Academics

Miller receives Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Debra Miller, education program coordinator at Penn State Lehigh Valley, received the 2013 George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching on March 25 during a luncheon at University Park. She was one of six Penn State faculty members to receive this award.

"Dr. Miller deals with complex issues in education with skill, grace and humility. Her students love her, and her colleagues hold her in highest regard. She is truly deserving of this prestigious University award," said Kenneth Thigpen, director of academic affairs at Lehigh Valley.

Currently, Miller is in her 39th year of teaching education and her fourth at Penn State Lehigh Valley. She coordinates the Education Department which includes Rehabilitation and Human Services. For students pursuing their teaching degrees, she teaches special education courses.

Before her career at the Lehigh Valley campus, Miller received her doctorate in educational leadership at the University of Pennsylvania. She also received her masters in special education from East Stroudsburg University. At the Carbon-Lehigh Intermediate Unit, Miller was a secondary special education teacher for 25 years. Throughout the 25 years, Miller held positions as an educational diagnostician, a master teacher, an educational consultant, a special education supervisor, and director of curriculum and instruction. Miller was director of curriculum and instruction for Parkland School District for ten years. During her tenure, she received the Annie Sullivan Award for teaching and the Lehigh University Award for Excellence in Educational Leadership.

According to Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts website, the George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching is named for the seventh president of the University (1882-1907) and is presented each year to faculty members who have devoted substantial effort to and developed a record of excellence in undergraduate teaching.

Penn State Lehigh Valley professor Dr. Deborah Miller is a 2013 recipient of the Atherton Award. Credit: Kate Morgan / Penn StateCreative Commons

Last Updated January 9, 2015

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