Burton Gorman Teaching Award

Burton Gorman was born in 1907 in Mitchell, Indiana. His father, William, was a railroad station master, and his mother, Minnie, was a schoolteacher. Mr. Gorman attended Indiana University, where he met Rebecca Evelyn Tolle of Lebanon. They were introduced by her brother, who, with Burton, were members of the Acacia Fraternity. Burton and Rebecca married in 1931 after Burton graduated, and they became a team. Joseph Gorman fondly recalls that his father would write out his work in longhand and Rebecca would type his notes.

While completing his master's degree, also from Indiana University, Mr. Gorman began what would be a 57 year career in education. His first position was as a high school history teacher and band director, at Bardstown High School in Kentucky. Upon completion of his master's degree in 1936, he became the superintendent of schools in Rising Sun, Indiana.

From there he moved to Lawrenceburg for a position as high school principal. Another move to Connersville for positions as director of counseling, then principal, and then superintendent of schools. His last school position before initiating his doctoral program of studies was as principal at Manual High School in Indianapolis.

Upon completion of his Ph.D. from George Peabody College, now Vanderbilt University, Prof. Gorman joined the faculty at DePauw University, and then Kent State University, where he was Head of the Secondary Education Department and Professor of Educational Administration. During the summers he was a visiting professor at Butler University, Indiana University, University of Vermont, and the University of North Carolina. Following his retirement from full-time teaching in 1972, he joined the faculty of Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, as a part-time professor. Professor Gorman passed away in 1999.

Joseph says of his father that he never stopped trying to improve the educational process. He talked about the more than 200 workshops for teachers that his father gave around the country and the dozens of awards he received for his articles, speeches and other contributions. Among his honors was a Distinguished Alumnus Award from George Peabody College. His books include Education for learning to live together, published in 1969, and Secondary Education: the high school American needs, published in 1971. He wrote extensively about the teaching/learning process in schools, with articles appearing in Educational Leadership, Peabody Journal of Education, and the journal of Phi Delta Kappa.

In the early 80's, Prof. Gorman established teaching awards at Indiana University and Kent State University. In helping to develop the IU award for Professor Gorman, Professor Lee Ehman fondly recalls that Professor Gorman wanted to reward teachers who are risk takers, people whose innovative and imaginative ideas are foremost. Professor Gorman wanted teaching to be broadly construed, so as to include conceptualization, instruction across settings, individual work with students, and evaluation. The first Burton Gorman Teaching Award was presented in 1983.

Professor and Mrs. Gorman instilled a passion for education in their own sons, too. Drs. Benjamin Gorman and Dr. John Gorman were university professors. Dr. Joseph Gorman is a corporate executive in the Cleveland, Ohio, area, and has been a champion for education in his own right. In a 1997 hearing before the Subcommittee on Trade of the US House Committee on Ways and Means, Dr. Gorman addressed the need for all Americans to get the education and learn the skills they need in order to be as competitive as individual citizens as we are now as a nation. And, recently, he established the Rebecca Tolle and Burton W. Gorman Chair for Leadership in Education at his alma mater, Kent State University.

What a wonderful story about a family... and studying and working with families of children with special needs is at the heart of my teaching and research.

Dr. Joseph Gorman is very, very proud of his parents. He described his father as a passionate and highly effective teacher whose principal goal was to engender in all of his students a lifetime love for learning.

The Gorman Teaching award was established by a benefactor alumnus of the School of Education for the purpose of recognizing creative, and innovative teaching based on best practices in a given academic year, including the summer session. All instructional staff (full-time, part-time, adjunct, associate instructor, tenure-track and clinical) on the IU School of Education Bloomington campus who teach either a graduate or undergraduate course are eligible for nomination. Nominations can be made by any IU student, faculty member, staff member, or administrator, including self-nominations.

Application materials must include 1) a statement from the nominee, limited to two double-spaced pages, that demonstrates the most creative and innovative piece of teaching in a given academic year based on best practices; and 2) a supporting letter from the nominator, limited to two double-spaced pages.  Application materials are due on the last day of February and should be sent to jensen5@indiana.edu.

The selection of the Burton W. Gorman Teaching Award recipients shall be made by a committee of three Indiana University faculty members selected by the Dean of the School of Education and consisting of not more than one member of the School of Education faculty. This award carries a cash prize. The winner will be announced at the Celebration of Excellence ceremony in April. 

2024

• Lucinda Carspecken

2023

• Karen Wohlwend

2022

• Jessica Nina Lester

2017

• Joshua A. Danish

2016

• Lori Patton Davis
• Barbara Dennis

2015

• Christine Leland

2014

• Mary McMullen

2013

• Mitzi Lewison

2012

• Annela Teemant

2011

• Phil Carspecken

2010

• Nancy Chism

2009

• Suzanne Eckes

2008

• Signe Kastberg

2007

• Faridah Pawan

2006

• Ginette Delandshere

2005

• Jerome Harste

2004

• Enid Zimmerman

2003

• Martha McCarthy

2002

• Lee Ehman

2001

• Susan M. Klein

2000

• Beatriz S. D'Ambrosio

1999

• Curtis J. Bonk
• Hans A. Andersen

1998

• Diana V. Lambdin
• William J. Boone

1997

• Rex A. Stockton

1996

• Samuel Guskin
• Gilbert Clark

1995

• Thomas B. Gregory

1994

• Myrtle Scott

1993

• L. Kristi Bosworth

1992

• Jacqueline Blackwell

1991

• Thomas Schwandt

1990

• Penny Gaither

1989

• Farough Abed

1988

• Jesse Goodman

1987

• Charles R. Barman

1986

• Nelson H. Goud

1985

• Larry J. Mikulecky

1984

• Edward B. Jenkinson

1983

• Michael Cohen