‘69
Professor of Educational Administration, Boston College

Robert (Jerry) Starratt is currently Professor of Educational Administration in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. He ranks among the top ten scholars worldwide addressing the place of ethics in school leadership and change.

A prolific writer, his list of publications, conferences, and presentations is numerous. Since 1990, he has published nine books, several editions of a seminal textbook on educational supervision, 17 chapters, and 11 refereed articles. His books and articles have influenced not only scholars in the field of educational administration and leadership, but have had tremendous impact on the thinking and practice of innumerable school administrators.

As a testament to his international reputation, he has delivered papers and keynote addresses to educators in Barbados, New South Wales, and Quebec. During a sabbatical semester in spring 2004, he was invited to lecture at the Center for Leadership Development at the University of Umea in Sweden.

Among his many works in progress, Dr. Starratt is collaborating with scholars in Australia, Sweden, Canada, and the U.S. to develop a cycle of professional development seminars. The seminars, dealing with moral leadership, are intended for principals and teams of teachers.

Dr. Starratt received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy from Boston College, his M.Ed. degree in education from Harvard University, and a licentiate in sacred theology from the Weston School of Theology.