Mercer University’s Dr. Karen O’Neill Lacey, assistant professor of English in the College of Continuing and Professional Studies, has been selected for the Governor’s Teaching Fellows 2009-2010 academic-year symposium.
Dr. Lacey will be one of only 15 faculty members from colleges and universities across Georgia to participate in the academic-year program. Dr. Lacey is also the second College of Continuing Professional Studies professor to be selected for the prestigious fellowship. Dr. Lynn Clemons was selected for the program’s intensive summer program earlier this year.
“I am so pleased that Dr. Lacey’s continuing and significant contributions to her students, the College and the University have been recognized in this way,” said Dr. Priscilla Danheiser, dean of the College of Continuing and Professional Studies. “Dr. Lacey works effectively in each of her classes to connect reading to critical thinking, critical writing and analysis. She consistently demonstrates passion, interest in and respect for students, a commitment to student success and the ability to stimulate deep learning and encourage life-long learning.”
Dr. Lacey is a New York native who married and moved to her husband’s farm in rural Georgia 30 years ago. She returned to school when her youngest child was in high school. Lacey earned her bachelor’s in English from Georgia State University in 1988, her master’s in theological studies from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology in 1991 and her Ph.D. in English with certification in women’s studies from Emory in 2000. Dr. Lacey has been a professor in Mercer’s College of Continuing and Professional Studies for five years.
The Governor’s Teaching Fellows Program was established in 1995 by then Gov. Zell Miller to provide Georgia’s higher education faculty with expanded opportunities for developing important teaching skills, particularly those addressing how to use emerging technologies in the classroom. The program is jointly sponsored by the Institute of Higher Education and the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Georgia.
Governor’s Teaching Fellows may participate in academic-year symposia, an intensive summer symposium or an academic-year residency at the University of Georgia. Faculty members from colleges and universities throughout the state apply to become one of the Fellows chosen for the highly competitive program. It is unusual for more than one professor from a university to be selected for the program, yet in the past Mercer has had as many as three professors selected.
Among the criteria for selection in the program are: excellence in teaching, interest in continuing to improve instruction, ability to have an impact on the home campus and the strong commitment of the home institution to the faculty member’s participation.
About Mercer University:
Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University has approximately 7,600 students; 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies; major campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah; three regional academic centers across the state; a university press; two teaching hospitals — Memorial University Medical Center and the Medical Center of Central Georgia; educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta; an engineering research center in Warner Robins; a performing arts center in Macon; and a NCAA Division I athletic program. For more information, visit www.mercer.edu.
— 30 —
