Accessible Arts, Inc, and the Kansas State Board of Education are proud to announce awards in arts and disabilities for the year 2002

Since 1984, Accessible Arts (AAI) and the Kansas State Board of Education (KSBE) have been recognizing the valuable work of Kansans who include children with disabilities in art experiences. The AAI Awards Committee, chaired this year by Board Vice President Vickie Tucker, Wyandotte Special Education Co-op, is responsible for selecting the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award. Honorees for Educator of the Year are nominated by their peers across the state. Making the presentations will be representatives from Accessible Arts and the Kansas State Board of Education at a 3:00 pm ceremony March 12, 2002. If you would like additional information about the ceremony, please contact Accessible Arts at 913/281-1133 or by e-mail.

Dr. Dee Hansen, Associate Professor of Music Education, Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas, and Connie Burket, Director of Kansas Alliance for Arts Education, Salina, Kansas, have been selected to receive the award for Distinguished Service of the Year in Arts and Disabilities. Barbara Adams, Art Teacher, Kansas School for the Deaf (KSD), Olathe, Kansas, has been selected to receive the award for Kansas Educator of the Year in Arts and Disabilities.

Hansen and Burket worked tirelessly to develop and achieve State Board of Education approval for establishing a minimum state standard of one credit hour in Fine Arts for high school graduation. They were also major collaborators and presenters with Accessible Arts for The Art of Learning, a series of workshops that bring together artists and educators to work toward more arts programming in Kansas schools and communities. Burket and Hansen have been strong advocates for inclusive learning in arts education and programming, and put 'sparkle' into everything they do.

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Educator of the Year in Arts and Disabilities
Barbara Adams

Barbara Adams has dedicated 32 years to the Kansas School for the Deaf, where she has taught art classes from kindergarten through high school. During that time she has consistently encouraged her students to enter art competitions at all levels, resulting in numerous awards for her students' art.
Adams has developed a K-12 art curriculum for KSD that is aligned with state and national visual art education standards. She hopes to have the completed curriculum published. Recently, she participated in the 'Cows on Parade--Kansas City.' Her design, 'Deaf Awareness--Visual COWmunications' displays the manual alphabet in American Sign Language. It was initially on display at Union Station and is now on display at the school.
KSD Elementary/Middle School Head Teacher Joan Macy said in her nomination of Adams, "Her unceasing dedication to the field of art education for students who are deaf/hard of hearing and support of deaf culture is incredible. She continually seeks new ways for students to express themselves artistically. She also teaches students to appreciate professional artists by displaying work and discussing various means of art expression."

Distinguished Service of the Year in Arts and Disabilities
Connie Burket and Dr. Dee Hansen

Connie Burket works in partnership with arts and education organizations to provide a broad range of services that help schools, communities, artists, and teachers across Kansas build and strengthen their arts education programs. Burket was previously Arts Education Program Director for Salina Arts and Humanities Commission and has served on boards and committees for numerous arts organizations.
She has exhibited her fabric art, been a dance instructor, juried shows, written a curriculum for pre-school art classes, and contributed layout and design for many of her affiliations.
Post secondary education was at Central Missouri State College with majors in English and art. Additional education includes private study in dance, fiber arts, pottery, drawing, painting, enameling, pastels, lithography, creative writing, and computers.

Dr. Dee Hansen was, until recently, the Fine Arts Consultant for the Kansas State Department of Education. In addition to teaching classes at Baker University, she continues to provide statewide and national in-services and publish articles and books that address links between reading and arts literacy, assessments, learning styles, and brain research.
Hansen is currently co-writing a book for the National Association of Music Education (MENC) entitled The Music and Literacy Connection that demonstrates parallel learning processes for reading and music. Hansen is currently chair of the Kansas Citizens for the Arts, a statewide grass-roots arts advocacy organization.
Degrees are: Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Bachelor in Music Education, and Master's in Music History from SMU. Previous affiliations are membership in the professional Choral Arts Ensemble of Kansas City, elementary music teacher in the Shawnee Mission School district, and Director of Education, Kansas City Young Audiences. Inc.

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