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Sue Burch wins state educational technology leadership award
Sue Burch, director of technology and high ability learners for the Grand Island Public Schools, will receive the Nebraska Educational Technology Association's 2009 Excellence in Leading with Technology Award at the group's spring conference April 23-24 at the Embassy Suites LaVista Conference Center.Grand Island Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel nominated Burch for the award.
"Mrs. Burch provides outstanding leadership for instructional technology use in the Grand Island Public Schools and is extremely well-educated concerning the use of technology in education. She has been a state, local, and national leader in instructional use of computers," Joel wrote in his nomination statement.
Burch has served as the school district's director of technology since 1999 and started her career in education in 1976 at Westridge Middle School, where she was a language arts and computer science teacher and media specialist until 1986. Since 1986, she has worked at district-level positions, including elementary gifted consultant (1986 to 1995), technology and staff development coordinator (1991 to 1995), and technology facilitator (1995 to 1999).
Burch has been recognized at the local, state, and national level for her achievements, including Apple Distinguished Educator, Apple Nebraska Digital Educator of the Year, Grand Island Education Foundation's Grand Island Public Schools Administrator of the Year, and Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve as a Patriotic Employer by state and national committees. She has served on the Nebraska Educational Technology Association (NETA) Board of Directors and was the group's president from 1997 to 1998. She is a past member of the Nebraska State Technology Consortium and the Nebraska State Technology Planning Team.
She has provided local leadership for the district's Technology in Education (TIE) program, the Board of Education's conversion to paperless e-meetings, the school district's conversion to the FirstClass e-mail system, and redesign of the school district's Web site. She facilitated writing a $500,000 grant application to QWEST in 1992 to establish the first wide-area network in the Grand Island Public Schools. She has coordinated numerous regional technology fairs in Central Nebraska and has been an adjunct faculty member for instructional technology courses at Doane College and the University of Nebraska-Kearney. She was a statewide trainer for US WEST Teachers and Technology Grant and Gates Grant for Administrators. Burch has given presentations at state and national conferences, including the National School Board Association Technology and Learning Conference, National Educational Computing Conference, Nebraska School Board Conference, NETA Conference, Nebraska School Administrators conference, and Midwest Internet Institute.
Burch received her bachelor's degree in elementary education and master's degree in elementary education from the University of Nebraska-Kearney (UNK) and a master's degree in educational leadership from Doane College. She participated in the first consortium of teachers to complete computer coursework at Kearney State College (now UNK) in the late 1970s and completed a computer science teaching endorsement at UNK in 1986 because of high interest in technology.
She has volunteered her technology skills for online auctions for the Grand Island Rotary Club and Saint Francis Medical Center. She is a mentor for the TeamMates Mentoring Program.
The purpose of the Nebraska Excellence in Leading with Technology Award is to recognize an individual who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in implementing technology to improve teaching, learning, or administration.
Burch will become Nebraska's nominee for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Outstanding Technology Leader award.
For more information, contact: Sue Burch, Director of Technology and High Ability Learners, Grand Island Public Schools, (308) 385-5900, sburch@gips.org; Dr. Steve Joel, Superintendent, Grand Island Public Schools, (308) 385-5900, sjoel@gips.org
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