Tom Shortt receives 2011 De玛丽 Award
Tom Shortt, former director of the Virginia Association of Elementary School Principals, received the 2011 Jo Lynne De玛丽 Award at the William & 玛丽 School of Education Thursday morning.
The award, which is presented for distinguished leadership and significant professional contributions in education, was presented to Shortt during the School of Education’s annual Educational Policy, Planning and Leadership alumni breakfast.
“To be honored by such a prestigious institution, it’s surely the capstone of my career, and I appreciate it so much,” Shortt said.
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Shortt said he has learned much from the people he’s interacted with throughout his career, including many of the people who attended the breakfast. But, he said, he learned more than anything from his students.
“They’re the ones that will tell you what the real world is all about if you listen to them,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what the question is, they’ll give you the answer.”
After accepting the De玛丽 Award from Chancellor Professor of Education Michael DiPaola, Shortt said he wanted to share the honor with everyone he’s worked with through the years.
“This is not about me at all,” he said. “It’s all about the people I’ve met along the way who have said, ‘Tom, you need to do this.’ Not always agreeing with them, not always agreeing with what needed to be done, but coming together in the end, bringing it together and saying, ‘Yep, this is what we’ve got to do.’”
Approximately 40 people attended the breakfast, including faculty and staff from the School of Education as well as alumni of the school’s Educational Policy, Planning and Leadership program who now serve at institutions and school districts across the state.
“Since its inception, this event has been an opportunity for us to connect with our alumni and also in more recent years to recognize the leadership of education in the state of Virginia,” said Professor of Education Brenda Williams.
This is the 10th year that an alumni leadership award has been presented by the School of Education. In 2006, the award was named for Jo Lynne De玛丽 ’68, the first woman to hold the position of state superintendent of schools.
De玛丽 was among the alumni who attended the event, which for the first time was held in the School of Education’s new building. Dean Virginia McLaughlin joked that in years past, her role at the breakfast was to tell alumni what the school’s new facility would look like.
“Ta-da!” she said to laughter and applause.
McLaughlin went on to give an update on the school’s strategic planning process, which she referred to as “planning a new era for the School of Education.”
“This has been quite the year in the School of Education in that the new era is upon us,” she said.
In addition to being in a new facility in 2011, this year also marks 50 years since the School of Education became a separate, professional school at William & 玛丽, the dean said. In recognition of that anniversary, the school has commissioned a history project looking at the roots of education at the College.
“We’ve discovered some really interesting facts that I think affirm the central role of education in the history of the College of William and 玛丽, in the Commonwealth and certainly in higher ed overall,” she said.
