Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University geology instructor Margaret Crowder has been selected by the Business and Professional Women's Club as the 2005 Young Careerist of Simpson County.

The Young Careerist competition was held Feb. 19 at Sygen International's PIC plant in Franklin. Crowder was selected based on responses to essay questions, a 10-minute interview with judges and five-minute prepared speech.

Crowder will compete in the regional competition in March and hopes to advance to the state and national Young Careerist programs sponsored by BPW-USA.

Crowder graduated from Franklin-Simpson High School, graduated magna cum laude from Western with a bachelor's degree in geology and completed a master's degree in geoscience teaching at the University of Florida.

"Margaret is an outstanding young geoscience instructor and she epitomizes teaching excellence here at Western," said Dr. David Keeling, head of the Geography and Geology Department. "She carries a heavy teaching load each semester and works hard to excite students about the value and benefit of a geoscience education. The geology program is very fortunate to have Margaret as one of its instructors."

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact the Department of Geography and Geology at (270) 745-4555.