FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 27, 2006

Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins

(662) 329-7124

 

Gates honored by Sigma Delta Pi National Spanish Honor Society

 

COLUMBUS, Miss. – Lauren Gates, a Spanish instructor at Mississippi University for Women and East Mississippi Community College, was recently honored by Sigma Delta Pi National Spanish Honor Society.

Gates was conferred one of the society’s highest honors, the Order of Discoverers, at a ceremony on the MUW campus. The award recognizes a proven record of excellence in teaching and service to the profession by teachers who were elected to membership in Sigma Delta Pi while in college.

The honor society began in 1980 and the National Order has only inducted an average of two members a year since that time.

The distinction recognizes Gates’ national leadership as a member of the governing boards of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese and the Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica. She also was recognized for her professional presentations to Spanish teachers at national meetings and her extensive work with teachers in her role as president, vice president and executive director of the Mississippi Foreign Language Association.

Gates has been honored as an outstanding teacher of the year by Columbus High School, Columbus-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce, the Mississippi Foreign Language Association and the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. She formerly received a Fulbright exchange scholarship to Mexico and is listed in Who’s Who Among American Teachers.

Gates earned her National Board teacher certification in 2002; she has been a part-time teacher at MUW for five years.