COE Selects Pam Matlock As Recipient Of Dr. Charles and Marlene Johnson Outstanding Education Faculty Award

The Murray State University College of Education announced the 2011 recipient of the “Dr. Charles and Marlene Johnson Outstanding Education Award” at the Harry M. Sparks Lecture on June 18, 2012. Pam Matlock, a lecturer in the Department of Adolescent, Career, and Special Education, was chosen for her outstanding service and teaching to the University, its students, and the region.

Matlock is also the 2 + 2 Education Coordinator at MSU’s Paducah campus. She is President Elect of the Kentucky Association of Teacher Educators and Vice-President of Kentucky’s Executive Board of the Council for Exceptional Children.  She will be the Kentucky representative for the National Council for Exceptional Children’s Representative Assembly in 2013 and 2014.  She is state conference coordinator for the 2012 KATE conference and the editor of the Kentucky CEC newsletter.  Matlock is the faculty advisor for two MSU student organizations – the Student Council for Exceptional Children and the founding advisor of MSU’s chapter of the Best Buddies organization, which pairs a university student as a buddy to Calloway County school district students with intellectual disabilities.  She is currently working with the federal SHEP initiative, Supported Higher Education Program, which designs certification programs for individuals with intellectual disabilities at the collegiate level.  She has authored a chapter on differentiation strategies for the National Business Education Association and has published K – 12 anti-bullying lesson plans and strategies.  She is a two time recipient of an MSU Regional Stewardship Grant benefiting K-12 schools in the teaching of math.  She has taught MSU study abroad classes in Ireland and England, given university presentations in Germany and China, and taught instructional strategies to faculty in Belize. Matlock received her Masters and Psychometry degrees from Murray State University and has been teaching for the past 37 years:  27 years in special education in the Paducah K-12 system and 10 years at Murray State.  Her research, interests and passions are still teaching about special need children.  In 2010 she received MSU’s Max Carmen Outstanding Teacher Award, which is given by the Student Government Association and in 2007 her teaching was recognized with the College of Education’s Board of Regents award for Teaching Excellence. She is married to Bill Matlock, and has one daughter, BJ, a graduate of the US Naval Academy and LT in the US Navy.

The “Dr. Charles and Marlene Johnson Outstanding Education Award” was established in 2010 by Dr. Charles and Marlene Johnson and is awarded annually. Dr. and Mrs. Johnson feel that, “Teachers at all levels need to be recognized and appreciated more for what they do. Many spend their own money for materials and supplies for the classroom. Academic excellence begins in the classroom, and the teacher sets the proper tone and climate. We just want to recognize and award that example of excellence.” This award provides recipients with additional support for professional faculty development, conferences and travel, obtaining research materials, or other appropriate projects.