Teacher of the Year Credits Students for Her Award

Blythe Hinitz, professor of elementary and early childhood education, was named the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE) 2007 Outstanding Teacher-Educator for her “meritorious leadership and professionalism in early childhood teacher education.”

Words by TCNJ's editorial staff

Hinitz

Hinitz

Blythe Hinitz, professor of elementary and early childhood education, was named the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE) 2007 Outstanding Teacher-Educator for her “meritorious leadership and professionalism in early childhood teacher education.”

Hinitz, the author of numerous books, book chapters, and journal articles, is a past chair of the Peace Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. For the past 15 years, she has been a delegate of the World Organizations for Early Childhood Education (OMEP) to the United Nations’ DPI-NGO annual conference. She also serves on the boards of OMEP’s United States National Committee; Professional Impact New Jersey, an advocacy group for early childhood educators; and Mercer County Head Start.

In addition to the NAECTE award, Hinitz received the 2006 Outstanding Researcher Award from the New Jersey Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators. Yet, when asked about her awards or her work, Hinitz would much rather discuss her students.

In her 30 years on campus, Hinitz has watched the caliber of her students, and the quality and level of sophistication of their work, continue to grow, she said recently. Her colleagues from other colleges and universities have taken notice, too. Hinitz regularly accompanies her undergraduate students to professional conferences, where they present their research. Numerous times, professors from other schools have mistaken Hinitz’s pupils for graduate school students because of the level of work they are presenting and publishing.

This happened recently with Dawn Besser ’09, Jessica Chesney ’09, and Jessica Kubek ’09, students in Hinitz’s research seminar class. The three presented at the National Association for the Education of Young Children Conference in Chicago this past fall. “Several people in my field, whose opinions I highly value, have asked me for [the students’] papers and research materials,” Hinitz said. “That, to me, is the measure of what they have done.”

Although she is too humble to say it, it is also a measure of what Hinitz has accomplished as their professor, and a large part of the reason she was selected NAECTE’s 2007 Outstanding Teacher of the Year.