ELON COLLEGE – The teacher education program will celebrate renovation of its facilities at a Friday, Feb. 11 celebration, featuring federal and state education leaders.
Mary Beth Blegen, the teacher-in-residence at the U.S. Department of Education will give a keynote address at the 3 p.m. ceremony in McCrary Theatre. In her job, Blegen helps bridge communications between the nation’s teachers and the department’s top policy makers by soliciting teachers’ views and presenting those perspectives. The former teacher of the year taught for more than 30 years in Minnesota.
North Carolina State Superintendent Mike Ward also will speak and will talk about education in the state. Ward, who was elected in 1996, is a former superintendent for schools for Granville County.
The ceremony will conclude with a ribbon cutting and tours of the program’s facilities in Mooney Building.
Mooney first opened in 1926 and was known as the Christian Education Building. Construction was funded with a $50,000 gift from Michael Orban Jr., a trustee who lived in Whittier, Calif. The building is named in honor of Orban’s father-in-law, the Rev. Isaac Mooney.
The building’s renovation enhances the teacher education program, said Gerry Dillashaw, dean of education and health promotion, leisure and human performance.
“We now have more efficient work space as well as many technological upgrades,” Dillashaw said. The program now occupies all three floors of the building. Previously, the department shared space with the LaRose Resources Center and academic computing, which now are in Belk Library.
The building offers students an expanded curriculum resources room, two computer labs and an observation classroom, where teachers can be watched interacting with students.
The building features new carpeting, a brighter color scheme and an elevator. The education program currently has 350 majors preparing for careers in elementary, middle and high schools and 80 students in the master’s in education program.