ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – Crystal Glover ’97, ’99 will add another faculty achievement to her list of professional accomplishments when she receives the university’s top teaching award at Winthrop University’s Dec. 14 Commencement ceremony.
An associate professor in the Richard W. Riley College of Education, Sport, and Human Sciences, Glover is the 2024 recipient of the James Pinckney Kinard and Lee Wicker Kinard Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award was established 40 years ago in honor of former president James Pinckney Kinard and his wife, Lee Wicker Kinard, by their family.
Sebastian van Delden, provost and vice president for academic affairs, surprised Glover on Nov. 13, along with Associate Dean Erin Hamel and Department Chair Kavin Ming, to tell her about the award. “The reaction from her students in class was priceless," van Delden said. "Clearly she is loved by her students. Winning this award is a really big deal because we have so many very talented faculty members at Winthrop."
About Crystal Glover
A former elementary teacher, Glover joined the faculty at Winthrop in 2014 and became an associate professor in 2020 within the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy. During the past decade, the impact she has made on early childhood education at Winthrop has been significant due to her dedication to teaching, her recognition on campus for teaching, her mentorship of new faculty members and her reputation with students.
During the 2021-22 academic year, Glover led the effort to revise the early childhood education curriculum to incorporate best practices, different academic experiences and cultural responsiveness. She continues to monitor the changes and is currently working to expand students’ real-life experiences by creating a study abroad opportunity. Glover also was instrumental in the College of Education’s development of a master’s degree in teacher leadership program. She actively supported the university’s China internship program and previously accompanied two students to Shanghai, China, in 2018 to help them settle into their new setting.
Colleagues said Glover regularly evaluates her teaching based on student feedback, classroom observations and performance data. She places value on her own professional growth and development so she can bring new knowledge to the classroom for her students. One hallmark of her work is the strong emphasis she places on preparing her students to work with diverse populations, a critical skill in today’s classroom settings.
Work with Students and Community Cited
Another feature of Glover’s work is the formation of focus groups and individual advising sessions for at-risk students and students of color. She invests significant time outside the classroom working one-on-one with graduate students to ensure they are fully prepared for their performance assessment. Students say in their evaluations that they feel like everyone in her classes feel welcome, respected and valued.
She also has served as co-faculty advisor for the S.C. Association for the Education of Young Children, a McNair Scholar mentor, an Honors thesis advisor and faculty advisor for students engaged in undergraduate research.
This is not the first faculty award for Glover. Selected in 2020 as the Outstanding Junior Professor, Glover was appointed in 2021 as the Bank of America Professor where she is developing an early childhood curriculum that celebrates the humanity and joy of children of color and their families.
Outside Winthrop, Glover provides annual summer training sessions to Head Start Center leaders in Charlotte, North Carolina, in order to support efforts that help low-income and diverse populations. She also serves as co-editor for the journal Provocations and Perspectives, a national publication of the Early Childhood Education Assembly of NCTE.
A graduate of Winthrop, Glover holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction – urban literacy from the University of North Carolina Charlotte, and a master’s degree in reading education and a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, both from Winthrop.
For more information, please contact Judy Longshaw, news and media services manager, at 803/323-2236 or e-mail longshawj@winthrop.edu.
