Minix's History of Donations Benfits Educational Programs

Dr. Nancy A. Minix,  Associate Professor in the Department of Middle Grades and Secondary Education, has been a faculty member of the School of Teacher Education at Western Kentucky University for over twenty-five years.  Throughout her tenure she has demonstrated her commitment to quality
education in Kentucky through her teaching, supervision of student teachers, and many hours of public service; however, until now one of her most significant contributions to the quality of educational resources and services at Western Kentucky University has not been acknowledged.

Over the past seven years, Dr. Minix has served as an instructional materials reviewer for the State Textbook Commission.  As a member of the State textbook Adoption Committee, Dr. Minix has received review copies of all of the textbook and curriculum materials that are under consideration for
adoption in the State of Kentucky.  What is not common knowledge is that for the past seven years Dr. Minix has donated all of these instructional materials to the Educational Resources Center after they have been reviewed and considered for adoption. 

Curriculum and textbook materials are highly valued by both students and faculty of the School of Teacher Education at Western Kentucky University.  These materials circulate frequently and are heavily-used by those preparing to become teachers in Kentucky Public School systems.  It is  critical that our
future teachers have access to current instructional materials such as these; however, these materials are prohibitively expensive for Western to acquire as an institution.  According to Carol Tuning, Instructional Resources Consultant for the Kentucky Department of Education, the cost of textbook and
curriculum materials donated to the Educational Resources Center by Dr. Minix each year ranges between $200,000 and $250,000.  A conservative estimate of the cost of textbook and curriculum materials donated to the Educational Resources Center by Dr. Minix over the past seven-year period is $1,400,000. 

It is due to the generosity of Dr. Minix that Western Kentucky University students who are entering Kentucky classrooms as teachers have access to a wide variety of current instructional materials.  This access has enabled these students to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to develop and implement
units and lesson plans in accordance to standards mandated by the Kentucky Education Reform Act, as well as the confidence to impart this knowledge to their students. The generosity of Dr. Minix is deeply appreciated by all of us at Western Kentucky University Libraries, as we have first-hand knowledge of the tremendous impact it will have on the education of our future teachers and students.  In exchange for providing space for area educators to review textbooks, the ERC now becomes the future recipient of these materials.  And this has also been the catalyst for the change in cataloging of these materials. However, I believe that Dr. Minix's generosity should be acknowledged and appreciated by the entire University community.  After all, we all benefit from well-educated graduates who will assume positions of leadership in our schools, our communities, our state, our country, and our lives. [has images/photos]

~Darla Bressler 
 
   

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