[055]LONGTIME ENGLISH PROFESSOR YIELDS HONORS FOR EXCELLENCE, DEDICATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 19, 2008
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Lisa L. Rollins, 615-898-2919, or lrollins@mtsu.edu

LONGTIME ENGLISH PROFESSOR YIELDS HONORS FOR EXCELLENCE, DEDICATION

(MURFREESBORO)—Dr. Margaret Howlett Ordoubadian, a scholar of children’s literature and the oral traditions surrounding fairytale and folktales, has been formally recognized by colleagues for her inspiring, tireless and outstanding efforts on behalf of both MTSU and the greater teaching community.
Ordoubadian was awarded the rank of professor emeritus Aug. 8 during a ceremony that was part of MTSU’s summer commencement. Dr. Tom Strawman, chairman of the English department, nominated the Murfreesboro resident for the honor, citing her many significant accomplishments on behalf of the English program, where she taught full time for 34 years until her 2003 retirement, which was followed by four years of part-time teaching.
Referring to Ordoubadian’s teaching innovation, Strawman noted that she had adopted a “psychoanalytical approach to the study of children’s literature and folk/fairy tales (that) became so influential with so many students at MTSU … that the department began to hire more professors to teach in this area because Professor Ordoubadian had created such a demand for it in the university as a whole.”
In announcing her new academic rank, Dr. John McDaniel, dean of MTSU’s College of Liberal Arts, observed, “Excellent teaching is only one of Dr. Ordoubadian’s many outstanding contributions during her time at Middle Tennessee State University. She inspired and created the study of children’s literature at MTSU, working tirelessly to create the children’s literature collection, which has been greatly expanded in the Walker University Library.
“She also helped create the Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature, one of the major annual professional meetings in the United States in this field,” he continued. “(And) it was Dr. Ordoubadian’s idea to establish a University Writing Center, an indispensable resource for ensuring that MTSU students graduate from the university with the language and conceptual skills necessary to the demands of a complex and changing world.”
In further acknowledgement of Ordoubadian’s contributions to the university, the on-campus center she helped create will be renamed in her honor. Beginning Aug. 25, the first day of the fall semester, the writing lab located in Room 325 in Peck Hall will be known as the Margaret H. Ordoubadian Writing Center.
The longtime English professor also was honored at the Seventh Biennial Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature in Nashville, where her many accomplishments were announced and she was heralded for bringing children's literature into the mainstream of the MTSU English department's course offerings and for bringing academic respect to an international conference in the field.
“This commendation was accompanied by a donation to the Curriculum Library toward books of folk- and fairytales, Margaret’s field of interest,” said Dr. Ellen Donovan, English faculty.

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Additionally, beginning this fall, an award named after Ordoubadian will be presented to an outstanding graduate student tutor at MTSU each year. Publisher Bedford-St. Martin’s will fund the award.
“In her long tenure at MTSU, Dr. Ordoubadian worked tirelessly to raise her students’ expectations of themselves in every way, to provide the physical resources to ensure this end, to promote an appreciation and understanding of children’s literature, and to make the university a better place in which to work, study and learn,” McDaniel said.
A 1953 graduate of Hillsville (Va.) High School, Ordoubadian earned a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University in 1957 and a Master of Arts from MTSU in 1966 before receiving a J.D. from the Nashville School of Law in ’87.



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• ATTENTION, MEDIA: To request an interview with Dr. Ordoubadian or a jpeg for editorial use, please contact Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at lrollins@mtsu.edu.