Continuing Studies

Continuing Studies’ Siva Kumari wins national educator award

BY CAROL HOPKINS
Special to the Rice News

Siva Kumari, associate dean of the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, has been chosen for the 2008 Adelle F. Robertson Professional Continuing Educator Award from the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA).

SIVA KUMARI

The award recognizes an outstanding continuing professional educator who has entered the field within the past five to 10 years and produced scholarship, demonstrated leadership and significantly contributed to the profession.

”Siva exemplifies the best in leadership, innovation, program development and personal integrity,” said Mary McIntire, dean of the Glasscock School. ”Her work has had a significant impact on the greater community, not only locally, but nationally and internationally. She brings great credit to the Glasscock School, to Rice as a whole, and to the field of continuing education.”

Growing teacher development programs

Since joining the Glasscock School in 2000, Kumari has significantly grown the teacher professional development programs offered by the school in number, size and stature. Under Kumari’s leadership, the school’s longest running program for teachers, the Advanced Placement Summer Institute, has more than doubled from 955 attendees in 2000 to 2,300 attendees in 2007, making it the largest program of its kind in the country.

Similarly, the International Baccalaureate Workshop, which Kumari started in 2005, has grown from just more than 100 attendees to more than 400 in just two years..

Rice is the only university offering professional development for teachers in both of the major college preparatory programs — Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB). Kumari initiated a new program for AP and IB teachers called the Academies, which are content-rich, intensive classes taught mainly by top Rice faculty to allow the teachers to stay current in their fields.

As a result of this work, she serves on advisory boards for both the College Board and the International Baccalaureate Organization.

“The fantastic team and the efficient support I have at the Glasscock School makes the work I do so much more enjoyable and fun,” Kumari said. “And the support allows me to work with national and international organizations that uphold high standards. I believe, given all this, that I’m quite well setup to create successful programs that are fiscally and educationally sound as long as the focus continues to be on the learning needs expressed by the community we serve.”

Increasing financial support

Projects initiated by Kumari have received financial support from the state and federal government, corporations and national foundations.

In 2002, Kumari wrote a successful National Science Foundation proposal that received an $800,000 grant to develop an AP digital library. Kumari led the development of a vast peer-reviewed set of digital materials in physics, chemistry and biology that demonstrate and illuminate the AP curriculum in those fields. Available to any student or teacher, the digital library has more than 10,000 users worldwide. Additionally, Kumari chaired the National Science Digital Library national meetings for two years.

More recently, Kumari received a $400,000 grant from the Freeman Foundation to develop a curriculum to prepare teachers for certification in teaching high school Chinese.

“I’ve always felt sincerely privileged to do the work I do,” Kumari said. “The K-12 community is very dear to me. The master teachers that I get to work with are some of the best in the country and so humble. They give of their time daily in schools and then they come teach for us in the summer sharing their winning work so willingly with their peers who are thirsting for usable teaching materials taught by the originator.”

At Rice, Kumari also serves as adviser to the provost on K-12 initiatives, co-chair of the Faculty and Staff Health Benefits Committee, and as a member of the Information Technology Advisory Committee. In 2006 she was recognized by the Rice Board of Trustees for her outstanding contributions to the university.

Kumari received her doctorate in education from the University of Houston, where she was named outstanding doctoral student of the year in 2000.

As the principal North American organization for continuing higher education, UCEA helps institutions of higher learning increase access to education through a wide array of programs and services. UCEA also provides national leadership in support of policies that advance workforce and professional development. Adelle Robertson, for whom the award is dedicated, led a distinguished 30-year career in continuing education with many years of service to UCEA.