Dear Service Excellence Committee Members:
It is a privilege for me to offer Dr. Anne Katz's name in nomination for the 2014-2015 Individual Service Excellence Award.
Dr. Katz joined the Childhood and Exceptional Student Education department in the fall of 2012 as a fulltime, tenure-track faculty member. She brought with her an exceptional list of credentials including her Masters in Reading Education from Columbia University, a Ph.D. in Language, Literacy and Learning from Fordham Graduate School of Education, and a wealth of teaching and supervision experience in New York.
This junior faculty member takes a special interest in mentoring students with their own work on campus. One example includes her work with a B.S. Special Education student in her application for an Armstrong Undergraduate Research Grant. Then she collaborated with the student on a presentation entitled "Making Reading 'Cool' Through Technology and Literacy Integration: Motivating Young Adult Readers and Facilitating Higher Level Critical Thinking Skills Through Blog Book Reviews and Student-generated Literacy Websites" for the 25th National Youth at Risk Conference and the Student Scholar Symposium. She mentored an Armstrong MAT student and Graduate Assistant for writing, poetry, and family literacy initiatives at East Broad Street School where the student created family literacy packets for K-2, 3-5and 6-8 grade students for winter break. She worked with a B.S. Early Childhood candidate on a poster presentation for the Student Scholar Symposium followed by collaborating to submit an article to the International Reading Association newsletter: "A Kindergarten Case Study: An In-Depth Analysis of a Phonemic Awareness Assessment." The last example is when she worked with an M.Ed. candidate at Windsor Forest Elementary on guided research in content-area writing and attitudes toward writing in "An Examination of Content-Area Writing in a Third Grade Classroom: A Focus on Students' Critical Thinking Skills and Writing Attitudes around Historical Figures." Something is always happening with students.
Anne Katz has an energetic spirit when she is around students that seems boundless when one looks at the list of her activities here on the Armstrong campus.
She serves of the following Committees
University Committees
Faculty Senate (2013- 2016)
SPARC II Strategic Plan Initiative Committee (2013 - 2015) COE Search Committee for Dean (Spring 2015)
University Writing Committee (Spring 2015)
Student Research and Scholarship Committee as the College of Education representative (2014-2015) Academic Affairs Committee on Student Success Center (2014-2015)
College of Education Committees
Dean's Advisory Committee (2014-2015)
Department of Childhood and Exceptional Student Education "Week of the Young Child" Committee (2015) College of Education Marketing and Recruitment Committee (2014-2015)
Dr. Katz has served in the community as a judge for Live Oak Library's Savannah Book Festival writing contest. She presented two parent-training sessions of "The ABC's of Literacy: Creating Excitement about Learning through Reading, Writing and Poetry" as part of Early College Initiative of the Savannah Early Childhood Foundation. She also served as the guest speaker at Wesley Community Centers of Savannah "Books, Brownies and Berries" event. All of the above she manages to accomplish in addition to her vast number of national presentations listed in her APAR.
Anne Katz has made many accomplishments. In her unique way, she teaches her courses, connects with her students, and seeks out opportunities to support, to excite, to give those she instructs the opportunity to write and to present. She encourages them to step outside of their own comfort zones by offering her hand to go that extra mile with them. She is always on the way to meet a student, go to an off campus site, or to take part in her multiple responsibilities on campus committees and in the Senate. She is the person one goes to if something needs to be completed. Her own initiative in all she takes on separates her from others. In her professional and personal interactions and in her travels to present and meet others in her field, Dr. Anne Katz has established herself as a motivated leader and an exceptional teacher and mentor through her knowledge and her genuine kindness. She represents the qualities of a faculty member who has significantly contributed to this University through her service and her teaching.
It is my pleasure to nominate this outstanding faculty member for this years’ Service Excellence Award.
Beth A Childress
Assistant Professor
Department of Childhood and Exceptional Students