Contact: Joni W. Seitz

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A Mississippi State associate professor and director of the university’s Geosciences Distance Education programs is receiving a national honor from the leading association for professional, continuing and online education.

Kathy Sherman-Morris is the University Professional and Continuing Education Association’s selection for the 2019 Excellence in Teaching Award. Nominated by MSU’s Center for Distance Education, Sherman-Morris is among UPCEA award winners who have made outstanding contributions to the association and the field, as well as achievements in innovative programming, marketing and promotion, community development and services, and research and publications.

Susan Seal, executive director of MSU’s Center for Distance Education, said Sherman-Morris provides outstanding leadership in programmatic administration, student advisement, assessment, marketing and supervisory functions.

“The tangible contributions that Dr. Kathy Sherman-Morris has made in Mississippi State’s Geosciences distance learning programs and to MSU’s overall distance education program are numerous,” Seal said. “However, her even greater impact may come in less measurable ways, such as the care and concern she shows to her students, the extra effort she makes to assist colleagues in building not just a great course, but an excellent program, and the leadership she shows in innovation in online learning.”

MSU’s geosciences programs are nationally recognized, with nearly 35 percent of all current broadcast meteorologists having ties to MSU, graduating from either the online or campus program.

Sherman-Morris has led an effort to ensure MSU’s distance learning coursework meets programmatic standards set by the World Meteorological Organization, and she has aligned the distance portion of degree programs with national certification programs. She also serves on the CDE Advisory Council and has given talks for MSU's Center for Teaching and Learning.

Sherman-Morris has been invited by the Association of American Geographers to serve as a panel discussant about distance learning, most recently in 2015, and she has recently been elected as a Councilor for the National Weather Association. 

Last year, she co-organized an all-female panel of Climate Specialty Group members at the Southern Division of the Association of American Geographers for a discussion on hurricane season.

For more on MSU’s online Bachelor of Science in Geosciences with a concentration in Broadcast and Operational Meteorology, visit http://distance.msstate.edu/geosciences/bomp/.

For more about MSU’s Center for Distance Education, visit http://distance.msstate.edu/.