Northern Arizona University
College of Education
PO Box 5774
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5774
(928) 523-2611
College of Education
PO Box 5774
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5774
(928) 523-2611
NAU grad wins prestigious teaching award
A Scottsdale teacher who earned a bachelor's and a master's degree from Northern Arizona University has been awarded a $25,000 prize for outstanding teaching from the Milken Family Foundation.
Elie Shutz Gaines, a teacher at Pinnacle Peak Elementary School, was nominated by the Arizona Department of Education. She was one of two Arizona teachers to win a National Educator Award.
"I truly loved and appreciated my undergraduate experience at NAU," Gaines said, speaking from her second-grade classroom in Scottsdale. "The professors were so involved...NAU provided us with a lot of classroom exposure by getting us into schools quickly. I've been fortunate to learn from such outstanding educators in NAU's undergraduate and graduate programs."
Gaines said she knew early in childhood that she wanted to be a teacher. "I was the oldest of five, so I'd sit my siblings down in my pretend classroom."
Gaines earned a bachelor's degree in special education and early childhood from NAU in l981 and a second master's degree (the first was from the University of Missouri-Kansas City) in educational leadership through NAU's distance learning program at Paradise Valley Community College last December.
The Milken Family Foundation National Educator Awards program provides public recognition and financial rewards to elementary and secondary schoolteachers, principals and other education professionals who are furthering excellence in education. By honoring outstanding educators, the program strives to attract, develop, motivate and retain talented people to the challenge and adventure of teaching.
The Milken Family Foundation is expected to award about $2.5 million in cash awards to teachers at 100 schools across the nation. The teachers are free to spend the money any way they choose. They will be presented the award at a four-day educational leadership conference hosted by the Milken Family Foundation in Washington, D.C. next April.
In the early 1980s, education pioneer Lowell Milken conceived and created an awards program to acknowledge educators' crucial contributions to our national well-being. Their main belief was-and is-that an effective way to advance the teaching profession is to reward educators' achievements, enhance their resources, and expand their professional interests.
If you know a distinguished alum who would like to share a story about his or her career or experience at Northern Arizona University, please contact Laura Theimer at 928.523.8746 or email Laura.Theimer@nau.edu.
