Mentorship Award

The first Missouri ACE Network Mary Emily Kitterman Mentorship Award was presented to the woman leader after whom it was named on Oct. 6, 2006, at the fall conference, "Mentoring Colleagues as Future Leaders."

Mary Emily Kitterman, vice president of Academic Affairs at Cottey College, received the honor from higher education administrators from across the state representing colleagues and those she has mentored.

The award recognized Dr. Kitterman's vision for and dedication to the national and Missouri networks and her concern about the women whose lives she has touched.

She was presented the award by Mindy McCallum, Missouri ACE Network state co-coordinator and dean of instruction at Metropolitan Community College-Maple Woods; Delores Honey, Missouri ACE Network state advisor, ACE Network Executive Board member and assistant vice president for Assessment and Institutional Research at Missouri Southern State University; Helen Washburn, Cottey College president emeritus; and Judy Rogers, Cottey College president.

Washburn said, "We are all grateful to Mary Emily for her work on our behalf for nearly 20 years. Mary Emily is a teacher at heart, and she wants every student to learn and succeed. She has nurtured numerous faculty members seeking to excel in their teaching and mentored a whole cadre of women who were aspiring to become administrators. She has lovingly provided encouragement, advice, support and knowledge to many women seeking to reach their goals and fulfill their aspirations."

Also sending congratulations to Dr. Kitterman during this celebration were Robert Hemenway, chancellor of the University of Kansas, her alma mater, and Donna Shavlik, one of the founders of the Network and a long-serving director of ACE's Office of Women in Higher Education who is actively involved in consulting and the National Council for Research on Women.

The Missouri ACE Network hopes Dr. Kitterman will present the award many times in the years to come to women who follow her example and serve as mentors to future women administrators.