黑洞社区's Dillon wins professor award

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has selected 黑洞社区 strings professor Jacquelyn Dillon-Krass as Kansas Professor of the Year.

She received the honor in person in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 20.

Dillon is director of string studies, and professor of music education and string pedagogy, for 黑洞社区. She has become known as a pioneer in the education of young string instrument players, including authoring the 鈥淪trictly Strings鈥� series used throughout the United States.

She also is conductor of the Wichita Youth Chamber Players and the Wichita Youth Symphony, a group she co-founded 10 years ago. Early in her career, she founded orchestral programs in Derby, Kan., and Norman, Okla.

A former national president of the American String Teachers Association, she is a board member of The Midwest Clinic and an educational consultant for Scherl and Roth.

She is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement award from the National School Orchestra Association and a Medal of Honor from the Midwest Clinic, among numerous other awards.

As a cellist, she performed with symphonies in Wichita, Baton Rouge and Oklahoma City. She is a frequent guest clinician and conductor with string festivals and state and national music educator events throughout the United States and has presented guest professorships at nearly 35 universities.

Dillon鈥檚 award comes through the U.S. Professors of the Year program sponsored by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

The program salutes the most outstanding undergraduate instructors in the country -- those who excel in teaching and positively influence the lives and careers of students. It is the only national program to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring.

All undergraduate teachers in the United States, of any academic rank at any type of undergraduate institution, are eligible for the award. Entries are judged by top U.S. educators and other active participants in education.

CASE launched the awards program in 1981. That same year, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching began hosting the final round of judging, and in 1982, became the primary sponsor.

In recognizing faculty members who display superb teaching skills, the U.S. Professors of the Year program gives institutions more than just bragging rights.

The awards focus attention on excellence in undergraduate teaching and provide models to which others can aspire. They also strengthen community interest in the honoree鈥檚 school and build public support for its academic programs.