National Teachers Hall of Fame
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NATIONAL TEACHERS HALL OF FAME

2001 INDUCTEES

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mitsuye conover

bartlesville, ok | YEARS TAUGHT: 1965 - Present

Mitsuye transforms a normal classroom into a stimulating interactive environment in which students connect the concepts of history to their personal lives and prior knowledge base. Mitsuye involves her students in stimulating dialogue, role play, debate, dramatization, research, and writing. The students internalize the concepts that have been taught, and it genuinely becomes their own learning. Her commitment to students is reflected by the creation of the Sean David Conover Charitable Scholarship Foundation which Mitsuye and her husband established after their only child was killed by a drunk driver.
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
  • 2000      Mid America Education Hall of Fame
  • 2000      Finalist, National Teacher of the Year
  • 1999      Oklahoma Teacher of the Year
  • 1999      Bartlesville Teacher of the Year
  • 1st-5th Editions      Who’s Who Among American Teachers
  • 1984      Bartlesville School Foundation Grant
  • 1983      ​Professional Improvement Committee Grant
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ronald foreso

parsippany, nj | YEARS TAUGHT: 1974 - Present

Teaching by precept and example (as few truly do), Ronald inculcates in his students the knowledge that only through service to others do we make a difference. Only in service to others do we understand the real meaning of a liberal arts education. As a teacher, Mr. Foreso’s greatest virtue is that all of his virtues are contagious. He teaches not by rote, but by example. Mr. Foreso commands the utmost respect because of the respect he gives his students. His passions become his students’ passions.
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
  • 2000       Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers (1st – 6th edition)
  • 1999       NASA / U.S. Space Academy Right Stuff Award
  • 1999       Veterans of Foreign Wars Outstanding Citizen of the Year for the State of New Jersey
  • 1999       New Jersey State Teacher of the Year
  • 1998-1999       Parsippany Veterans of Foreign Wars Citizen of the Year
  • 1998-1999       Morris County Teacher of the Year
  • 1998       Inducted into the United States Cavalry’s Order of the Spur
  • 1998       Congressional Citation for “Books for Bosnia” campaign
  • 1997       ​Lakeland Hills Family YMCA Outstanding High School Educator of the Year
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emeil hamberlin

chicago, il  | Years Taught: 1964 - Present

Emiel has always used his teaching skills to develop small businesses and business enterprises. He and his students developed a landscaping club where students were actually paid for producing public and private landscapes throughout the city. They have sold balloon arrangements, mother’s day plants, flowers for the prom, and many other gift items from their Ornamental Horticulture Program. He and his students developed an award winning Urban Ecology Sanctuary where they studied, maintained, and housed various animals, numerous plant life, and unique ecosystems all within an enclosed courtyard on their high school campus.
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
  • 1992      Golden Apple Foundation Academy Fellowship
  • 1992      Kohl Family Foundation International Educator
  • 1988      Who’s Who Among Black Americans – Educators
  • 1986      Newsweek Magazine, Inc., 100 American Heroes
  • 1983      State of Illinois Master Teacher Award
  • 1977      State of Illinois ThoseWhoExcel Teacher of the Year
  • 1974      Outstanding Secondary Educator of America
  • 1971      ​City of Chicago Teacher of the Year
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ellen kempler

miami, fl | Years Taught: 1966 - 2001

Ellen wrote that ‘Life is a huge relay race, I am alive and carrying the baton now. The future depends on me as surely as my generation depended on our teachers and their teachers and their teachers.’ Kempler and others began MicroBusiness USA which provides small loans to people who would never qualify for commercial loans so that they may become self-sufficient and have their dignity restored. The program has provided more than $1 million in loans to more than 1,000 borrowers with a 95% repayment rate. As a sponsor of the National Honor Society this year, she and her students wrapped 67 individually wrapped Christmas presents for the Children’s Home Society for abused and neglected children.
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
  • 2002      Florida Women of Achievement Honoree
  • 2001      Board member: UNICEF – Florida
  • 1999-present      Educational Excellence School Advisory Council (Recording Secretary)
  • 1997-1998      Teacher of the Year
  • 1994      Most Significant Teacher to class valedictorian
  • 1992      Associate of Writing Institute (one of 25 master teachers in the county)
  • 1990-1994      Peace Education Foundation (Chair of the Board)
  • 1978-1982      Quality Instruction Incentive Program (Elected by peers to manage incentive
                             program at Coral Gables Sr. High)
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james quinlan

vernon, nj | Years Taught: 1976 - present

James is a facilitator for Project Quest, an adventure-based counseling program with its origins in Outward Bound, for students in need of a personal growth experience. To meet the challenge of teaching neurologically impaired students, Quinlan created the Roaring Lion Chair Company, a student operated enterprise that manufactures Adirondack chairs and markets them throughout the tri-state area. Emphasis is placed upon developing marketable work skills and attitudes including staying on task, safety, appropriate behavior, and responsibility. About the stereotype of “vocational education, Quinlan states, “Yes, of course they’re using their hands, but they’re working with their minds.”
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
  • 2002      Time Magazine, Chevy Malibu Teaching Excellence Award
  • 2001      Leavy Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education
  • 1999-2000      Sussex County Teacher of the Year
  • 1999- 2000      Vernon Township Teacher of the Year
  • 1999      Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar, Japan-U.S. Educational Commission
  • 1998      Earthwatch Educational Award recipient,Grizzly Bear DNA Survey
  • 1997      National Foundation for the Humanities Fellow,Journals of the Lewis and Clark
    ​               Expedition

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Local: 620-341-5660
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Visser Hall
Emporia State University
1 Kellogg Cir
Emporia, KS 66801
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