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Friday, May 30, 2002
The recipient of this award is affirmed by his or her institution as a professor who inspires students toward excellence, continues to grow and learn in his or her academic discipline and practices a personal faith. The DHE Board of Directors bestowed the award to Whitson at its board meeting May 2-4 in St. Louis, Mo. Whitson will receive $1,000 to be used for expanding her library, developing new courses, or continuing education and research.
Whitson earned her bachelor's and master's degrees at Southeast Missouri State University. She joined the Eureka faculty after completing her doctoral work at the University of Missouri in 1993. She has offered courses in composition, British and American literature, linguistics, African American, Non-Western, and Native American literature. She was the recipient of the college's Helen Cleaver Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001, and she appeared in an NBC Nightly News feature on an intergenerational service-learning class she developed at taught at Eureka. Outside the classroom, Whitson coordinates the college's Freshman Seminar program, which includes an examination of service learning, and volunteers at a local retirement community and with Eureka Christian Church. She also represents Eureka at Disciples regional youth ministry functions and traveled with Disciples youth on a Spring Break mission trip to El Salvador in 2002. The T.A. Abbott Award, presented now for the 20th consecutive year, was established through a gift to the Division of Higher Education from the descendants of the Reverend T. A. Abbott, a student and later a trustee at Christian University (now Culver-Stockton College). In the 1880's and early 1890's, Abbott pastored local congregations in Missouri, and from 1886 to 1910, he was the corresponding secretary of the Missouri Christian Missionary Society. He died in 1914. Nominees for the T.A. Abbott Award must be full-time teaching faculty at Disciples-related institutions of higher education. Criteria for selection include quality of teaching, personal example and commitment to the integration of Christian faith and learning. Whitson is the first Eureka College faculty member to receive the award. DHE seeks to nurture transforming leadership for the church, working in partnership with Disciples higher education institutions, campus ministries, congregations, regions, and the other general ministries. Including cooperative efforts with local congregations, DHE helped distribute almost $269,000 in scholarships in 2002. Recognizing students who demonstrate leadership potential, DHE operates the Leadership Fellowship Program for undergraduate students and works with the Phillips University Legacy Foundation to award additional annual scholarships to students attending Disciples colleges and universities.
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Eureka College English professor Dr. Kathy Whitson is the recipient of the 2003 T.A. Abbott Award for Faculty Excellence from the Division of Higher Education. The award is the most prestigious recognition that the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) gives to members of faculties of Disciples-related colleges and universities.