Medal for Excellence Winners

The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence has announced the winners of its Oklahoma Medal for Excellence awards honoring five outstanding educators in Oklahoma’s public schools.

The prestigious awards will be presented at the foundation’s 26th annual Academic Awards Banquet on May 18 at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City.
Each of the five winners will receive a $5,000 cash prize and a glass “Roots and Wings” sculpture, designed by the late Oklahoma artist Ron Roberts and produced by Jim Triffo of Oklahoma City. Medals are awarded annually to outstanding Oklahoma teachers, one each at the elementary, secondary, community college/regional university and research university levels. In addition, the foundation presents a Medal for Excellence to an exceptional administrator from the elementary or secondary level.

The 2013 Medal for Excellence winners are:

Dr. Jill Edwards Steeley, Central Elementary School, COWETA (elementary level)

John Waldron, Booker T. Washington High School, TULSA (secondary)

Ruth Askew Brelsford, speech and theater professor and department chair and Honors Program coordinator, Eastern Oklahoma State College, WILBURTON (regional university or community college)

Dr. Richard A. Bunce, professor of chemistry, Oklahoma State University, STILLWATER, (research university)

Dr. Cathy Burden, superintendent of Union Public Schools, TULSA (elementary/secondary administration)