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Jefferson College Student Glassey Receives Ruth Brinkmann Award

Jefferson College student Katie Glassey of Ste. Genevieve, who will graduate from the teacher education program with her associate of arts in teaching degree this May, is the statewide recipient of the 2018 Ruth Brinkmann Award.

Recipients are selected from Missouri’s 13 community colleges and must be preparing to transfer to a university to complete a degree in teacher education. The award criteria includes grade point average, an essay, and a letter of recommendation.

 Jefferson College Teacher Education Professor Dr. Kenneth Boning nominated Glassey for her collaborative efforts and participation with numerous campus organizations and activities.

She served as the co-president and treasurer of the Jefferson College Student-MNEA chapter, volunteered at the state and local levels with the Polar Plunge to support special education, and participated in a variety of voluntary community service roles.

Because of Brinkmann’s contributions to community college teacher education in the state, the Missouri Association of Colleges for Teacher Education-Community College Division (MACTE-CCD) created the award in 2011. It is presented in her honor every other year, along with a $500 stipend, during the MACTE conference held in Columbia.

Brinkmann was a pioneer in community college teacher education. The concept of allowing community college students to take courses that met teacher certification requirements was almost unheard of in this country when Brinkmann started the first St. Louis area teacher education program in 1987. The year before, the Missouri State Board of Education had made it possible for community colleges to be involved in teacher education by delineating seven courses required for teacher certification that could be offered by the state’s two-year colleges. Brinkmann did all the groundbreaking work of developing those courses for her campus and shepherding them through the St. Louis Community College’s course approval process.

(Information in a news release from Jefferson College.)

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