Athens, Ga. – Two Georgia education professionals and three other scholars in the University of Georgia’s College of Education were recognized recently by the educational administration and policy program.
Deborah White, of Lula, the executive director of the Georgia Association of Curriculum and Instructional Supervisors, received the 2007 Johnnye V. Cox Award. White also serves as director of leadership development for the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders. She earned her master’s and specialist degrees in education at UGA. White is a former superintendent of Banks County Schools, where she had previously served as curriculum director and coordinator of gifted education.
The Cox award, which recognizes an individual for significant contributions in supervision and leadership, is given in honor of the woman who joined the UGA faculty in 1946 and was considered a trailblazer in the field in Georgia. Cox retired from UGA in 1971.
Jim Puckett, of Flowery Branch, received the University Council for Educational Administration’s Excellence in Educational Leadership Award. Puckett has served as executive director of the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders for more than a decade. He previously worked as director of training and development for the Georgia School Boards Association and as director of the Georgia Education Leadership Academy.
UCEA is a consortium of major research universities with doctoral programs in educational leadership and policy.
In addition, three education doctoral students received scholarships:
- Mary Jane MacLeod, assistant principal of Sycamore Elementary School in Grayson, received the David J. Mullen Scholarship, which provides $1,000 for a doctoral candidate preparing for a public school position. MacLeod earned a master’s degree from Georgia State University in 1976 and taught in DeKalb and Gwinnett county schools. Her doctoral research at UGA explores educational reform and differentiated pay for teachers.
- Ed Bengtson, an administrator in the Douglas County School System, received the 2007 Ray E. Bruce Academic Support Award, which is a $500 annual scholarship for practitioner-scholars studying the theory and application of supervision in schools and school systems. Bengtson, a former Air Force musician from State College, Pa., earned a master’s degree in music performance from California State University in 1983 and completed an educational specialist degree at George Washington University in 1997. His research interests involve supervision in cultures conducive to student learning.
- Meca B. Mohammed, a doctoral student in UGA’s educational administration and policy program received the 2007 Carroll Wade McGuffey Scholarship, which is a $1,000 award to a student researching the impact of school environment on teacher behavior, pupil behavior and pupil learning. Mohammed earned a master’s degree from Boston College, where she was named a Donovan Urban Teaching Scholar and taught at South Cobb High School in Cobb County. Her research interests include urban educational reform and advocacy, effective and sustainable leadership in urban schools and school desegregation.
