College of Education and Behavioral Sciences News

The 2023 Kentucky Teacher Hall of Fame inductees are Jesse Brown (top left), Helen Russell (top right), Kimberlea Embry (bottom left), and Donna Smith (bottom right).

The 2023 class of the Gov. Louie B. Nunn Kentucky Teacher Hall of Fame will be inducted in a ceremony at noon Friday (December 1) in the Gary Ransdell Hall Auditorium at Western Kentucky University.

Members of the 15^th class are Jesse Brown, who retired from Glasgow Independent Schools after 30 years of teaching high school history; the late Helen Russell, who worked for 44 years in education in Barren County as a social studies teacher, instructional specialist, and curriculum coordinator; Kimberlea Embry, who has taught at Butler County High School for 32 years; and the late Donna Smith, who taught math at Allen County-Scottsville High School for 30 years.

Friday’s induction ceremony will include remarks from WKU President Timothy C. Caboni; Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman; Robin Fields Kinney, Interim Commissioner of Education; and Dr. Corinne Murphy, Dean of WKU’s College of Education and Behavioral Sciences.

A reception will follow in the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences’ Student Success Center on the first floor of Gary Ransdell Hall.

The Governor Louie B. Nunn Kentucky Teacher Hall of Fame was created in 2000 through a gift by former Gov. Nunn, who hoped to recognize the vital role that classroom teachers in Kentucky play in the education of young people and the positive impact education has on the state’s economy. WKU was selected as the home of the Teacher Hall of Fame because of its more than 100-year history in teacher education. You can learn more at https://www.wku.edu/kythf/.

Contact: Jessica Basham, (270) 745-4030

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Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, WKU helps students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.