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Inductees to Enter Educators and Scholars Hall of Fame

The Southwestern College Educators Hall of Fame and Scholars Hall of Fame will induct new members on Saturday, April 20, in the reference room of the Deets Library.  A reception will be held at 3:30 p.m. with the induction ceremony following at 4 p.m.
            J
ubal Tiner, Brevard, N.C., and Chris Downum, Flagstaff, Ariz., will enter the Scholars Hall of Fame.

Marilyn Davidson, Hays; Diane Nickleson, Clearwater; and Bobby Joe Slade, Dallas; will enter the Educators Hall of Fame.  Vicki Hitchcock, Wichita, will be presented the Marilyn McNeish Special Education award.
           
Scholars Hall of inductees include:
• Jubal Tiner ’88 is an associate professor of English at Brevard College. He is an award-winning and widely published fiction writer, his work often exploring varied approaches to masculinity in contemporary society. Tiner's work has appeared in “The Baltimore Review,” “The Florida Review,” “Oxford Magazine,” “Puerto del Sol,” “Jabberwock Review,” “Dos Passos Review,” “Weber Studies,” and elsewhere. His manuscript, “The Waterhouse,” was a finalist for the James Jones First Novel Fellowship. He is the founder and editor of “Pisgah Review,” owner of “MIGSC Press,” and former editor of both “The Cimarron Review” and “Midland Review.” In addition to his own work, Tiner has worked to instill a love of literary arts in others by teaching at Xavier University, University of Indianapolis, University of Dayton, and Western Carolina University.
• Christian E. Downum ’79 is a professor of anthropology and former director of the Anthropology Laboratories at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. He has more than 30 years of field experience and has headed more than 140 field and laboratory projects in the deserts, mountains, and Colorado Plateau regions of Arizona. He is considered an expert on the ancient ceramics of northern Arizona and the prehistoric archaeology of the area surrounding Flagstaff. Recent research projects include an archaeological survey of Sunset Crater National Monument, and investigating the possible cancer-preventive properties of ancient and traditional Southwestern foods. He is author of “Hisatsinom: Ancient Peoples in a Land Without Water,” which was named one of the 10 best books of 2012 in the Southwest.

Educators Hall of Fame inductees include:
• Marilyn (Stanton) Davidson ’63 taught kindergarten and first grade in Hays for 43 years. An energetic teacher who loves children and constantly motivates her students to do their best, Davidson has created hundreds of hands-on materials. She often incorporates musical activities into the academic curriculum, and frequently involves parents in her classroom. Through the years she has shared her knowledge and ideas by teaching workshops, Telenet classes, Project T.E.A.C.H., and classes at Fort Hays State University. She was inducted into the Kansas Teachers Hall of Fame in 1997, and was a Master Teacher at Roosevelt Elementary School.
• Diane Nickelson ’95 began her career in elementary education following graduation from Kansas State University in 1983. She has spent her tenure in education enmeshed in education reform, beginning with A Nation at Risk and continuing through No Child Left Behind.  During her 14 years teaching first and second grade in Wellington the state adopted QPA, presenting her with the first of many leadership opportunities. She completed her master of education degree at Southwestern College and in 1996 became a fifth-grade teacher in Clearwater. She was an assistant principal for five years, then a principal for an additional seven years. Nickelson received her doctorate in educational leadership in 2010, and is assistant principal at Clearwater High School.                         
• Bobby Joe Slade ’57 spent nearly all of his 45 working years in education. He has been a recreational therapist, an elementary teacher, and worked with the Area Manpower Institutes for Development of Staff (AMIDS). He was coordinator, assistant director, and director of the Dallas Skills Center in the Dallas Independent School District, as well as assistant principal at the Sequoyah Learning Center and at Roosevelt High School. He also served as assistant principal of Skyline High Schools, one of the largest high schools in the state of Texas.

The 2013 Marilyn McNeish Special Education award winner is Vicki Hitchcock.  She is a 1972 graduate of Southwestern College.  Hitchcock began teaching elementary classroom and music in 1972, but found herself drawn to children who struggled with learning. That led her to a master’s degree in special education with an emphasis in learning disabilities. Until her retirement in 2010 she was a teacher for 38 years, with 34½ of those spent teaching the ever-changing population of special education students. She taught in Newton, Joplin, Mo., El Dorado, Andover, and Wichita. Her classes included those with mental handicaps, those in the autism spectrum, students struggling with behavioral difficulties, and those who needed difficult learning modalities.

For more information about either hall of fame, contact Susan Lowe, director of alumni programs at SC, at (620) 229-6334.

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