Purdue News

September 19, 2001 Purdue center receives economic education award WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Indiana Council for Economic Education has chosen the Purdue University Center for Economic Education to receive a prestigious award. The Peter V. Harrington Center Award recognizes the center that has done the most to boost economic education and literacy in Indiana. It is named in honor of Peter Harrington, a former executive director for the Indiana Council for Economic Education. Under his leadership from 1971-1997, Harrington helped organize most of Indiana’s 13 centers for economic education. The centers specialize in training teachers to incorporate economic education into the school curriculum. The past year, the Purdue center provided workshops or courses for more than 250 teachers in central Indiana. Center staff also provided leadership in three curriculum development projects, seven research projects and made several presentations. Center director Michael Watts will receive the award at the Indiana Council for Economic Excellence at a banquet Friday, Sept. 21, at the Ritz Charles in Carmel, Ind. Associate directors Dennis Weidenaar and Phillip VanFossen, along with assistants Julie Huffer and April Jasinski, also will be recognized. Other banquet honorees include a bank president and 11 educators from throughout Indiana. Michael Crull, a teacher at West Jay Middle School in Dunkirk, Ind., will receive the Olin W. Davis statewide award. The award is named after the professor who formalized the economic education programs at Purdue University in 1954. It is presented for exemplary teaching of economics. Seven other teachers will receive the Olin W. Davis Regional Award, while two teachers will receive an honorable mention. Crull also will be presented with a two-year EconomicsAmerica grant worth more than $9,300. He will use the grant to strengthen the economics component of the social studies curriculum at his middle school. Ron Ward, principal of Tri-West Jr.-Sr. High School in Lizton, Ind., will receive the Lawrence Senesh Award for School Administrators. This statewide award honors longstanding commitment to economics education. It was established in honor of Lawrence Senesh, who was the first professor of economics education in the United States. Robert "Bob" Fix, president of First Bank Richmond in Richmond, Ind., will receive the Paul Samuelson Award for Community Leaders. The award was created in honor of Paul Samuelson, who was the first American to receive the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics Science and founded the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate department of economics. Winners of the Olin W. Davis Regional Award include: • Cynthia Ensign Baney, Carmel Elementary School, Carmel, Ind. • Kea Deppe, Northwood Elementary, Franklin, Ind. • Michelle Foutz, Carmel High School, Carmel, Ind. • John A. Gibson, West Side High School, Gary, Ind. • Linda Receveur, North View Elementary, Muncie, Ind. • Susan E. Bella Howland, Fred J. Hums Elementary School, Mishawaka, Ind. • Benjamin G. Silver, Neil Armstrong Elementary, Mooresville, Ind. Winners of the Olin W. Davis Honorable Mention Award include: • Barbara Sue Bartelt, Cumberland Elementary, West Lafayette, Ind. • Rachel Layman, Lawrence North High School, Indianapolis. Writer: Marydell Forbes, (765) 496-7704, mforbes@purdue.edu Sources: Beverly Brewer, (765) 494-8545, brewerb@mgmt.purdue.edu Nancy Vollmer, (765) 494-8545, vollmern@mgmt.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page