|
Teachers
of Government Advisory Board Biographies 2008-2010
Chris
Burkett is
the Assistant Director of the M. Ed. Program in Divergent Learning
and an Assistant Professor of Education at Columbia College. Before
coming to Columbia College, Dr. Burkett spent eleven years in the
public school classroom teaching American Government, Economics,
and World Cultures to high school students, as well as coaching
various sports. After leaving Dutch Fork High, Dr. Burkett spent
two years working with teacher candidates at Newberry College before
taking his current position at Columbia College.
Burkett currently
serves on the executive board of the South Carolina Council of the
Social Studies, works as a consultant for the College Board with
their American Government and Politics course, as well as participates
as an Advanced Placement Reader at the annual AP American Government
and Politics Reading in Daytona Beach, Florida.
He was a participant
of the inaugural Riley Institute Teachers of Government program
at Furman University during the summer 2001. Dr. Burkett is also
an instructor for the Program of Alternative Certification for Educators
(PACE) throughout the state.
While in public
education, Dr. Burkett was the recipient of the Sallie Mae First
Year Teacher of the Year Award for the state of South Carolina,
the State Paper Teacher of the Year Award, and was also honored
as the Dutch Fork High School Teacher of the Year. Dr. Burkett’s
research interests include educational technology, social studies
best practices, and classroom management.
Kathy
Creswell
is currently in her fourth year as the Assistant Principal at Hillcrest
High School in Simpsonville, S.C. Although Mrs. Creswell was born
in Asheville, N.C., she was raised in Fountain Inn, S.C. and attended
Greenville County Schools.
Before coming to Hillcrest High School, Mrs. Creswell
earned a B.A. and a M.A. from Furman University and an Ed.S from
Converse College. She began her career in the construction industry
upon graduating from Furman, and progressed forward into the food
service industry. In 1998, she went back to Furman to earn her M.Ed.
and a teaching certificate. She worked as a Social Studies teacher
from 1998 to 2004 at Hillcrest High School before she was promoted
to the Assistant Principal position that she holds today.
Mrs. Creswell has been a consultant for the Riley
Institute at Furman from 2003 to the present. She also serves on
the Political Science Advisory Board at Furman, is a past participant
of the Riley Institute’s Teachers of Government program, and
is a committee member for the Furman Education Grant program. She
is a Liberty Scholar participant, a member of both the ASCD and
the SCASA, a participant in the Developing Aspiring Principals Program
with the South Carolina Department of Education, and was recognized
consecutively from 2000-2005 for Who’s Who In American Teaching.
Mrs. Creswell
has been married for twenty-five years and has a twenty-one year
old daughter.
Russell
Diesinger
is currently a member of the professional staff at Reading High
School in Reading, PA where he teaches United States Government,
Economics, and Criminal Justice. He also teaches U.S. History as
part of an alternative education administered by the Reading Area
Community College. Before coming to Reading High School, Mr. Diesinger
worked for twenty-two years in educational publishing as a consultant,
sales representative, and sales manager.
Mr. Diesinger
participated in the Riley Institute for Teachers of Government program
in 2005. In addition, he was named a national semifinalist in the
Abraham Lincoln Fellowship and a Preferred Alternate by the James
Madison Memorial Fellowship in 2007. Mr. Diesinger was also chosen
to Who’s Who in American Teaching consecutively from 2004-2007.
In addition
to his devotion to teaching, Mr. Diesinger is very involved in the
community. He serves as the School Director for the Exetor Township
School District (2000 to present), and was elected Vice President
in 2007. He also serves on the Chairman Personnel Committee of the
Joint Operating Committee at Berks Career and Technology Center,
is a member of the Berks County Planning Board for Good Schools
Pennsylvania, and was the Dean of Good Schools PA Berks County Summer
School at Albright College during the summer of 2007.
Born in Norristown,
PA, Mr. Diesinger has been a life-long resident of the state. He
and his wife Jeri have four children: Laura, a special education
teacher, Jake, currently serving in the military, Edward, an investment
broker, and Mary, a film production assistant.
Hale
Edwards has taught Social Studies at Riverside Middle
School in Greer, SC since its opening in 1999. She earned her undergraduate
degree in Health, Recreation and Physical Education from Wesleyan
College in Macon, GA, her M.A. in Middle Level Social Studies from
Furman University in Greenville, SC, and completed graduate coursework
in Asian Studies, Gifted Education and Special Education.
Edwards currently serves as a teacher Mentor and
Teacher Evaluator in the Greenville County Schools, in addition
to being a Team Leader and member of Riverside Middle School's Principal's
Advisory. She coordinates and runs the Model United Nation's at
Riverside Middle, the Character Education Program, and the Peer
Mediation Program. Additionally, she is one of the sponsors of the
Student Council and Vice President of the Greenville County Council
for the Social Studies. In 2000-2001 and in 2005, Edwards was a
member of the Greenville County Curriculum Guide Committee.
Currently, she is a member of the National Council
for the Social Studies, the South Carolina Council for the Social
Studies and the Greenville County Council for Social Studies, ASCD-Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development, SC Geographic Alliance,
Asia Society, Kappa Delta Pi, and Subscriber to Asia for Educators.
Among Edwards travels, she has visited China and
Japan with NCTA/SCCTA in 2005, Washington, DC with the Riley Institute
Teachers of Government Program in 2006, and Germany in 2007 with
the Goethe Institute/TransAtlantic Outreach Program in 2007.
She attended the FPRI weekend on India in 2006,
the University of Chattanooga's Japan Seminar Weekend in 2006, and
recently attended the Southeastern Conference of Asian Studies Weekend
at Hilton Head. Edwards has presented at the National Social Studies
Conference in 2007, the South Carolina Social Studies conference
in 2005, 2006, and 2007, and the Greenville County Summer Academy
in 2006.
Hale was awarded
the South Carolina Social Studies Middle School Teacher of the year
in 2006 and The National Council for The Social Studies Middle School
Teacher of the Year for 2007.
Prakash
Elston is
currently employed at Greenwood High School, in addition to serving
as an Adjunct Professor for Lander University and Southern Wesleyan
University. Ms. Elston was born in San Antonio Texas, but moved
to South Carolina with her family at an early age. She grew up in
the lowcountry of South Carolina and graduated from Andrews High
School. After graduation, she attended both Brenau University and
Furman University, graduating with a B.A. in History.
Ms. Elston’s
first teaching job was in 1994 at Emerald High School in Greenwood,
SC. While teaching full time, she attended graduate classes at night
and in May of 1998 received her M.Ed.. Soon after, she transferred
to Phoeniz, AZ where she lived and taught computer and education
graduate and undergraduate classes for seven years at the University
of Phoenix and Glendale Community college. Elston returned to South
Carolina in 2005.
B.
Craig Griffith was born and raised in Fairland,
Indiana. He received his Bachelor of Arts in History and Education
from Marian College, Indianapolis, Indiana. He is certified and
highly qualified to teach grades 6- 12 and has a gifted and talented
endorsement. His primary area of study is United States History
and his supporting areas are world civilization, government, and
economics.
He completed
the Teachers of Government Program during the summer of 2006. Craig
has been teaching for 13 years and is currently teaching at Furman
Middle School, Sumter, South Carolina. He serves as the Social Studies
Department Head and the Student Government Advisor as well. The
Sumter Area Reading Council recognized him as the 2008 Distinguished
Reading Teacher of the Year at Furman Middle School and he was named
the Furman Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2008.
In his spare
time he enjoys reading, sports, and spending time with his pugs:
LuLu, Tiny, Penelope, and Stevie.
Harriet
Clark Herndon currently
teaches Social Studies at Dillon High School in Dillon, S.C. and
is a retired administrator from Marlboro County High School in Bennettsville,
S.C. A native of Bennettsville, she received her early education
in the public school system of Marlboro County. She received dual
Bachelor’s Degrees in Honors Politics and Social Studies from
St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, N.C. and a Master’s
Degree in Educational Administration from Grand Canyon University
in Phoenix, Arizona.
Mrs. Herndon currently serves as an inaugural member
of the Richard W. Riley Institute for Teachers of Government, is
a graduate of the S.C. Institute of Government at the University
of South Carolina, and is an award winning speaker, having been
featured on TV-13’s “Bridging the Gap”. Additionally,
she was privileged to assist former Attorney General Travis Medlock
in the “Be Free to Succeed” program while employed as
a Prevention Specialist for the Marlboro County Commission on Alcohol
and Other Drugs. She will serve as an SAT Reader for Prentice-Hall
Company this fall.
She is an accomplished vocalist and has performed
for numerous civic functions as well as a singer/actor in community
and semi-professional theatre. She has also won numerous beauty
and talent titles in the past, and has judged pageants on the local,
state and national levels, serving also as an accredited Miss America
Preliminary judge.
Mrs. Herndon
has been married to her husband, Ronnie, for forty-two years, and
they are the proud parents and grandparents of daughter, Angela
Herndon Hanna, a professional photographer, and granddaughter, Kersey
Hanna, a fifth grader at Edwards Elementary School in Chesterfield,
S.C.
Sharon
McAbee
has worked for the Greenville County school system at Riverside
High School since 2001 teaching world history, US history, and leadership;
however, Mrs. McAbee is not new to Greenville County. She attended
Eastside High School in her youth, and then proceeded onto both
the University of South Carolina where she received her undergraduate
degree in Criminal Justice, and to the Citadel to receive her masters
in education. Before coming to teaching, Mrs. McAbee worked in law
enforcement for 15 years, with her last ten at the Spartanburg County
Sheriff’s Office. While there, she was nominated for police
officer of the year by the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children for her work with a child abduction internet case. She
also worked for four years in homicide as the first female to work
in that particular division.
In addition to teaching at Riverside High School,
Mrs. McAbee serves as the advisor to the Student Government Executive
Committee and as a coach for the Mock Trial team. She has also served
as the congressional representative for Project Citizen and was
awarded S.C. Bar Teacher of the Year. As an alumna of the Riley
Institute for Teachers of Government, McAbee claims that her experiences
and education from the Riley Institute have molded her teaching
in all subject areas and continue to be one of her life’s
richest adventures.
She is happily married to Pete McAbee Jr., a Greenville
native, and has one stepdaughter named Meghann. They are expecting
their first granddaughter in July.
Tami
Miller
currently serves as part of the professional staff of Riverside
Middle School. Although she is certified to teach K-12 and has experience
in elementary, middle grades, secondary, and alternative school
settings, she chose to concentrate on United States and South Carolina
History at the 8th grade level.
For the last two years, Tami has taken time out
of the classroom to join the Human Resources Department at the district
level where she has worked in the Mentoring and Evaluation Office
of Greenville County Schools. In this position, she has worked with
teachers across the district and is always on the lookout for the
best practices – particularly in the area of social studies.
Tami is a 2005 Alumna of the Teachers of Government
(TOG) Program and has continued to serve the Riley Institute as
a research volunteer. As a result of her TOG experience, she applied
for the C-SPAN Teacher Fellowship and was selected as one of the
top 5 finalists in the nation. Her most recent passion has been
the development of an Advisory Board for the Teachers of Government
program with the Riley Institute. Realizing the impact that the
TOG experience had made on her own professional development, she
knew that its impact could reach beyond the two-week experience.
She envisioned an Advisory Board that could provide instructional
and curriculum support for social studies educators, as well as
serving as ambassadors for the Teachers of Government Program.
Beginning in
June, Tami will step into her new position as manager of the Carolina
First Center for Excellence – part of the Workforce Development
and Education of the Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce - where
she will work with the school and corporate communities to implement
continuous quality improvement in classrooms.
Gary
Purinton has been a teacher at Broome High
School since 2005. He graduated from Coastal Carolina University
in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration
and Economics. He then attended Converse College to earn his M.Ed.
in Social Studies in 1993 and his Masters in Secondary Administration
and Supervision in 2003.
Mr. Purinton
participated in the Riley Institute for Teachers of Government in
2006. He also participated in the 2002 National Teacher Training
Institute Master Teacher Program, which trains master teachers how
to use hands-on interactive methods with technology as a part of
classroom instruction. These master teachers then create lesson
plans incorporating video, hands-on activities and the Internet,
and model these lessons for their fellow teachers at local Institutes.
Mr. Purinton is certified in Advanced Placement Microeconomics and
Advanced Placement U.S. History. Most recently Mr. Purinton
was also selected for the prestigious C-SPAN 2008 Teacher Fellowship
Program. As a Fellow, he will spend one month working at C-SPAN’s
headquarters in Washington DC in the summer of 2008 with three other
teachers from around the United States creating materials for teachers
to use on www.c-spanclassroom.org,
a free website for educators.
Mr. Purinton
is happily married to his wife, Connie. They have one six year old
child named Sarah.
Melissa
Venters
has taught 8th grade South Carolina history at West Ashley Middle
School in Charleston, SC for the past three years. Ms. Venters completed
her undergraduate degree at the College of Charleston, graduating
as a History major with a minor in secondary education in 2004.
She is currently working on receiving a MA in Teaching Social Studies
from Columbia University Teachers College, and expects to graduate
in August 2009.
Ms. Venters has served as a presenter at both the
South Carolina Middle School Conference (Feb 2008) and the International
Reading Association Conference (May 2008). She has also served on
the Leadership Team (2007-2008), the Charleston County Social Studies
Task Force (2007), and as the Social Studies Department Chair (2006-2008).
In addition to these accomplishments, Ms. Venters has also assisted
Charleston County in writing benchmark assessments and creating
coherent curriculum documents.
|
