Exclusive Honor Recognizes Research, Service and Leadership in Education

SURPRISE, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES, January 1, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Maldest Walker has accumulated over 60 professional and academic awards to date, and now, she can add another to the list. Walker has been designated a Phi Delta Kappa (PDK) Distinguished Educator.

The prestigious honorific is given to PDK’s most exceptional members who meet eligibility criteria, which include the advancement of education in the association’s core values of research, service and leadership.

Walker’s work as an English professor and tutor trainer helped to qualify her for the award. As a professor, she has filled a full-time faculty position with a recommendation for reappointment, after earning a top adjunct faculty designation for receiving perfect evaluations over a two-year period at Estrella Mountain Community College (EMCC) in Avondale, Arizona. As a tutor trainer, she has coedited tutorials for students in EMCC’s Academic Success Center (or writing center). EMCC itself, a Maricopa Community College, has been ranked in the top 10% of community colleges in the United States and the Best Community College in Arizona.

When Walker is asked what the PDK honor means to her, she remarks, “Although I already have a number of awards, I have never received an internationally recognized award for my work in higher education, and to receive it from such an elite organization as PDK makes it even more special.”

PDK International is a professional association for educators known for its collaboration with Gallup on conducting the PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward Public Schools. For Walker this latest recognition brings her full circle, having already been inducted into PDK’s selective Pi Lambda Theta honor society back in 2009 for her work as an elementary teacher in the early part of her nearly 20–year career in education and for her graduate coursework at National University, which includes distinction in her MAT thesis for receiving a perfect score (100%).

When asked what the most rewarding part of teaching is for her, Walker says, “Recognition is wonderful and always appreciated, but the greatest reward is when my students thank me for the care and effort I put into teaching them, tell me they learned something in my class that helped them better understand the subject matter or even helped them in other coursework, take me again for another course and refer their family and friends to my class. It’s the best feeling!”

Most educators probably agree with that assessment, but becoming an internationally recognized distinguished educator is definitely a close second.

Maldest Walker
PDK Distinguished Educator
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