RADFORD -- Thomas R. Morris, Ph.D., Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia, will be keynote speaker at the 2008 McGlothlin Awards for Teaching Excellence on Thursday, April 17, 6:30 p.m., in Radford University's Bondurant Auditorium in Preston Hall.

The award ceremony will be the culmination of the McGlothlin Celebration of Teaching, an afternoon of activities honoring all public school teachers in the region. The featured speaker is award-winning children’s author Gloria Houston, Ph.D., who will present “My Great Aunt Arizona and the Legacy of Teaching” at 4:30 p.m. in Bondurant Auditorium in Preston Hall.

The award ceremony will include an introduction to Legacies: An Oral History Project, featuring Mrs. Grace Wooldridge, retired teacher and RU graduate.

Admission to the McGlothlin Celebration of Teaching and the McGlothlin Awards ceremony is free with required pre-registration. Visit www.radford.edu/mcglothlin/ for a full list of events. To register, visit the website or call RU’s Office of Conference Services at (540) 831-5800.

Morris (right), who grew up in Galax, is a former president of Emory & Henry College. He was honored as a Distinguished University Educator at the University of Richmond, where he taught for 21 years and served as chair of the faculty council. Morris has co-authored four books, including Virginia Government and Politics: Readings and Comments, now in its fourth revised edition. He chaired the Commission on Virginia’s State and Local Tax Structure for the 21st Century in 1999-2000 and was a member of the Commission on Efficiency and Effectiveness under Governor Mark Warner in 2002. Governor Tim Kaine appointed Morris as Virginia Secretary of Education in January 2007.

Houston has won more than 40 national awards for her books. The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree (1988) was named a Best Book of the Decade by the American Library Association’s Book List. My Great Aunt Arizona (1992) received the Medal of Merit from the Family Channel. Houston is a Distinguished Educator of the International Reading Association and a winner of the Excellence in Literacy Education Award from Partnerships in Education.

The McGlothlin Awards are presented annually by the McGlothlin Foundation of Bristol to exceptional educators from the region. Two teachers, one from grades K-5 and one from grades 6-12, are recognized and awarded $25,000 each, with the stipulation that $10,000 be used for international travel, to broaden the thinking and experience of the winning teachers and further enhance their excellence as professional educators. The McGlothlin Awards are among the largest individual teaching awards in the nation.

The McGlothlin Celebration of Teaching is sponsored by the McGlothlin Foundation, Radford University’s College of Education and Human Development, and Blue Ridge PBS.