Education faculty honored by Georgia with distinguished alumni award

By Daniel Palomo III
University News Service
October 31, 2013

Jovita Ross-Gordon and Stephen Gordon, faculty members in the College of Education at Texas State University, were jointly bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Georgia College of Education for their remarkable success and substantial contributions to adult education.

Ross-Gordon and Gordon are the first couple to receive the award jointly from a field of more than 40 nominees. They met while they were pursuing their doctorates at UGA and later married. They co-authored, with Carl Glickman, the educational supervision text, Supervision and Instructional Leadership: A Developmental Approach, which has served as the leading text and is currently in its 9th edition.

They have been faculty at Texas State since 1993 and 1998, respectively, and were instrumental in developing the first two doctoral programs in education at Texas State. Texas State’s commitment to research and students made it an attractive place to work, Gordon said.

“We have a collaborative environment and a keep spirit within our department,” Gordon said. “It makes the work we do very enjoyable.”

Both work in the Department of Counseling, Leadership, Adult Education and School Psychology. Gordon’s focus for research is in educational leadership and Ross-Gordon’s is adult education. Although they said they are elated to receive the award, they both acknowledge their work is far from over.

“(The award) inspires us to keep making contributions to our field and our university,” Ross-Gordon said.

They are both going on developmental leave in the spring to pursue research projects. Gordon will perform a case study of exemplary educational leadership programs around the nation. Ross-Gordon will perform research to better the understanding of how adult educators from other field come to understand needs of adult learners.