Press Releases

April 20, 1999
Secondary Teacher of the Year Award

Contact:
Jane Finalborgo
(516) 287 8313
Fax: (516) 283 4081

John Turnbull, Coordinator of the Academic Enrichment Program, teacher of advanced placement English and social studies, and varsity track coach at Southampton High School, has been named the 1999 Suffolk County Secondary School Teacher of the Year by Long Island University.

He will receive his award on Sunday, May 23 at 2 p.m. at the commencement exercises at Southampton College. He will also be honored at a pre-commencement brunch at the Publick House Restaurant in Southampton.

A master teacher, John Turnbull is known for his intelligence, sensitivity, scholarship, commitment to life-long learning, and ability to reach students on many different levels. A man of broad interests and talents, he has worked with Mother Teresa in India, completed a year's sabbatical at Harvard Divinity School, and is an instructor of Martial Arts. He is the recipient of a Japanese Keizikoho Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships, and two Fulbright Hays Fellowships. He has been with the Southampton School District for 19 years.

Always eager to share his expertise with others, he served on the district's staff development and Middle States evaluation committees, and has been a peer coach for fellow teachers, observing and advising new teachers. He is a research adjunct with Project Zero of Harvard University's School of Education, and he is trained in conflict mediation and Socratic seminars.

Long Island University instituted the Secondary School Teacher of the Year Award in 1991. The award is presented annually to two outstanding secondary school teachers, one from Nassau County and one from Suffolk County. Teachers are nominated for the award by their school superintendents. Nominations are then reviewed by a committee of faculty members from Southampton College' Education Division. Kieran Morris, an English teacher at Carle Place High School will receive the Nassau County Teacher of the Year Award.

John Turnbull has "the capacity, sensitivity and commitment to truly teach all students," said his principal Josephine DeVincenzi. "He teaches English to our most needy students at the same time he teaches AP Literature courses."

Turnbull has his B.A. and M.A. from City University of New York and pursued his Ph.D. at Columbia University. He lives in Sag Harbor and has three children, Simone, Ben and Max.

At the May 23rd Commencement, Turnbull will be presented with a check for $500, and the Southampton school district will receive a check for $1,000. Long Island University offers one of the widest ranges of teacher-training, counseling and administration programs in the region.