Radford University graduate Tamatha Farrell received one of two McGlothlin Awards for Teaching Excellence presented at the 2008 McGlothlin Awards ceremony in RU’s Bondurant Auditorium. Farrell, who graduated from RU in 1995 with a degree in interdisciplinary studies, teaches in Roanoke County’s Burlington Elementary School. Being a teacher for 10 years now, she is known for getting at-risk students to love reading and learning.

Farrell received $25,000 from the McGlothlin Foundation of Bristol, with the requirement that she use at least $10,000 for international travel. She plans to travel to England, the homeland of Roald Dahl, her favorite children’s author, whose book James and the Giant Peach is a major part of her students’ year.

Two other RU graduates were named among 18 semi-finalists for the awards. J. Vincent Groseclose, who earned a bachelor’s degree in special education in 1979 and a master’s degree in preschool education in 1983, and Rhonda McDonald, who received an RU master’s degree in reading in 1984.

The McGlothlin Awards for Teaching Excellence are among the largest teaching awards in the nation and are available only to educators in this region. According to Thomas D. McGlothlin, president of the McGlothlin Foundation, “The McGlothlin Foundation wishes to inspire the award recipients so that they can breathe new life into their classrooms, their peers, and indeed the entire school.”

The McGlothlin Awards program, now in its ninth year, is administered by Blue Ridge PBS. Since 2002, RU’s College of Education and Human Development has collaborated with Blue Ridge PBS and the McGlothlin Foundation to host the McGlothlin Celebration of Teaching and the McGlothlin Awards ceremony.