Totten Named English Teacher of the Year Among Arkansas College Faculty
Posted on 11/1/2007
The Arkansas Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts has named University of Arkansas professor Samuel Totten as English Teacher of the Year for the university level.
Totten joined the faculty of the College of Education and Health Professions in 1987. He has received teaching, service and research awards from the college and from the department of curriculum and instruction. His fields of research, reflected in his many published books and scholarly articles, include Holocaust education, genocide education and human rights education. This spring he will be a Fulbright Fellow at the National University of Rwanda, where he will design and implement a graduate degree program in genocide studies.
Totten served as a member of the U.S. State Department Atrocity Documentation Project team sent in 2004 to Chad to interview refugees from Darfur. The team's work led to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell reporting to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee that genocide was being committed in Darfur.
Totten also established the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project at the University of Arkansas. His earlier professional experiences include 10 years as a high school English teacher and principal.
The Arkansas Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts is the state's professional organization for English teachers. The council chose winners on three other levels for the English Teacher of the Year award: Sherry Roland at Valley View High School, Jason Campbell at Ruth Doyle Intermediate in Conway and Ruth Linn at Greenbrier Westside Elementary School.
A panel of council board members served as judges for the award. The panel considers the nominees' lifelong teaching, professionalism and service, with emphasis on recent achievements.
In announcing the award, the council, an affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of English, released this statement about Totten:
Totten's teaching is guided by his philosophy: "Education is the multifaceted attainment of knowledge, abilities, and, over time, wisdom, for the express purpose of living a meaningful life. It is such that it induces one to take a critical (in the best sense of the word) stance in regard to both personal and community/national/international issues, make critical distinctions, weigh evidence and act - according to one's conscience - in a responsible manner. Ideally, it is also one that provides an individual with the means to explore life to its fullest, live life as if one is creating a wondrous piece of art, and dare to be an individual."
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