March 20, 2008

McIntyre wins term faculty teaching award

by Eric Welch

Christie McIntyre

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Christina McIntyre is the recipient of the 2008 Outstanding Term Faculty Teaching Award at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

McIntyre teaches in the College of Education and Human Services' Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She will be honored, along with other selected faculty, staff and graduate students, at the Excellence Through Commitment Awards dinner on April 22 in the Student Center. In addition to a $3,000 award, she will receive a wristwatch from the SIU Alumni Association for her exceptional teaching in SIUC's Department of Curriculum and Instruction.

McIntyre has greatly influenced the program in her six years as an adjunct instructor and has become known for her dedication and amiable character.

"I truly cannot think of any one person who has had such a wide-ranging impact on the well being of the college and have it show through so clearly in the competencies and confidence of our undergraduate students," wrote Cathy Mogharreban, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction, in a nomination letter.

"Christie McIntyre is an unusually effective term faculty member because she is a person of integrity, compassion, drive and commitment," she wrote. "The faculty and the students in the early childhood program of curriculum and instruction have benefited in so many ways from working with her. Our community of educators is better because of her place in it."

McIntyre is a three-degree graduate of Georgia State University and earned her doctorate in early childhood education in 2007. She also taught kindergarten, first grade, and a k-1 multiage classroom from 1991 to 1997 at Berkeley Lake Elementary in Duluth, Ga.

Susan Pearlman, associate professor of curriculum and instruction, described McIntyre in a nomination letter as a creative instructor who "uses many innovated techniques in her teaching" and who is "a joy to work with."

"She models in her teaching what she wants the students to do in their own classrooms. She truly 'practices what she preaches' and the students have the confidence to try out the techniques they have learned in her classes because they have used them," she wrote.

"Christie has credibility with the students because she herself has been a primary grade teacher," Pearlman added. "She shares her experiences, telling students what worked for her and what didn't. She is a role model; students learn from what she has done and are encouraged that if Christie can do it, so can they!"

Lynn C. Smith, chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, wrote in a nomination letter that McIntyre is "very highly thought of by both students and other faculty for her meaningful instruction, her concern for the students, and the enthusiastic manner that she brings to the classroom. Her ability to connect her university instruction with her previous elementary experience is a real boon to her students."

McIntyre is also known as an instructor whose concern for her students goes above and beyond. From being readily available outside of class to giving students her home phone number, she demonstrates that she is committed to their well being and helping them succeed.

She has even invited her classes to her home, where she served them dinner and helped coach them in presenting their final teaching portfolios for student teaching.

"Her talents are vast, her generosity unsurpassed and her energy unyielding," Mogharreban wrote. "Dr. McIntyre is an exemplary leader in every aspect of our mission."