Clark U. selects Craig Woolley, of Greenfield, Mass., for Outstanding Secondary Educator Award

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Craig Woolley received the Outstanding Secondary Educator Award from Clark University

WORCESTER, MA (06/25/2012)(readMedia)-- The Clark University Alumni Association recently announced Craig A. Woolley, of Greenfield, is this year's recipient of the Outstanding Secondary Educator Award (OSEA). The award recognizes secondary school teacher for the critical role they play in preparing students for higher education. It is presented at Honors Convocation, just prior to Commencement, every year.

Clark senior Benjamin D. Gardner, a 2008 graduate of The MacDuffie School, nominated Woolley for the award.

Woolley graduated from SUNY/Buffalo with a Bachelor of Science degree. His resume contains a list of varied positions he's held in both industry and academia, including a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) researcher, a NMR spectroscopist, a process engineer and research physicist and chemist. As for his experience in the classroom, Woolley taught graduate level courses in NMR at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst early in his career, and returned to the classroom in 2002 to serve as a math and science teacher at Gateway Regional High School in Huntington, Mass., prior to joining the teaching staff at The MacDuffie School in 2004.

"The role of 'teacher' fundamentally understates the nature and caliber of education he afforded me," Gardner wrote in an essay nominating Woolley for the award. "He sought for us to not only understand but also apply the concepts he taught us – concepts that were topical and applicable in the complex and interrelated modern world."

The Clark University senior attributed his own success in choosing a meaningful field of study to Woolley, saying, "his influence was the key factor determining the direction of my academic and thereby personal interests and beliefs."

"I set high expectations for learning," wrote Woolley describing his teaching style. "I try to de-emphasize grades, while emphasizing learning. As far as learning, I emphasize understanding and problem solving, not memorization of facts and formulas."

Woolley also said he would bring life lessons into the classroom. "I make mistakes routinely to show my students that making mistakes is okay," he said. "Mistakes are part of the learning process. We learn more from our mistakes than from our successes."

Gardner graduated from Clark on Sunday, May 20, magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree; he studied environmental science and policy. The student is the son of Bernie and Robin Gardner of Southwick; he graduated from The MacDuffie School in 2008. While a college undergraduate, Gardner founded the Clark Sustainability Collaborative (CSC), worked as a consultant and supervisor for Clark's Information Technology Services Help Desk, and was president of the student organization Science-Fiction People of Clark.

Gardner is taking advantage of Clark's Accelerated B.A./Master's Degree Program and will receive his master's degree in May 2013.

This is the 28th year that Clark's Alumni Association has presented the Outstanding Secondary Educator Award. Clark seniors nominate their high-school teachers for the award and then discuss the nominees with a committee of Alumni Association members.

Founded in 1887 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University is a small, liberal arts-based research university addressing social and human imperatives on a global scale. Nationally renowned as a college that changes lives, Clark is emerging as a transformative force in higher education today. LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice) is Clark's pioneering model of education that combines a robust liberal arts curriculum with life-changing world and workplace experiences. Clark's faculty and students work across boundaries to develop solutions to contemporary challenges in the areas of psychology, geography, management, urban education, Holocaust and genocide studies, environmental studies, and international development and social change. The Clark educational experience embodies the University's motto: Challenge convention. Change our world.