1993 Award Winners

Biographies below were included in the program for the year listed here and were current as of that time.

Mickey L. Bogart

Manhattan-Ogden USD 383

Bogart has been a social studies teacher at Manhattan High School since 1978 and has served as department chairman since 1981. She taught social studies for Manhattan Junior High School from 1968-1977.

Bogart makes the social studies curriculum extend beyond the confines of the classroom by sponsoring Kansas Close Up and Washington, D.C. Close Up - onsite government studies programs where students observe the political process in action. She also coordinates the Citizen Bee, which emphasizes citizenship awareness and provides scholarships to students.

An Abilene native, Bogart received a bachelor of arts in history from Fort Hays State University and a master of arts in history and reading specialist degrees from Kansas State University.

She serves on the Manhattan/Ogden 2000 committees, which aim to restructure education in her community. She has served on numerous state curriculum design task forces including the Kansas Supreme Court Advisory Commission for Law-Related Education, the Kansas Committee for the Humanities, and the Writing and Review Team for Kansas State Social Studies Outcomes.

Bogart was awarded a National C-Span Grant to buy equipment for a technology-based Global Affairs class designed to move social studies methods into the information age. She also received a Southwestern Bell Educational Excellence grant for software and curriculum materials.

Carol J. Brandert

Salina USD 305

Carol J. Brandert, who is in her 20th year of teaching at Salina High School South, currently teaches 12th grade English humanities and English literature - while chairing the English department. She also is the school's long-time sponsor of both the student council and the National Honor Society.

Brandert grew up in Fremont, Neb., where she taught for six years at her former high school, receiving the Outstanding Young Educator awards for Fremont and the state of Nebraska.

She received a bachelor of arts in English and education, summa cum laude, from Midland Lutheran College. She also holds a master of arts degree from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and completed all but her dissertation in English literature at Kansas State University.

She is a member of Phi Delta Kappa, the National Council of Teachers of English, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Salina County Humane Association. She is an involved advocate for human rights, animal rights, and student rights.

Brandert received the 1990 Outstanding Educator Award from Cornell University for having most influenced Merrill Presidential Scholar and former student Deanna Chiang. Another former student, Linda Helyar, now an assistant professor of law at Vanderbilt Law School, and who has clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, said Brandert's humanities courses, "made the world broader and deeper than a kid from Kansas had ever imagined it could be. She wanted us to think great thoughts, not to listen to hers."

Mary Alice Gordon

Lawrence USD 497

"Long before the national agenda included assistance to disabled persons, Mary Gordon was teaching Lawrence how to enhance its commitment to, and thereby reap the rewards of, full participation by those with physical impairments," said United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit Judge Deanell Reece Tacha.

Since 1968, Mary Gordon has served as itinerant teacher of blind and visually impaired students, traveling between five buildings for the Lawrence Public Schools, and also has taught the district's summer school for the blind. Her philosophy has been to assure her students the opportunity to learn everything that their sighted peers do.

Gordon organized "BOLD," the Blind Outdoor Leisure Development skiing program for blind students and adults in 1978. Recognizing the many expenses parents of the handicapped face, Gordon each year raises funds for the trip through her outreach work with community organizations such as the Rotary Club.

Gordon received both a bachelor of science and a master of science in education from the University of Kansas, and received certification in visually impaired from the University of Northern Colorado.

She is president of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired, and is a member of Phi Delta Kappa, Clinton Lake Historical Society, Lawrence Education Association, K-NEA, and a life member of NEA. She has received the Outstanding Educator Award from the University of Kansas School of Education and the 1988 Kansas Special Educator of the Year award.

Kathy Ann Ramsour

Dodge City USD 443

Kathy Ann Ramsour found a source of strength and support when coping with an alcoholic father and a sister diagnosed with cancer. That source was caring teachers.

"Because of them I was able to maintain my belief in myself," said Ramsour.

Since 1988 she has served as an elementary counselor at Northwest Elementary and as a middle school counselor at Dodge City Middle School. She was a classroom teacher at Sunnyside Elementary, also in USD 443, from 1973-1988.

Ramsour graduated from Dodge City Community College, received a bachelor's degree in elementary education from St. Mary of the Plains and a master of science in counseling from Fort Hays University.

She is working with her local Chamber of Commerce on a Business and Education Roundtable to help children and adults succeed in the world of work. She is president and past chief negotiator of the Dodge City NEA, and is a delegate for both K-NEA and NEA. She was recognized by the school district for outstanding service to United Way and has served on a number of state commissions, including a 1992 appointment by Attorney General Robert Stephan to the Victim's Rights Commission.

Ramsour represented Kansas at the first National Children's AtRisk Conference, and state representative Don Smith said she consistently demonstrates her dedication not only to the students who are "easy" to like and help, but to those students who are faced with significant challenges due to a variety of circumstances beyond their control.

William M. Scott

WaKeeney USD 208

He sends get well notes and Grin-0-Grams to his students and their parents as part of his teaching philosophy to cultivate a positive self image. This bearer of good wishes is William Scott, instructor of physics, chemistry, and the general sciences at Trego Community High School in WaKeeney.

Proud to be the first in his family to graduate from a university, he received a bachelor's degree in general science and a master's degree in guidance and counseling from Fort Hays State University. Now, Scott can boast of a family of educators from his wife of 28 years to his daughter.

In his 25 years as a professional educator, he has served students as teacher, counselor, athletic director, principal, coach, referee, umpire, sponsor of various student organizations, and in leadership positions in professional organizations. He believes that without a positive self-image, students cannot feel confident and cannot give their full attention to their education.

A student nominator best explained Scott's philosophy, "Learning is never memorizing pages upon pages of handwritten notes, but rather remembering the concepts involved with the reason why things happen."

Scott believes in hands-on experiences that allow his students to see the practical, life-related connections between what they are learning and the world around them, such as the water analysis studies his chemistry students conduct in Trego County, the results of which are published weekly in the local newspaper.

He recently was invited to join a delegation of U.S. physics teachers to visit Vietnam as a consultant for improving science education.

Alice M. Shaffer

Blue Valley USD 229

"Writing is a journey, an art of expression in which you throw ideas, thoughts, and feelings onto the white page ... Writing is no place for faking it."

This student author said that he learned more than writing from Alice Shaffer, he learned about life. Shaffer has been an English teacher and department chair at Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park since 1986. More than just a teacher of students, Shaff er is a teacher of teachers and parents. She spearheaded the district's effort to infuse good writing into every discipline. The Blue Valley Writing Project she co-directed and taught trained approximately 80 teachers over two years. She regularly holds a Parents Writers Workshop to introduce parents to the program and has even provided writing Blue Valley instruction for Yellow Freight System, the school's business partner. During the summers, she teaches courses for the Kansas City Writing Project and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

"Her pioneering efforts to place computers at the disposal of writing students has resulted in large numbers of lower ability students enjoying and excelling in the writing process," said a Blue Valley North colleague.

Shaffer received her bachelor's degree from Bethany College and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Webster University. She serves on the board of directors for the Kansas Association of Teachers of English, and in 1986, she received the Kansas State Board of Education Award for Writing Across the Curriculum.

Glenda S. Watkins

Osawatomie USD 367

She has learned patience from a student in a full body cast, determination from a young amputee, and bravery from a former comatose victim. Providing home-bound instruction for young trauma victims, Glenda Watkins, learning disabled teacher at West Elementary School in Osawatomie, uses those experiences to prepare her for her regular classroom and for her own son's bout with cancer.

Watkins received a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in special education from Pittsburg State University. She has taught Educable Mentally Retarded (EMR) and Learning Disabled students in the Osawatomie School District since 1970.

Superintendent of schools R. Carl Combs called Watkins "a lady of action" for implementing the class within a class collaborative teaching model for learning disability students in the district, for developing business/educator partnerships with 29 local businesses, and establishing Jump Start, a program to help educational readiness for 4-and 5-year olds.

She received a Community Service Award in 1983 for the many volunteer hours and ideas she has given to the American Cancer Society, Osawatomie State Hospital, Miami County Health Board, and PT A among other community improvement organizations.

"I have found that the more time you give of yourself outside the classroom, the more benefits you reap personally as an educator," she said.

Watkins was named the 1988 Kansas Teacher of the Year and served on Senator Kassebaum's Kansas Foundation for Educational Excellence.