Paged | Dr. Caseel Burke a Honored With Dixon Award Dr. Caseel D. Burke, professor of education and former WSC Dean of Education was awarded the prestigious Henry Aldous Dixon Award at the Founders’ Day Banquet May 7. The Alumni-sponsored award was the seventh to be presented to a faculty member who has given distinguished service to his campus, community and studentbody. Dr. Burke came to Weber State College in 1961 to establish a. teacher education program. Since Weber was to become a four year college, establishing a good teacher education program became a major priority. Dr. Burke had a great deal of experience in teacher education, most of which had been gained during 12 years at Utah State University. He felt a ‘‘feeling of welcome from everyone” and almost immediately Ogden became home for him and his family. *‘Many faculty members at the college had been former school teachers and they had an attitude of interest toward teacher education that does not exist everywhere,” said Dr. Burke. _ “They were anxious to see the program become a reality and it was not hard to plan and develop in this environment.”’ The first year Dr. Burke worked alone on the program and “got along fine with myself.’’ This did not change when Perry Wilson, Melba Glade, Evan Memmott and Blaine Parkinson were added to the staff the following year. “They were all eager and enthusiastic and had considerable knowledge of the needs in the public schools,” he said. “From the beginning the public school superintendents supervisors, principals, and teachers have been cooperative and have been willing to assist in any way in the development of teacher education,’’ said Dr. Burke. “They shared interest, good advice and helpful input.” “‘The administration of the college, including President Miller, the vice presidents and deans, all went out of their way to make things easy. They were involved in decision-making and when decisions were made they helped carry them out and were very supportive. “We were urged by friends in other institutions to prepare as quickly as possible for accreditation, which we received in 1966 from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.”’ Determination by the teacher education faculty to develop an even better program was the motivation for the present competency-based teacher education system which is widely known for its Wilkits (explained in greater depth in the feature on the education program in this paper). “Individualized modules have captured the interest and imagination of educators throughout the country and ours is one of the few places where the idea has been carried into a complete system for preparing teachers,”’ Dr.Burkesaid. . _ . ; The idea of individualized teacher education appealed to the Carnegie Corporation of New York which granted $200,000 to WSC for the planning and development of the system. Highlight of Dr. Burke’s career was the day in 1971 when five members of the teacher education faculty, led by Dr. Burke, stood in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in Chicago before 3,000 representatives of America’s teacher education institutions. They felt they had really arrived as the applause was directed toward them and Weber State College as they accepted the Librarian Continued Education (Continued from page 4) Library Science. She earned an M.S. degree in Education at the University of Southern California. She also attended Columbia University during a four-month leave of absence. In the new library ‘‘we had to defend every inch,” Wilma said. “Someone was always coming around with a tape measure and measuring off an office. We especially enjoyed the view of Ben Lomond which is gone now with the new addition and change of offices. I regretted losing the daily association of those I worked with in the cataloging department but enjoy their continued friendship.” Through the years Wilma has also been an advisor of the Sophvita Club, a girls social club. The club meets weekly and sponsors an assembly once a year and various social activities. © In addition to her job Wilma has enjoyed her home and gardening and has 100 roses to ‘prune’ this spring. She recently returned from a trip to the Western Mediterranean and is enjoying her freedom to travel. DR. CASEEL D. BURKE is recipient of the prestigious Henry Aldous Dixon award for his outstanding contributions in teacher education. — Distinguished Achievement Award from the president of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. “That was an exciting moment,’ hesaid. Dr. Burke said the Carnegie grant, along with the supportive attitude on campus and in the community made possible the development of the awardwinning program at WSC. Weber State was the first to actually put into operation this type of innovative system that was in the planning and discussion stages at several other colleges and universities. Since then hundreds of visitors have come to visit Weber State College to see the program in operation. They have come from Asia, Middle East, Canada, Europe, South America and most of the States. Studies indicate 300-400 colleges are now doing something of this nature or are planning in that direction. Other areas on the Weber State campus have been active also in developing instructional modules in their particular fields. “Acceptance of the program has been very encouraging and in some school districts it is indicated a preference is given to WSC graduates. An unusually high rate of placement is found among WSC graduates,”’ he said. As succeeding members have joined the faculty of teacher education they have added enthusiasm and creativity in the development and improvement of the program. Considerable evaluation has gone into developing the program on the part of the faculty, students and public school educators and as a result it is continuing to become more effective. Further evaluation of the performance of WSC graduates who are in teaching positions is being planned in order to gather data which may be used to continue the dynamic growth of the program. “With the reorganization, in 1967-68, of the academic divisions, © Family Life and Physical Education were put under the School of Education and have shown strong support for teacher education as well as outstanding initiativeness in developing high quality programs,’’ said Dr. Burke. In addition to the position of Dean of Education at WSC, Dr. Burke has_ been visiting professor, part-time, at the University of California where he received his Ed.D. in 1953. From 1957-59 he was a specialist in Elementary Teacher Education at the National Teachers College, University of Tehran, Iran. | Dr. Burke was also visiting professor of education during a sabbatical year, 1971-72, at the University of Pittsburg. He has had many professional papers and articles published, among them Education in the Elementary School, 1960; The In- dividualized, Competency-based System of Teacher Education at Weber State College, 1972, and an article in the fall, 1975 issue of the Journal of Teacher Education. He has also served as a con- sultant on Competency-based Teacher Education universities. to some 20 Dr. Burke’s late wife was the former Erma Hansen of Tremon- ton. She was a counselor at Ben Lomond High School. He is father of one son and th daughters.