UCA News
Vanderslice Named University English Teacher of the Year
Posted in Campus Life on October 29, 2009
Dr. Stephanie Vanderslice's passion for writing and teaching has earned her this year's Arkansas University English Teacher of the Year Award.
The award will be presented by the Arkansas Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts during a reception Nov. 5 at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock.
The ACTELA has recognized outstanding English and Language Arts teachers since 2004. Winners are selected based on their professionalism, service and accomplishments in the field of English and Language Arts.
“It’s extremely humbling to be honored for doing work that is so rewarding,” says Dr. Vanderslice. “I’m grateful to those in ACTELA who saw fit to give me the award and to ACTELA for choosing to honor the work of English and Language Arts teachers at every level, elementary, secondary and university.”
Trina Bright, the selection committee chairwoman, said Dr. Vanderslice represents “the best of the best” in the field of English and Language Arts.
“We were especially pleased with the variety of students to which Stephanie contributes, the countless hours that she spends with The Arkansas Literary Festival, and The Great Bear Writer's Project, and her dedication to be a writer herself as she writes for her blog and the variety of writing that she submits to various other publications,” says Bright.
Dr. Vanderslice, an associate professor, joined the University of Central Arkansas faculty in 1997. She teaches writing, creative writing, and teaching creative writing courses.
“Sometimes people ask me what I’d be doing if I wasn’t writing and teaching writing and I often can’t come up with anything,” says Dr. Vanderslice. “I have a dream job. I truly love working with words and teaching college students.”
Among her other passions is enhancing the teaching of creative writing nationally and internationally, says Dr. Vanderslice. She has edited and co-written two books on the subject with her colleague Dr. Kelly Ritter, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Dr. Vanderslice has also published many articles on the subject and co-edited a special issue of the national journal College English last January. She is currently working on a book, Revising Creative Writing in Higher Education: Programs and Practices That Work, that is under review at Professional and Higher, a new publisher in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Vanderslice has published fiction, nonfiction, various anthologies and journals, and her blog www.wordamour.wordpress.com.
She currently serves as the director of the Great Bear Writing Project, formerly the National Writing Project of Central Arkansas. The project supports Arkansas teachers in the teaching of writing across subject areas and grade levels and professional development.
In the last few years, Dr. Vanderslice became involved with the writing project at the national level, first as a member of the National Writing Project Rural Sites Network leadership team and later as a co-director of that team.
The award will be presented by the Arkansas Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts during a reception Nov. 5 at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock.
The ACTELA has recognized outstanding English and Language Arts teachers since 2004. Winners are selected based on their professionalism, service and accomplishments in the field of English and Language Arts.
“It’s extremely humbling to be honored for doing work that is so rewarding,” says Dr. Vanderslice. “I’m grateful to those in ACTELA who saw fit to give me the award and to ACTELA for choosing to honor the work of English and Language Arts teachers at every level, elementary, secondary and university.”
Trina Bright, the selection committee chairwoman, said Dr. Vanderslice represents “the best of the best” in the field of English and Language Arts.
“We were especially pleased with the variety of students to which Stephanie contributes, the countless hours that she spends with The Arkansas Literary Festival, and The Great Bear Writer's Project, and her dedication to be a writer herself as she writes for her blog and the variety of writing that she submits to various other publications,” says Bright.
Dr. Vanderslice, an associate professor, joined the University of Central Arkansas faculty in 1997. She teaches writing, creative writing, and teaching creative writing courses.
“Sometimes people ask me what I’d be doing if I wasn’t writing and teaching writing and I often can’t come up with anything,” says Dr. Vanderslice. “I have a dream job. I truly love working with words and teaching college students.”
Among her other passions is enhancing the teaching of creative writing nationally and internationally, says Dr. Vanderslice. She has edited and co-written two books on the subject with her colleague Dr. Kelly Ritter, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Dr. Vanderslice has also published many articles on the subject and co-edited a special issue of the national journal College English last January. She is currently working on a book, Revising Creative Writing in Higher Education: Programs and Practices That Work, that is under review at Professional and Higher, a new publisher in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Vanderslice has published fiction, nonfiction, various anthologies and journals, and her blog www.wordamour.wordpress.com.
She currently serves as the director of the Great Bear Writing Project, formerly the National Writing Project of Central Arkansas. The project supports Arkansas teachers in the teaching of writing across subject areas and grade levels and professional development.
In the last few years, Dr. Vanderslice became involved with the writing project at the national level, first as a member of the National Writing Project Rural Sites Network leadership team and later as a co-director of that team.