WKU News

Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman congratulated inductees into the Governor Louie B. Nunn Kentucky Teacher Hall of Fame. (WKU photo by Clinton Lewis)

The Governor Louie B. Nunn Kentucky Teacher Hall of Fame inducted members of its 12th and 13th classes Friday afternoon at Western Kentucky University.

After a one-year COVID-19 delay, the 2020 inductees Lynn Riedling of Louisville and Wanda Carol Clouse of Barbourville were formally recognized along with 2021 inductees the late Evelyn Douglas of Shepherdsville and Sharon Coomer Mattingly of Glasgow in the ceremony at Gary Ransdell Hall.

This year’s induction ceremony was the first held at WKU. The ceremonies had been held at the Capitol in Frankfort since the inaugural class was selected in 2008.

“Our institution’s rich lineage in teacher education denotes clearly our longstanding commitment to elevating our community, our state, our nation and beyond,” WKU President Timothy C. Caboni said.  

“WKU is proud to continue our longstanding commitment to changing the world one teacher at a time,” he added.

Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and Dr. Byron Darnall, associate commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education, congratulated the inductees and welcomed them into the Kentucky Teacher Hall of Fame.  

Coleman noted that Gov. Nunn selected WKU as the home of the Kentucky Teacher Hall of Fame because of its more than 100-year history in teacher education. “We all know Western Kentucky University has a rich history of producing high quality teachers,” she said.

Rep. Steve Riley, representing members of Kentucky’s General Assembly, called teaching an honorable profession that makes lifelong impacts.

Dr. Corinne Murphy, dean of the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, said she and her staff were honored to host Friday’s ceremony and to welcome the 2020 and 2021 inductees and their families to WKU’s campus.

With the Hall of Fame located near WKU’s teacher certification office, “we get to inspire our next generation of educators,” Dr. Murphy said.

Riedling and Clouse said they were honored to see their plaques already hanging with previous Hall of Fame inductees.

“It’s just such an honor that I was chosen and selected to be in the Kentucky Teacher Hall of Fame,” Rielding said.

Clouse said she was surprised by the recognition. “Education is just my life,” she said.

Debbie Haydon accepted the award on behalf of her sister Evelyn Douglas, who died in April. Haydon said teaching was her sister’s calling and everyone in the family knew how important teaching was to her. “I’m hoping she’s smiling looking down from heaven,” Haydon said.

Mattingly thanked her family, school leaders and others for their support and encouragement during her teaching career. “It’s not just my plaque. It belongs to all the people here today cheering me on,” she said.

2021 Inductees

Evelyn Douglas
Shepherdsville, Ky.

The late Evelyn Douglas began her teaching career in 1978 at Bullitt Central High School. Douglas’ teaching career spanned more than four decades at Bullitt Central where she served the majority of her tenure as a classroom math teacher (1978-2012). In addition, Douglas served the students of Bullitt Central as an instructional assistant (2012-2013), instructional assistant/ESS teacher (2013-2014), and a flex teacher (2014-2021).

Douglas earned her Bachelor of Science in Mathematics (1978) and Master of Arts in Education in School Counseling (1983) from Eastern Kentucky University. Douglas also served as a Kentucky Teacher Internship Program (KTIP) mentor to many newly certified teachers within her district. Former mentee and math teacher Kimberly Ludwig shared, “Evelyn immediately sensed my nervousness and immediately stepped in and calmed my nerves. She (Douglas) taught me to have compassion and empathy for my students.”

In addition to her classroom teaching responsibilities, Douglas also made time to serve students in a variety of leadership roles such as senior sponsor, ACT coordinator, cheerleading coach, soccer coach, softball coach, and organizer of graduation and project graduation.

Douglas passed away in April 2021. To honor and commemorate her legacy, Bullitt Central established the Evelyn Douglas Perseverance Award to recognized graduating seniors who overcome obstacles and challenges to keep persevering to become the best version of themselves. Douglas’ impact on the lives of those she touched was profoundly evident following her passing as more than 300 former students and staff posted messages on the school’s Facebook page about how much she contributed to their academic and personal success. As Counselor Julia Thomas eloquently stated, “Her (Douglas’) humble, caring spirit still walks the halls of BC in the lives of those she touched.”

Sharon Coomer Mattingly
Glasgow, Ky.

A resident of Glasgow, Sharon Mattingly began her teaching career in 1985 at Bertie High School in Windsor, North Carolina. Mattingly taught Spanish full-time at Bertie for 10 years while serving as a part-time facilitator for Effective Teacher Training at community colleges in the area. In 1995, Mattingly moved back to Kentucky to teach Spanish at Barren County High School where she is currently in her 27th year.

Mattingly earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Administration, with a minor in Spanish from the University of Kentucky (1984), a North Carolina teaching certificate from East Carolina University (1986), and a master’s in Spanish with a concentration in Education from WKU (1998).

Despite strong encouragement from her parents (father, a principal, and mother, a teacher) to enter the education field, Mattingly’s initial choice of careers was to study business with plans on running a multinational corporation. However, with no opportunities available in the region in which she lived, she took a substitute teaching position with the Bertie County School District. Mattingly soon changed her view on becoming a full-time teacher with the help of one of her students.  Over time, with the help of Mattingly, this student was able to move forward from his emotions after the sudden mid-year loss of his favorite teacher due to retirement. It was that student who later came back to her and after telling her every day how much he didn’t like her, begged her to apply for the full-time position teaching Spanish. The student went on to tell Mattingly that he and his fellow students learned something when she was their teacher and he in particular needed her in order to graduate and go to college. Mattingly commented, “My father pushed hard for education and never ceased to remind me that he tried to get me where I belonged in the first place.” And, as they say, the rest is history.

Mattingly’s commitment to her students and to her profession have been recognized and celebrated numerous times throughout the years. In 2019, Mattingly was presented a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kentucky World Language Association (KWLA) for her long-term commitment to immersing her students in the Spanish language and cultures.  She (Mattingly) has taught all levels of Spanish and has taken students to Spain several times throughout her tenure. In addition, she has also explored her passion for other cultures through personal travel to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Chile, and has brought her first-hand experiences back to her classroom to share with her students.

Mattingly is described by her students and colleagues as caring, compassionate, and supportive. “And, she works tirelessly to bring the Spanish language to life for her students and has promoted language learning to the fullest,” said Rebecca Kinslow, a substitute teacher in the Barren County School District.

2020 Inductees

Lynn Riedling
Louisville, Ky.

A native of Louisville in Jefferson County, Lynn Riedling began her teaching career in 1982 in the private school sector. Then in 1987, Riedling transitioned to Jefferson County’s Stephen Foster Traditional Academy in Louisville, where she has taught first-grade students for more than 34 years. Riedling earned her bachelor’s (1982) and master’s degrees (1984) from Indiana University Southeast and her Rank I Reading Specialist Certification from the University of Louisville (1986).

Students, parents and colleagues alike recognize Riedling as being dedicated to making sure students have the skills necessary to be successful academically and personally. Riedling is committed to developing interesting and challenging lessons for her students. One such project in 2017 involved her first-graders researching, writing, illustrating, and publishing a book titled Dinosaurs. That year Riedling’s first-grade class was chosen as one of the Studenttreasures Publishing National Book Challenge winners based on originality, creative storyline, and illustration. Kristen Rollerson, a former student, shared, “I was told I could be anything I wanted and Ms. Riedling was the catalyst to my success. Her charisma and grace with every lesson-plan developed more than just young minds; she developed character.”

Riedling has been described by her colleagues as a teacher leader. In fact, she was chosen, by her peers, as the first recipient of the annual Teacher of the Year Award at Stephen Foster Traditional Academy in 2013, and she received the award again in 2019. She is the only teacher from her school to have received the WHAS Excellence in the Classroom and Educational Leadership (ExCEL) Award in 1998.

Assistant principal Nikita Tillman shared that “Ms. Riedling utilizes research into her practice and her classroom instruction and environment are indicative of that.”

Over the years, Riedling has served as a KTIP mentor to first year teachers, both in her home school as well as neighboring community schools; she has organized and supervised the Extended School Services (ESS) program at Foster Academy for 18 years, led many professional developments for colleagues, and she volunteers her time at most every after-school event.

Sharita and Dwight Bransford, parents of former students, shared, “She (Riedling) was encouraging, supportive, and when my son struggled with reading, she made certain that he received all the extra help he needed to grow as a reader. He was reading above grade level by the end of the school year! I am grateful!”

Riedling’s principal, Letisha Young, stated: “I know Lynn to have a great character, a strong work ethic, and a tremendous heart for educating students, especially those of the inner city. Students are eager to enter her classroom daily, excited about what they will learn next. She is the definition of a Hall of Fame teacher.”

Wanda Carol Clouse
Barbourville, Ky.

Wanda Carol Clouse, a native of Barbourville in Knox County, earned her bachelor’s (1972) and Master’s (1976) degrees from Union College and her Rank I Supervisor of Instruction Certificate from Eastern Kentucky University (1980).

Clouse was the first person in her family to earn a college degree. Soon after graduation from Union College, she received the keys to her first classroom at Boone Elementary (1972). Clouse recalls that her knees shook as she said, “I can do this, this is my shot.” “I knew teaching was my life’s calling and there was nothing else in this world I wanted to do more.”

Clouse was hired soon after Knox County first became integrated through federal busing. She became an “unofficial” ambassador for Boone Elementary to African-American families and their students as everyone was going through a considerable amount of adjustment. She recalled, “I did many home visits, alone and with other teachers I recruited, those first several years to reassure our African-American families that we would do whatever we needed to do to treat their children equally and safely.” 

As an educator, Clouse is described as nurturing, creative, dedicated, and inspirational by her former students and peers. Marsha Detherage, a former colleague, noted “Carol never wasted any opportunity to help her students succeed. I was in awe of her.”

Clouse was the first teacher to serve as building representative for the Kentucky Education Association at Boone Elementary; she wrote, individually and/or with colleagues, several grants to secure funding for the first televisions, computers, and VCRs to be installed at Boone Elementary many years before the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) and the Rose Decision. She started the annual Career Day event at Boone Elementary which is still being held each year.

In 1992, Clouse closed out two decades at Boone Elementary to take a position as principal at Girdler Elementary School. Following her retirement in 2000, Clouse has remained active in the field of education. She has served as a reviewer for the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board (EPSB), as a trainer for the St. Cloud State University Co-Teaching model for student teaching placements, and acts as a trained accreditation examiner for the National Council of Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE). She currently teaches as an adjunct professor at Union College in the Educational Studies Unit where she is helping prepare teacher education students for careers as classroom teachers.

“Mrs. Clouse is the type of teacher I want to be when I get my first classroom. She’s tough, but she wants us to be the best and able to provide our students with the best,” said Alexander Bell, education student at Union College.

About the Teacher Hall of Fame: 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.

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.