Smith to Receive Award at National Conference
(Press Release 11-09-05)
Hank Mooney, Office of Public Information

Dr. Stephen E. Smith, Eastern Oklahoma State College Dean of the McAlester Campus, has been selected to receive the 2005 Edward W. Chance Memorial Rural Education Dissertation Award funded by the Chance Family recognizes excellent scholarship in rural education research.

The title of the study is, “The Transition Practices of One County’s Rural Elementary School Districts and Their Receiving Independent School District.” The focus looks at the degree of implementation of practices for students moving from a rural county’s elementary school districts to an independent school district.

Smith will receive the award during the awards luncheon at the 97th Annual National Rural Education Association Conference Nov. 7 in Tucson, AZ. Smith says he will present the findings and conclusions of his research the following day.

In addition, his research has been selected to be published in the national journal, The Rural Educator. The journal is a refereed professional publication written for and by those involved in rural education and university faculty specializing in the area of rural education and/or rural development. Issues of The Rural Educator are published in the fall, winter and spring each academic year.

As an administrator with 13 years experience in mid-sized and large public school districts as well as a technology center Smith replaced Mark Lauerman at the McAlester campus who recently retired from Oklahoma higher education following more than 28 years service to Eastern.

Smith comes to Eastern from Meridian Technology Center where he served as the director of full-time programs. His duties there included teacher supervision, staff evaluations, personnel, program development, program budgeting, student supervision, recruitment, marketing and campus promotion.

While at Meridian he completed the requirements of the Doctor of Education from the College of Education at Oklahoma State University last spring semester. He previously had earned a Specialist in Educational Administration degree from OSU.

He completed his bachelor’s (1991) and master’s (1995) degrees in education at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah.

Smith says with the recent completion of the Clark Bass Building and addition of more classroom area on the McAlester campus Eastern can now offer more programs and expand class offerings.

“We plan to continue working to update and create the 2+2 agreements (associate degree followed by bachelor’s program) to make the transition seamless for Eastern students choosing to attend the four-year bachelor degree programs offered by East Central University and Southeastern Oklahoma State University on the McAlester campus.

“We are also interested in promoting the master’s degree programs the two universities offer on the McAlester campus,” Smith said.

According to Smith a number of allied health programs will begin to surface on the campus to fill needs of the area.