Three UA Education Faculty Earn McCrory Awards

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.  — The University of Alabama’s College of Education recently announced the 2014 recipients of the Nellie Rose McCrory Faculty Excellence Awards.

The recipients include Dr. Vivian Wright, professor of instructional technology education, Dr. John Vincent, professor of sports management, and Dr. Jane Newman, associate professor of gifted and talented education.

Named after the late Nellie Rose McCrory, the McCrory Awards recognize the good work of faculty in three separate areas: teaching, research and service.

McCrory began her professional career at Gaston College in Dallas, N.C., where she was a faculty member in the English department and where she served as department chair from 1989 until her retirement in 2006. She was an active member of the First United Methodist Church and appreciated church organ music. She also enjoyed the performing arts, museums, art shows, exhibits and lectures, and she rarely missed performances by the Charlotte Symphony and Opera Carolina.

McCrory was an avid reader, an enthusiastic traveler who loved traveling to England, and she was a proud supporter of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team. McCrory was the first member of her family to go to college, and she earned her master’s degree and doctorate in education from The University of Alabama.

The McCrory Award for Teaching

Dr. Jane Newman


Associate Professor, Gifted and Talented Education

Newman received her  doctorate from The University of Alabama in 1991. She started working for the College in 2001. She is also the director of Summer Enrichment Workshop, a summer program for K-12 gifted and talented students.

She has provided consulting to more than 28 schools during 2009–2014; 100-plus schools/school systems during her career throughout the state and nation on topics such as service-learning; gifted education; science education; curriculum compacting; developing exemplary school-wide enrichment programs; curriculum development; results-based staff development; special education; authentic learning experiences; performance assessment; designing learning centers; differentiated instruction; Alabama Reading Initiative; developing professional learning communities; facilitating powerful conversations, and more.

Newman embraces the “human” side of teaching. She learned at an early age that compassion for students is critical for reaching students, as is a passion for excellent teaching. Newman exhibits the special instructional ability to demonstrate the skills or conceptual framework she is attempting to impart to her students.

Since 2006, Newman has served on 50-plus dissertation committees. She works closely with her students, one of whom won last year’s National Association for Gifted Children’s Outstanding Dissertation.

The McCrory Award for Research

Dr. John Vincent

Professor, Sports Management

Vincent’s main research line is built upon examining the interaction of sports, gender, national identity and the media. He’s a leader in research examining how newspaper narratives and images about major international sporting events, such as the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup, become arenas where ideologies linking country and culture are reproduced and contested in national identity politics.

Vincent has collaborated with colleagues in other disciplines at The University of Alabama and at other universities. Together, they have produced articles that have direct relevance to academicians and practitioners in kinesiology, sociology, communication, management and other fields. Most recently, he has collaborated with colleagues examining other areas such new media message boards and sports journalists’ perceptions about gay athletes, as well as female collegiate strength and conditioning coaches’ perceptions about their profession.

Vincent has more than 50 publications in scholarly peer-reviewed journals and chapters in scholarly textbooks. Vincent’s research has published in the Journal of Sports Tourism, the International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Sport Marketing Quarterly, the Sociology of Sport Journal, the Journal of Contemporary Athletics, the International Journal of Sport Communication, the International Journal of Sport Management, the International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, the Journal of Sports Sciences, the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, the Journal of Sports Behavior, the Applied Research in Coaching and Athletics Annual and the Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal.  

Vincent serves on the editorial board of several journals and regularly reviews articles. He has served as an external committee member and an examiner on numerous thesis and dissertations at numerous universities. Vincent has extensive experience in youth sports, high school athletics, university recreation and intercollegiate athletics.

His research interests include sports sociology, sports communication and sports marketing. Vincent has been with the College since 2001. He received his doctorate at Florida State University.

 The McCrory Award for Service

Dr. Vivian Wright

Professor, Instructional Technology Education

A professor in the  UA College of Education’s department of curriculum and instruction, Wright received her doctorate in instructional leadership/technology in 1999 from The University of Alabama. Wright has been with the College since 2001. In addition to teaching in the graduate program, Wright works with teachers and future teachers on developing innovative ways to infuse technology in the curriculum to enhance teaching and learning.

Wright has helped initiate and develop projects such as electronic portfolios for the preservice teacher and Master Technology Teacher. She founded the MTT program more than 14 years ago.  This partnership between university faculty, preservice teachers, and in-service teachers was formed to educate and to seek innovative ways to integrate technology in teaching and learning.

Wright has chaired/co-chaired 28 dissertations during her UA service. Of the 22 completed, 17 candidates are on faculty at universities, and the remaining five are in various administrative jobs in K-12. Three of these students received the College’s Most Outstanding Dissertation Award.

Wright has received the College of Education’s Academic Excellence Award, the University’s Outstanding Commitment in Teaching award, and has twice received research paper awards at the National Educational Computer Conference (now the International Society for Technology in Education).

Wright said she believes that all service, from mentorship in research to making everyday processes more efficient,  is an integral part of who we are and what we do each day. She said she believes service is both a responsibility and a privilege. She also serves on the Kentuck Art Center’s board of directors.