Ethel Young-Minor Wins Outstanding Teacher Award

Ethel Young-Minor Wins Outstanding Teacher Award

Madison Hill

Dr. Ethel Young-Minor, Professor of English and African-American Studies, was this year’s recipient of the Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award, an award that has been celebrating excellence in educators annually since 1966.

Individuals can be nominated for the award by alumni, UM faculty, or even current UM students. A board of past-recipients of the Elsie M. Hood award selects each year’s honoree. The winners of the Elsie M. Hood Award are rewarded by having their name added to an honoree plaque that hangs in the J.D. Williams Library. “It is a humbling experience to receive this award, because there are so many outstanding educators here at the university,” said Young-Minor. “There is so much greatness here, I can’t imagine how they ever choose anyone.”

Full Version: http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3396119473819310822

Ethel Young-Minor Wins Outstanding Teacher Award

Madison Hill

Dr. Ethel Young-Minor, Professor of English and African-American Studies, was this year’s recipient of the Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award, an award that has been celebrating excellence in educators annually since 1966.

Individuals can be nominated for the award by alumni, UM faculty, or even current UM students. A board of past-recipients of the Elsie M. Hood award selects each year’s honoree. The winners of the Elsie M. Hood Award are rewarded by having their name added to an honoree plaque that hangs in the J.D. Williams Library.

“Sitting on the committee, looking at the nominations, it was crystal clear to me that this is a teacher that causes students to want to learn,” said Kelly G. Wilson, the 2010 recipient of the award, of Young-Minor. “Great teachers, like Professor Young-Minor, get students excited about learning.” Wilson is an associate professor of psychology at UM. Wilson joined the board after receiving the award last year.

“It is a humbling experience to receive this award, because there are so many outstanding educators here at the university,” said Young-Minor. “There is so much greatness here, I can’t imagine how they ever choose anyone.”

Young-Minor’s passion for teaching was recognized at an early age. Teaching and educating has always been a part of her life.

“Both of my parents were teachers, and most of my neighbors that I grew up with were teachers,” said Young-Minor of her childhood. “My sisters and I always played ‘school’ when we got together. Teaching has always been a part of who I am.”

Minor grew up in Memphis, TN and received a Bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Tennessee. Minor then continued her education at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio where she received her Masters and her Ph. D in English. Minor said that she was living in Bowling Green, OH when she applied for a job as a professor at the University of Mississippi, and knew that she had found her fit when she visited the UM campus for the first time.

“The English department is top-notch, the administrators were personable and the student body was diverse,” said Young-Minor of her first encounter with the University of Mississippi.

Students of Young-Minor benefit not only from Young-Minor’s obviously outstanding teaching abilities, but they also benefit from the nature of her personality. Before establishing her role as solely an English professor, Young-Minor sets a foundation of friendship with her students.

“I care about who you are as a person first,” said Young-Minor of her students. Students feel comfortable to express their opinions and ideas to a professor that is so accepting and open-minded.

“(Minor’s teaching methods) are natural and unique. Nothing is forced. You can really tell she has a passion for it,” said Camille Jones, Senior Communication Sciences and Disorders major. “It brightens my day to come to her class.”

“You can tell she has a passion for students that is incomparable to any teacher I’ve ever met,” said Casey Stafford, Junior Public Policy major. “She holds you accountable for the student she knows you are.”

In her views of education, Minor stresses the importance of getting a “full picture” of what it is to be an intellectual. In her experience, especially as an English teacher, Young-Minor said that students respond best and grow academically if they know that their teacher cares. According to Young-Minor, “southern hospitality” is at the root of it all.

Young-Minor said that receiving this award would not alter her teaching style in the least bit, and that she will “continue living each day with vigor and delivering information with the intention of transforming student lives and minds.” It is rare to find an educator that cares so deeply for each and every student on a personal level—which is a personal tendency that Dr. Young-Minor exercises daily, making her the ideal recipient of the Elise M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award.

“Teaching is my passion,” said Young-Minor. “It is always my goal to make students successful.”

Additional Links:

For students interested in possible taking a class from Dr. Young-Minor: http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=56138

For further information on Young-Minor from the Daily Mississippian: http://www.thedmonline.com/topics/Ethel%20Young-Minor