Education Professor Honored for Teaching, Mentoring

Debbie Summers, assistant professor in education, is one of nine teachers in California to receive the California Association of Teachers of English Classroom Excellence Award. Summers was presented with the Northern California College Professor of the Year award at the CATE 2002 conference Feb. 17–18.

Summers, who has taught at CSU, Chico since 1997, is the coordinator of the single-subject credential program for middle school and high school teachers. She brought 15 years of high school English teaching experience to her teacher-education position at the university before obtaining her doctorate at the University of Southern California.

Summers’ colleagues and former and current students nominated her for the award based on her teaching excellence and mentoring of other teachers. Nominators also mentioned her “overriding commitment to students, professionalism, intelligence, openness to suggestion, and compassion.” A former colleague who first worked as a teacher’s aide in Summers’ classroom wrote: “She is the one person who showed me that making a mistake in the classroom is not a failure, but a springboard to something better. If a new activity ‘failed,’ she simply said, ‘Well, that didn’t work. How can we fix it?’”

In her acceptance speech to the CATE conference participants, Summers said, “As teachers, we are often the keepers of students’ dreams. Through various combinations of inspiration and nurture, language and literature, hard work and joy, we help our students discover beauty, grace, and freedom in a world that sometimes appears confusing, frightening, and complex … .”

Summers’ work in the Department of Education has focused upon developing approaches to teacher and educational leader preparation that are centered on the importance of education in a democracy. Faculty and staff in the Department of Education promote the Agenda for Education in a partnership with the National Network for Educational Renewal.

Summers ended her speech by appealing to her audience that education is the key to keeping democracy alive: “The heart of a working democracy is a literate citizenry; therefore, the charge of teachers, especially English teachers, is to provide all students access to the knowledge and skill necessary to become effective citizens in a democratic society. If our classrooms encourage critical thinking, participation, and caring, then we will contribute to the development of informed and active citizens.”

Summers is also the co-coordinator of Resources for International Students in Education, one of several subject area programs on campus.

Kathleen McPartland