CULLOWHEE, NC - Development Foundation of the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching recently honored Phillip J. Kirk Jr., one of North Carolina's best-known advocates for education, during a reception Thursday (March 22) at Catawba College in Salisbury.
Former North Carolina Governor James E. Holshouser Jr. and former state senator Howard N. Lee, chairman of the State Board of Education, were among the scheduled speakers at the event. It was held in the Peeler-Crystal Lounge of Robertson College-Community Center on Catawba's campus.
The occasion marked the endowment of an Honored Educator Scholarship at NCCAT in Kirk's name to be awarded each year to a North Carolina teacher. Contributions greatly exceeded the $25,000 level required to endow the fund in perpetuity.
A native of Rowan County, Kirk was named vice president of external relations at Catawba College in March 2006. For sixteen years, he was president and chief executive officer of North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry, one of the state's most powerful lobbying groups, and publisher of the North Carolina Magazine. He served for more than five years as chairman of the North Carolina State Board of Education and was devoted to maintaining and enhancing public school initiatives in accountability and working to improve salaries and working conditions of the state's educators. Early in his career he was a newspaper reporter and public school teacher. He was elected to the state senate in 1970, becoming one of its youngest members at that time. He later served as chief of staff for N.C. Governors Holshouser and Jim Martin, and for U.S. Senator Jim Broyhill.
Established in 1985, NCCAT, a center of the University of North Carolina, provides public school teachers (pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade levels) with professional development experiences to renew their passion for learning and teaching and to expand their abilities in the classroom.
; ;For information about the reception, contact: Greg Bauguess, NCCAT development associate, at (828) 293-5202 x1228, or by e-mail at bauguessg@nccat.org.
Source: nccat.org
