Rice’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies held its “Life in Schools” event Oct. 28, highlighting first-year teaching experiences and honoring two faculty members for their long tenures as educators.
Held at the Anderson-Clarke Center, the event featured opportunities for attendees to learn about first-year teaching experiences from Rice students and alumni. Through student-centered activities implemented in Houston-area classrooms, in-service and preservice teachers provided a firsthand account of life in schools.
Judy Radigan and Sheila Whitford, both educators within Rice’s Center for Education, were given lifetime achievement awards at the event.
Radigan has served over 50 years working in public schools and universities and has been at Rice for 23 years. In her position as the center’s director of education, she oversaw academic services, academic programming, program evaluation, student recruitment, admissions, student advising, strategic planning, teacher certification, principal certification, alternative certification and Master of Arts in Teaching programs.
Whitford, an instructor and field supervisor at Rice, is a retired educator from Furr High School in Houston ISD where she served as a literacy coach, school improvement facilitator and English teacher. She has served as faculty in the Glasscock program and also worked with the department on compliance, academic program changes, admissions, program evaluation, the development of innovative new courses, field supervision and strategic planning.
She also generously established the Whitford/Winkler Family Endowed Scholarship.
“Our annual Life in Schools is such a tremendous event for our whole Center for Education community because it gives alumni an opportunity to share the tremendous work they are doing in classrooms across the city while also allowing our current and prospective students a glimpse into what it actually looks like to be an educator today,” said Brenda Rangel, Ed.D., assistant dean of the Center for Education. “Conversely, our students can share their capstone research to the benefit of those currently working in schools and allow potential students to see the kind of impactful study they will be part of. “This year also had the added benefit of honoring two of the most important individuals in the center’s history. The critical work that Rice-trained educators are doing, today and in the future, will in some way be thanks to these two.”