SUNY Sullivan’s Riegal honored with teaching excellence award

LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY — The Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), www.acbsp.org, has announced that Diane Riegal, an associate professor at SUNY Sullivan, has received the 2015 ACBSP International Teaching Excellence Award.

The announcement was made at a “Salute to Regions Luncheon” held recently at the ACBSP Conference 2015 in Philadelphia. As the Associate Degree 2015 Teaching Excellence Award recipient for ACBSP Region 1, Riegal was honored with other regional recipients, each of whom received a medallion and a $100 check. From that group, two International Teaching Excellence Award recipients were announced, one from a baccalaureate/graduate degree-granting institution and one from an associate degree-granting institution. Riegal received the International Award, representing associate degree institutions, and was presented with an engraved plaque and a $500 check. Dr. Perry Glen Moore from Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., also received a 2015 International Teaching Excellence Award, representing baccalaureate/graduate degree institutions. Dr. Moore is a member of ACBSP Region 3.

O’Rourke named to dean’s list

SALISBURY, MD — Virginia O’Rourke of Wurtsboro, NY, has been named to the dean’s list at Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD for the spring 2015 semester.

At Salisbury University some 8,700 students in 42 undergraduate and 16 graduate programs pursue liberal arts and professional degrees. Ranked by U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and others, Salisbury University is consistently among the top 10 percent of public and private institutions nationwide.

Hackett named president of mid-Hudson council

SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — Dr. Nancy M. Hackett has been named the president of the Mid-Hudson School Study Council (MHSSC) for the 2015-2016 school year. This organization comprises school superintendents in the Mid-Hudson region, board of education members and faculty from the universities and colleges in our area. With the challenges in education on the forefront, the MHSSC provides research and professional development to assist the educators in the region.

Bastian chosen for international committee

CALLICOON, NY — The country’s official accreditation organization for over 900 teacher-training colleges and universities has recently chosen Callicoon resident Linda Bastian to serve on its international committee. Thirty-five committee members were chosen nation-wide out of a field of 500 applicants to serve with the Council for Accreditation of Education Programs (CAEP).

The committee, with which Dr. Bastian will be working, is in a position to advise CAEP on the competence of foreign teacher-training programs that seek CAEP’s approval for much-prized American accreditation. Bastian’s background of teaching in the Middle East, and of training beginning teachers there, as well as her founding of the Art Education Department at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, gives her a perspective on how to develop quality teacher-training programs here and abroad.

Bastian has also been awarded a Fulbright Grant to return to the Middle East to collaborate on the creation of a post-baccalaureate teacher-training program at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.