WKU News

Dr. Martha M. Day, Associate Professor of Science Education and SKyTeach Co-Director at WKU, is the 2020 recipient of the UTeach STEM Educators Association’s Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award.

The award recognizes demonstrated teaching excellence while in the role of a UTeach program faculty member. SKyTeach was one of 12 originally funded by the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) in 2007 to implement programs modeled after UTeach, a highly successful math and science teacher preparation program at the University of Texas at Austin.

In 2017, SKyTeach was honored by the UTeach Institute for preparing 243 STEM teachers, the highest number of graduates of any UTeach replication site—a number that is now over 300 and expanding. A collaboration between the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences and Ogden College of Science and Engineering, SKyTeach offers opportunities to undergraduate students at WKU entering careers in math and science education. 

Prior to working as a university professor, Dr. Day taught high school chemistry and served as a principal with Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools for 15 years. While working in Nashville schools, she was selected as Whites Creek High School’s Teacher of the Year and American Chemical Society Nashville Section Chemistry Teacher of the Year.

STEM education has been Dr. Day’s passion for the past 30 years. She has developed and taught 17 graduate and 16 undergraduate courses and has mentored and advised 99 graduate and five doctoral students in education. In course design, she places emphasis on the development of teacher dispositions with strong integration of clinical applications to course content. She has mentored numerous SKyTeach and graduate SKyTeach students in presentations at UTeach conferences with two winning “best poster” awards. She was awarded the WKU departmental faculty award for public service (2013) and student advising (2015) and the WKU award for student advising (2015).

Dr. Day serves as a Co-Principal Investigator on a National Science Foundation–sponsored undergraduate STEM research grant developing and teaching problem-based biology units in rural Alaskan and Kentucky schools. She published a book chapter on SKyTeach and common core standards in Meet Me at the Commons in 2015.

As a founding USEA Board member, Dr. Day has served in many roles, including President and Vice President Board Member; she has also served on the USEA Awards Committee and the Leadership Development Committee. She also serves on the Kentucky Girls STEM Collaborative Advisory Board. She is a frequent national grant review panelist for the United States Department of Education and she serves as teacher trainer in STEM for science teachers in Tennessee and Kentucky. Dr. Day serves the informal STEM education community as a volunteer 4-H leader, horse judging and hippology coach, presenter at WKU’s annual Girls in STEM Day, and LEGO Robotics judge. 

Contact: Martha Day, martha.day@wku.edu