Columbia College announces that Dr. Chris Burkett has received the Exemplary Teacher Educator Award from the South Carolina Association of Teacher Educators (SCATE).  SCATE is the only educational organization for individual members in South Carolina committed solely to the improvement of teacher education. The association serves in a leadership capacity for issues related to pre-service, graduate, and in-service teacher education.

“Chris is a perfect example of someone who deserves recognition for what he is doing now, before going up for tenure,” said Dr. Lienne Medford, of Clemson University and president of SCATE.  Burkett was nominated this year in recognition of his exemplary service to the state through his editorship of the Teacher Education Journal of South Carolina.  The Exemplary Teacher Educator Award is designed, specifically, to recognize younger, untenured teacher education faculty who may not be considered for other types of statewide awards. Medford adds, “He recruited a record number of peer reviewers, had a record number of submissions, and was in charge of getting the manuscript ready to be printed and posted on the web site.  In addition, he has been secretary for the group for the last two years and has an excellent reputation for teaching and service at Columbia College.” 
 
Dr. Burkett joined the Columbia College faculty in 2006. He is assistant director of the M.Ed. program in divergent learning and assistant professor of education. In the divergent learning program, Burkett primarily teaches courses relating to action research, classroom technology, and classroom management/mediation.  Before coming to Columbia College, he taught two years in the undergraduate teacher preparation program at Newberry College.  Dr. Burkett spent eleven years in the public school classroom teaching social studies to high school students, as well as coaching various sports.  While in public education, he was the recipient of the Sallie Mae First Year Teacher of the Year Award for the state of South Carolina, The State newspaper’s Teacher of the Year Award, and was also honored as the Dutch Fork High School Teacher of the Year.  Burkett’s research interests include educational technology, best practices, and classroom management.