[466] MTSU's Smith-Walters Named Project Learning Tree Top Educator

For release:  May 31, 2012

News and Media Relations contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-5616 or Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu

Biology/Center for Environmental Education contact: Dr. Cindi Smith-Walters, 615-898-5449 or Cindi.Smith-Walters@mtsu.edu

MTSU’s Smith-Walters named Project Learning Tree top educator

MURFREESBORO — Recently recognized as one of the top five National Project Learning Tree Outstanding Educators. MTSU’s Dr. Cindi Smith-Walters said she “was honored to be nominated and amazed to be selected.”

The award was presented May 17 at the conclusion of Project Learning Tree’s 26^th International Coordinators’ Conference in Deadwood, S.D.

“I knew the kind of talented and dedicated professionals in public and private education who are involved in Project Learning Tree and that pool of candidates is a deep one,” Smith-Walters, a Murfreesboro resident, said.

“To be selected by the National PLT Committee — which is made up of educators, natural-resource professionals and environmental specialists — as one of the very best in the nation is a high honor indeed,” she added.

A member of the MTSU faculty since 1993, Smith-Walters is a biology professor and co-director of MTSU’s Center for Environmental Education.

In announcing Smith-Walters as one of five national winners, PLT’s news release said, “She has been a dedicated leader in environmental education in the state since 1988, personally training thousands of educators to use PLT to improve student learning and promote stewardship. She helped make PLT and environmental education an important component of Tennessee’s overall education curriculum while working at the Tennessee Department of Education.

“Since coming to MTSU in 1993, she has won numerous university faculty awards. She has served on multiple state and national committees, and helps school principals, superintendents, curriculum supervisors, and teachers throughout the state implement PLT and other environmental-education curricula.”

Project Learning Tree’s Outstanding Educators are selected for their commitment to environmental education, their exemplary use of PLT and their exceptional teaching skills, said Vanessa Bullwinkle of the National Project Learning Tree organization.

Bullwinkle added that every year, PLT provides more than 30,000 educators with the tools and on-the-ground training they need to incorporate environmental education and service learning into their curriculum. PLT activities use trees and forests as “windows” on the world to help teachers strengthen their teaching of core subjects, take their students outdoors to learn and grow stewardship in the next generation, she added.

Joining Smith-Walters as national honorees are Lu Boren, a middle-school teacher at St. Columba School in Durango, Colo.; Brooke Mohr, an elementary teacher at Medart Elementary School in Crawfordville, Fla.; Usha Rajdev, an associate professor at Marymount University in Arlington, Va.; and Kathy Rusert, a science and reading teacher with Acorn Schools in Mena, Ark.

In addition to attending the PLT International Coordinators’ Conference, all five are invited to participate in the World Forestry Center’s International Educators’ Institute, July 8-14, in Portland, Ore. Smith-Walters said she has not decided if she will attend.

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Note: A high-resolution jpeg photo of Dr. Cindi Smith-Walters is attached.

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MTSU professor Dr. Cindi Smith-Walters, second from right, was one of five national Project Learning Tree Outstanding Educators recognized recently for their commitment to environmental education, their exemplary use of PLT and their exceptional teaching skills. She is shown with Frank Gallagher, left, American Forest Foundation Board of Trustees member; Tom Martin, AFF president and CEO; and Kathy McGlauflin, senior vice president of education at AFF. (Submitted photo)

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