Lou Wood Awarded Columbia College's Alumnae
Association's Wil Lou Gray Outstanding Educator Award

CONTACT: LOU WOOD, EXT. 2177

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 3/24/2001
(By Lisa Garrett)

Tri-County Technical College educator Lou Wood receives the Columbia College Alumnae Association's Wil Lou Gray Outstanding Educator Award today (March 24) during Alumnae Day.

Established in 1985, the award is given by the Alumnae Association to an alumna who has distinguished herself and Columbia College by her outstanding accomplishments in the field of education. "We are honored to bestow this award upon Lou," said Emil Burns Mitchell, Class of 1984. "I thank you for calling to our attention the gifts that she has so ably given to our Columbia College, to her family, and to the students through the years." Mrs. Wood, of Clemson, holds a bachelor's degree from Columbia College, and her master's in education is from the University of Virginia.

Mrs. Wood began teaching English at Tri-County in 1974 and has served as developmental English department head since 1986.

Nancy Patterson, who chaired Tri-County's Comprehensive Studies Division until her retirement four years ago, submitted the nomination for her colleague and friend. She writes: "Lou is a very gifted instructor who endeavors to instill personal confidence and to motivate students to attain their long-range goals, whether that goal is completing a degree or achieving personal satisfaction. She aggressively seeks to bring "real world" instruction into the classroom/lab. This desire has taken her and her students on a journey to integrate computers into courses, to use cooperative learning, and to incorporate intercultural understanding into her courses."

Several years ago Mrs. Wood began the use of electronic mail as teaching tool with Basic Writing students and for that she received national recognition and was awarded the Houghton Mifflin 1995 Partners in Technology. She was the only winner in the Computers and Writing category. The award recognizes innovative approaches to integrating technology into the curriculum.

She was recognized by Governor David Beasley as one of six finalists for the Commission on Higher Education's 1996 Professor of the Year Award. The same year she received the highest award presented to the faculty, the Presidential Medallion for Instructional Excellence, at commencement. She was the College's 1996 nominee for the South Carolina Technical Education Association's (SCTEA) outstanding educator of the year in the teaching category. In 1995, 1996 and 1997, she was honored during the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) International Conference on Teaching Excellence for her outstanding contributions to teaching and learning.

"Lou is more than an instructor to her students," continued Mrs. Patterson "She is their mentor, sometimes counselor, and always encourager. She habitually goes the extra mile maybe I should say 10 miles, to help her students to attain mastery of writing skills."

In 1997 Mrs. Wood was one of 38 educators from across the United States to receive certification as a developmental education specialist from the Kellogg Institute during the 1997 - 98 academic year. The Institute is the only one of its kind in the country offering training and certification to educational professionals who work with academically underprepared students on college campuses.

She has made presentations at the South Carolina and North
Carolina Associations of Developmental Educators, the National Association of Developmental Educators, the League for Innovation, and the Eleventh Computers and Writing conference in Texas. In 1995, 1996 and 1997 she was honored during the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) International Conference on Teaching Excellence for her outstanding contributions to teaching and learning.

She and her husband, Jim, live in Clemson.
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