3 San Diego Educators Are Award Winners

Three San Diego area women educators have been named winners of prestigious awards.

Candace Waltz of San Diego City College was named Professor of the Year Monday by the Assn. of Community College Trustees.

Waltz, a humanities and history professor at the school since 1988, was selected from the staffs of 1,200 community, technical, and junior colleges around the country. The trustees association represents more than 85% of all public community colleges in the United States.

Waltz was chosen for her teaching ability as well as her involvement in developing an honors program in her school and in the San Diego Community College District. She has also been heavily involved in minority student recruitment.

Previously, Waltz taught at San Diego Miramar College from 1976 to 1988. Before that, she taught at Northeastern University in Boston. She did her graduate history work at the University of Chicago and was a Fulbright scholar.

Janis Gabay, an English teacher at Serra High School who was selected 1990 National Teacher of the Year this past summer, won another honor when she was named to one of 12 California Educator Awards worth $25,000.

The winners were chosen by the California State Steering Committee, set up by the California Assn. of County Superintendents of Schools and the state Department of Education. Funding is provided by the Milken Family Foundation of Los Angeles, which began the awards program in 1987.

The awards recognize teachers and principals who have demonstrated excellence in their work with students. Gabay, a mentor teacher at Serra, has been praised by students and colleagues alike for her ability to motivate her classes to tackle novels and writing assignments with enthusiasm.

Judy Liu, professor of sociology at University of San Diego, was named 1990 California Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, the nation’s largest association of educational institutions. Liu, already awarded the national Sears Award for Excellence in Teaching, will receive a cash award of $1,000. He was chosen from among 537 professors nominated statewide.

Liu, chair of the USD sociology department, has pushed team teaching at the university, an unusual method of teaching at the post-secondary level.