CEHD News

by Kevin Hyde

The CEHD’s 2005 Alumni Fellow Sherleen Sisney works tirelessly as the executive director of Kentucky’s Governor’s Scholars Program. “You’ll find that you’ll do just about anything for young people,” stated Sisney. That has been a familiar mantra in her career.

She earned a master’s degree from the college in 1974. Before moving to the Governor’s Scholars Program in the early 90s, she served an illustrious 21-year teaching tenure at Louisville’s Ballard High School where in 1984 she was named National Teacher of the Year.

President Ronald Reagan presented her with a golden apple in the Oval Office. She was chosen from all the state teachers of the year, who represented more than a million elementary and secondary school teacher across the country.

A social studies teacher who taught 11th-grade advanced American history and 12th-grade economics and political science, Sisney was lauded at the time for helping to raise Ballard’s academic status to the highest in Kentucky following a difficult merger in the local school system.

“In the classroom she used innovative teaching methods designed to help students understand complicated economic concepts in the fight against what she called the serious problem of “economic illiteracy.” She used every teaching tool available–debates, seminars, guest speakers, discussions and simulation games–to aid her students.

“I never thought I’d leave the classroom. I’m passionate about the classroom,” says Sisney, who was recruited to lead the Governor’s Scholars Program in 1992. “I selfishly still love that relationship with students–when you see that light bulb turn on and you get that personal feed-back of seeing the difference you’ve made in that life.

The Governor’s Scholars Program is a five-week, residential summer program for outstanding Kentucky students completing their junior year in high school. The program provides academic and personal growth in a challenging, non-traditional scholastic setting. Under Sisney’s leadership, the program has expanded to three campuses. Scholars now average $45,000 in college scholarships.

“It has been a great opportunity for me to follow my passion for helping young people in various arenas,” she say.

Sisney, who has received several awards throughout her career, was deeply touched when she was named the 2005 Alumni Fellow by the CEHD. “I don’t know if I can say that any recognition I’ve received was more personal than this one,” she says. “It allowed me to reflect on all the ways that U of L has touched my life beyond the master’s degree. U of L is literally woven into my professional career and my passion for helping young people.”