Honoring their hard work and excellence, three educators with Ball State Teachers College connections have earned awards and another has received grant funding.
The Ball State University Foundation recognized the four this summer. They are:
Dr. Lemuel Watson, recipient of the 2020 Teachers College Outstanding Alumni Award
The Outstanding Alumni Award recognizes someone for significant contributions to their field or other areas of society.
Watson meets both criteria, holding several leadership positions at Indiana University and encouraging arts, leadership, and spiritual development off-campus. At IU, Watson is Provost Professor in the School of Education and in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies. He is also Dean of IU’s School of Education. In his personal time, he is an executive coach, mindfulness teacher, philanthropist, minister, and poet.
He earned a master’s degree in adult and student development from Ball State in 1991.
Jordan Pridemore, recipient of the 2020 Teachers College Young Alumni Award
The Young Alumni Award recognizes someone age 40 or younger for outstanding early career achievement.
Pridemore is a literacy consultant and has recently been working in a collaborative partnership with Equitable Education Solutions. Before becoming a consultant, Pridemore was a secondary literacy specialist in school improvement and Title programs with the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE). She graduated from Ball State in 2012, having majored in English Education.
Linda Curtis, recipient of the 2020 Teachers College Distinguished Service Award
The Distinguished Service Award is presented to a non-alum in recognition of outstanding service and support for the Teachers College
A graduate of Indiana University and Argosy University, Curtis helped develop Ball State’s student teaching program at schools on U.S. military bases in Ramstein, Kaiserslautern, and Vogelweh, Germany. The program began in 2003.
She spent 33 years in the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), retiring in 2015 as principal deputy director and associate director of academics. The DoDEA operates 160 schools throughout the world, educating children whose parents are stationed abroad with the military. Curtis now lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Jane Zellers, recipient of the 2020 Teachers College Innovative Education Grant
Ball State Teachers College Alumni Society annually awards grant money to graduates of Teachers College or any other educator program at Ball State University who have an innovative idea they would like to implement in a school, classroom, or other area related to education.
Zellers is a gifted and talented teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Warsaw. She received $500 to help develop a kit for her students that will make transitioning between in-person learning and remote learning easier as the district navigates the COVID-19 pandemic. The kit will have supplies and materials such as notepads, pencils, stress balls, mini dry erase boards, and more.
Zellers graduated in 2000 with a degree in elementary education.