Dr. Deborah McMurtrie awarded Dr. Jennifer L. Wilson Teaching Excellence Award

The Dr. Jennifer L. Wilson Teaching Excellence Award is presented by the South Carolina Association of Middle-Level Education to “recognize the contributions of a classroom teacher, literacy leader or teacher educator who has had a significant impact” on the improvement of middle-level teaching in South Carolina. The award has a focus on service, leadership, and research. The award is named after a middle-level education and literacy professor at the University of South Carolina following her death in 2011, according to the nomination form.

“Dr. McMurtrie … embodies the same characteristics as Dr. Wilson. The middle-level teacher candidates and alums of the School of Education have been the benefactors of her knowledge, expertise, enthusiasm and passion regarding the middle-level child and middle-level education,” said Dr. Judy Beck, dean of the school of education, in a statement to the Aiken Standard.

Dr. McMurtrie has received multiple awards during her 25 years of teaching including the USC Aiken Excellence in Teaching Award, Two Thumbs Up Award, Disability Services Award and Retention, Progression and Graduation (RPG) Hero Award, all in 2021. She is also co-chair of USCA’s Academic Assessment Committee and acts as the middle-level education program coordinator and is an editor of the SC-AMLE Journal. Dr. McMurtrie’s courses include adolescent development, diversity, classroom management, curriculum, instruction, and assessment.