IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 3-25-05 CONTACT PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE

SILVER CITY--Western New Mexico University was recognized at the 57th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education held in Washington, D.C.

WNMU received the AACTE’s Best Practice Award in Support of Teacher Education Quality and Accountability.

“The School of Education is proud to have been selected to receive this very prestigious award,” said Dr. T.J. Betenbough, acting dean of the WNMU School of Education. “It validates the commitment to quality and outstanding work being performed by the department faculty, staff, students and alumni.”

The AACTE Awards Program recognizes excellence in schools, colleges, and departments of education. In identifying notable programs, practices, activities, writing, and research, these awards encourage all AACTE member institutions to strengthen the profession of teacher education through innovation, high standards, and leadership.

Previous recipients of the AACTE Best Practice Award in Support of Teacher Education Quality and Accountability are the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (2004), Montana State University-Billings (2003), Idaho State University of Pocatello, Idaho (2002), Kean University of Union, N.J. (2001), and California State University-Dominguez Hills of Carson, California.

The award, sponsored by AACTE’s Committee on Quality and Accountability, highlights and supports efforts of the committee to assist AACTE institutions in addressing issues of program quality and accountability. For 2005, the committee sought to recognize a school, college or department of education that has taken initiative in demonstrating accountability beyond basic institution, state or accreditation requirements.

The following was noted in the awards ceremony program: The WNMU School of Education (SOE) has achieved outstanding recognition for the way it meets institutional and accreditation requirements. Continuously since 1893, the SOE has gone beyond this culture of assessment to achieve a level of accountability measured in service to the diverse and multiply challenged communities it serves. It ensures that students who start from a point of educational disadvantage rise to a standard of competitive excellence. The SOE creates programs that inspire students to careers based in community service. It shapes its curriculum to the cultural context of the communities in which its students will teach, preparing them to be effective educational leaders in the Hispanic, Native American, and Anglo cultures of the Southwest. It assists indigenous people in finding ways to strengthen their traditional cultures and languages. In better serving its constituent communities, the SOE also enriches its curriculum, passing on a legacy of service to generations of future teachers.

AACTE is a national, voluntary association of colleges and universities with undergraduate or graduate programs to prepare professional educators. The 785 AACTE member institutions graduate approximately 90 percent of the nation’s new teachers and other educators each year. AACTE’s headquarters is in Washington, D.C.

For more information on the WNMU School of Education, contact the staff at (505) 538-6416.

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CAPTION—The Western New Mexico University School of Education was recently presented the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education’s Best Practice Award in Support of Teacher Education Quality and Accountability. Pictured are AACTE President David G. Imig presenting the award to T.J. Betenbough, Acting Dean of the WNMU School of Education, center, and to Elaine Jordan, Acting Chair of the WNMU Gallup Graduate Studies Center.

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