Kent State Continues 20-Year Tradition of Hosting National Teacher of the Year

For more than 20 years, Kent State University has been one of only seven places in the world that the National Teacher of the Year visits every year. This year will be no different as Rebecca Mieliwocki, recognized by President Barack Obama as the 2012 National Teacher of the Year, presents a Gerald H. Read Distinguished lecture on Tuesday, Jan. 29, at 4:30 p.m., in the Kent Student Center Kiva. The lecture is free and open to the public.

“Kent State is honored to be a continued part of the lecture series, and this event is the cornerstone of a series of celebrations of education,” says Linda Robertson, Ph.D., director of the Center for International and Intercultural Education in Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services. “The National Teacher of the Year recipients come to Kent State because we use their visit to celebrate teaching, our growing profession and its excellence.”

The three-part event this year--lecture, reception and dinner--focuses on “English Globally.”

Following the lecture, a reception honors English teachers internationally with 15 secondary teachers from around the world, in addition to research assistants at Kent State and teachers in the U.S. State Department.

An honors dinner closes the evening, celebrating Kappa Delta Pi, the International Honor Society in Education, a group committed to recognizing excellence and fostering mutual cooperation, support and professional growth for educational professionals.

The event itself will be memorable to many, but it is the legacy of Kent State’s continued hosting of the national teacher of the year that makes a difference to the college.

“It makes our faculty and our students proud of the choice they’ve made in Kent State,” says Robertson