Welcome to a timeline of events and successes within the Lenoir-Rhyne College of Education and Human Services Department. We welcome you to explore the history of this department by scrolling through this timeline. Click "More" under each event to read, look at pictures, and follow links to "Find Out More" about each event and program that is offered in the College of Education and Human Services.
Take a look at some of the earliest students to become teachers after their time at Lenoir-Rhyne. (All photo credit goes to HACAWA)
Even though several students graduated from Lenoir-Rhyne College since its beginning in 1909 with the intention to teach, the Education Departmant was not an official department of the College until 1913. At this time in LR history, the Education Department was first introduced at Lenoir-Rhyne with one class meeting twice per week.
The Education Department now offers ten courses and is growing!
Summer school for teachers is initiated this year and resulted in 156 teacher participants and a profit of $1,000
A survey of alumni shows that during its first forty years, more Lenoir-Rhyne graduates become teachers than any other profession.
Future Teachers of America is established at Lenoir-Rhyne.
The Association for Childhood Education for future elementary teachers is initiated at LR
The education department joined The Learning Academy to work with inner-city students and teachers to learn additional ways to cope with the incentive problems of the underachieving inner-city student
The Special Education program for teaching of the deaf begins to Lenoir-Rhyne
Music Educators National Conference to study and promote music education as future teachers is featured in the HACAWA.
Lenoir-Rhyne is approved for membership in the Council on Social Work Education
Lenoir-Rhyne's College of Education is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.
As a response to a survey regarding ideas and attitudes about necessary programs at Lenoir-Rhyne, the School Counseling program was initiated at LR. The program began with approximately 15 students enrolled and has continued to develop and also create new programs. Click "Find Out More" below to learn more about Lenoir-Rhyne's Counseling program.
A curriculum series is designed to prepare and assist teachers of gifted students.
The Omega Eta Chapter of this international society in education is initiated at LR in order to establish a community of distinguished future educators who attend Lenoir-Rhyne University.
Alumnus Ellen Greene Fountain (class of 1989) was named “Teacher of the Year” at Jacobs Fork Middle School for teaching 7th grade social studies and writing. She also coached the girls’ volleyball team.
Lenoir-Rhyne becomes a host site for North Carolina Teachers of Excellence for All Children (NC TEACH), a state administered rigorous alternative teacher preparation program designed to recruit, train, support, and retain mid-career professionals as they become licensed teachers in North Carolina.
Project RIPPELL (Reaching to Improve Professional Practice with English Language Learners) - a 1.9 million dollar U.S. Dept. of Education grant-funded project that provided professional development training for classroom teachers and teacher assistants who work with English Language Learners (ELLs)
Alumnus Cory Klassett (class of 2003) received the Wachovia Award for Outstanding Educators as a science teacher at Bandys High School of Catawba County.
Lenoir-Rhyne is selected as a campus in spring 2006, and in fall 2007 begins as part of the state NC Teaching Fellows program. The program runs until 2015.
In 2007, this group of 16 college freshman began their journey towards becoming professional educators as part of Lenoir-Rhyne's Teaching Fellows cohort.
Featured in this photo are the 2008-2009 class of Teaching Fellows. This group of students have embarked on a journey towards becoming professionals in Elementary, Middle, or Secondary Education.
In August of 2009, this group of freshman students began their journey towards becoming professional educators as Teaching Fellows at Lenoir-Rhyne!
Glenn E. Barger, LRC class of 1966, serves as interim superintendent of Catawba County Schools in 2010.
In August of 2010, this group of students started on a path towards becoming professional educators as Lenoir-Rhyne Teaching Fellows.
In 2011, a group of Teaching Fellows students traveled abroad to Dublin, Ireland. The students stayed on the campus of the University College of Dublin, a modern university of 30,000 students. They also visited two elementary schools and went to Glendalough, the site of an early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St. Kevin. Killkenny Castle, the original Anglo-Norman stone castle, was built for William Marshal, 4th Earl of Pembroke during the first decade of the thirteenth century.
In the 2011-2012 academic year, this group of 16 eager college freshman started their college careers as new inductees into the Teaching Fellows program.
Donna Heavner, who received both her bachelors and masters degree at LRU in Middle Grades Education from Lenoir-Rhyne College, was chosen as the 2011-2012 Catawba County Schools (CCS) Principal of the Year, and years earlier was the Teacher of the Year in Burke County where she began her career teaching middle grades mathematics.
During the 2011-2012 school year, Sally taught eighth-grade language arts at Arndt Middle School. She is one of Lenoir-Rhyne's NC Teach program graduates. Sally was an attorney who sought a career change, and after moving to Hickory came to LRU to get her teaching license through our alternative licensure program.
In 2012, a group of Teaching Fellows made their way to Stendall, Germany where they saw Almart, a private bi-lingual school and a secondary school, Comenius High School, where they had a dialogue with the faculty and staff. The students also visited the Halle Orphanage, which was founded around 1700 by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage became the institutional headquarters of a universal seminar that still stands largely intact today. It was the base of an educational, charitable, and scientific community and consisted of an elite school for the sons of noblemen; schools for the sons of artisans, soldiers, and preachers; a hospital; an apothecary; a bookshop; a botanical garden; and a cabinet of curiosity containing architectural models, naturalia, and scientific instruments. Another stop on the Teaching Fellows student’s travel was Weimar Germany. By the early 19th century, Weimar only had some 6,000 residents, but its intellectual radiance resembled that of ancient Greece or Rome. Goethe and his colleague Friedrich Schiller lived and wrote here; Johann Sebastian Bach played the organ, Franz Liszt was a music director, and Carl Maria von Weber composed. The Buchenwald concentration camp, located just north of town in the Ettersberg hills, is a testament to the very darkest days of Germany’s past. Some 65,000 men, women and children were killed or died here. Finally, the students also spent a day in Berlin touring. Reminders of the city's turbulent 20th-century history include its Holocaust Memorial and the Berlin Wall's graffitied remains. Its 18th-century Brandenburg Gate has become an iconic symbol of reunification.
In 2013, the Hacawa annual dedicated the 105th volume to Dr. Janet Painter, who was and is currently a faculty member of the College of Education and Human Services at Lenoir-Rhyne.
Betsy Swann, graduated from LR Magna Cum Laude in May 2008, was named the 2012-13 Hickory Public Schools Teacher of the Year. During that time, she was a 4th grade teacher at Jenkins Elementary School. According to Swann's former student, Gettys Sigmon, 12, Swann leads a classroom where students want to attend school every day-and never leave. "Learning was fun," she said. "Even with subjects that are viewed as pretty boring. Let's take ‘math for breakfast'---for example. We learned about fractions by cutting up fresh doughnuts-and then we got to eat them! A great way to start the day-a teacher who fed our brains and our stomachs."
In 2013, a small group of Lenoir-Rhyne's Teaching Fellows students crossed the Atlantic Ocean and found themselves in Dublin, Ireland. The group stayed in City Centre at Arlington Hotel and visited campus of UCD, University College of Dublin, a modern university of 30,000 students for lectures on schools and culture. The students visited two elementary schools and two secondary schools, one private prep school St. Andrews College, and went to Glendalough, site of an early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St Kevin. The group then visted the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland, Trim Castle. The castle was constructed over a thirty-year period by Hugh de Lacy and his son Walter. Hugh de Lacy was granted the Liberty of Meath by King Henry II in 1172 as an attempt to curb the expansionist policies of Richard de Clare, (Strongbow). Construction of the massive three storied Keep, the central stronghold of the castle, was begun c. 1176 on the site of an earlier wooden fortress. This massive twenty-sided tower, which is cruciform in shape, was protected by a ditch, curtain wall and moat.
First time the COEHS hosts the Western Carolina Robotics Festival Competition at Lenoir-Rhyne. Over 400 students participated in the competition.
The College of Education and Human Services at Lenoir-Rhyne is re-accredited by The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education/ Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation through 2020.
In 2014 a group of Teaching Fellows students took a trip to Sansepolcro, Italy. The group visited elementary and secondary schools and had a teacher panel meet with the group of LR students to discuss the education system in Italy. The group also traveled to Perguia to observe a Montessori school and traveled to Arezzo, an ancient “walled city”. These students saw many historical sites and artifacts such as the Duomo, or Florence’s cathedral that stands tall over the city with a magnificent Renaissance dome designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. This cathedral is named in honor of Santa Maria del Fiore and is a vast Gothic structure built on the site of the 7th century Church of Santa Reparata, the remains of which can be seen in the crypt.
The Fulbright Fellowship awarded to faculty member Dr. Marion Love in 2003-2004 to go to Russia. During this time, Dr. Love served as the coordinator for English as a second language teacher licensure at Lenoir-Rhyne and project director for RIPPLE. Click "Find Out More" below to read further about Dr. Love's achievement in the Summer 2003 Profile Magazine.
Lenoir-Rhyne's Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling on both the Hickory and Asheville campuses gets initial accreditation from the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs through 2022.
Lenoir-Rhyne University initiates a new program for prospective educators. The Teaching Scholars program is a highly competitive program created to professionally, academically, and financially support students who wish to pursue a degree in education at Lenoir-Rhyne. The 8 students featured in this photo are the first members of this thriving program. Click "Find Out More" below to learn more about Lenoir-Rhyne's Teaching Scholars program.
Lenoir-Rhyne alumna, Kara Osborne, was awarded North Carolina's School Counselor of the Year. Kara earned her Master's degree in School Counseling as a student at Lenoir-Rhyne University.
May 2015 LRU Masters degree graduate, Melissa McKinnon, is awarded Hickory Public Schools 2015-2016 Teacher of the Year! Melissa teaches at Grandview Middle School. She received her initial teacher preparation through LRC's lateral entry program, NCTEACH, about a decade ago, then returned to complete her graduate degree.
The Catawba Chamber of Commers and the Hickory Young Professionals named Ryan McCreary as one of the area's Top Ten Under 40. McCreary is a Lenoir-Rhyne alumnus, who earned his undergraduate degree in both Mathematics and Spanish. Click "Find Out More" below to read the full article online.
Jennifer Hefner, class of 1993, BA in Elementary Education, is now superintendent of the Alexander County Schools. She has worked with the COEHS throughout the years (served recently on our Teacher Education Council) and collaborated with this department when she was a teacher, principal, associate superintendent and now as the superintendent of the Alexander County Schools. Congratulations to Jennifer Hefner!
This year, the College of Education and Human Services welcomed over twenty eager students into the Teaching Scholars program. These students are dedicated to using the knowledge they gain at Lenoir-Rhyne to become professional educators. Click "Find Out More" below to learn more about Lenoir-Rhyne's Teaching Scholars program.
We'd love to hear from you. Please send questions or feedback to the below email addresses.
Before contacting us, you may wish to visit our FAQs page which has lots of useful info on Tiki-Toki.
We can be contacted by email at: hello@tiki-toki.com.
You can also follow us on twitter at twitter.com/tiki_toki.
If you are having any problems with Tiki-Toki, please contact us as at: help@tiki-toki.com
Close