FAU Professor Receives 2019 Outstanding Mentor Award

Outstanding Mentor Award being presented to professor Dilys Schoorman.


by Teresa Crane | Thursday, Nov 21, 2019

Florida Atlantic University Professor Dilys Schoorman, Ph.D., received the 2019 Outstanding Mentor Award from the Florida Education Fund McKnight Doctoral Fellowship Program at their annual Awards and Induction Ceremony in Tampa, FL. A student, Deborah King McEwan, submitted the nomination which received a unanimous vote from the William R. Jones Awards Committee. As an honoree, Schoorman received a plaque and a monetary award for her outstanding contribution to the McKnight Doctoral Fellowship Program.  

Schoorman is a mentor, doctoral advisor and professor in the department of Curriculum, Culture and Educational Inquiry at the College of Education. Since beginning the doctoral program in fall 2014, Schoorman has challenged, encouraged, and presented opportunities to McEwan that have tremendously helped her through the rigorous program. McEwan was the first COE student to be awarded the McKnight Doctoral Fellowship. Her dissertation, titled “The Perspectives of Black Church Leaders on Their Roles in the Empowerment of Black Male Students”, focuses on the role of African American churches in the academic performance of African American students. She is expected to graduate fall 2019.

“My nomination of Dr. Dilys Schoorman for the William R. Jones Outstanding Mentor Award required no hesitation in response to her unrelenting commitment to me as a doctoral student,” said McEwan. 

The McKnight Doctoral Fellowship program was established in 1984 with the purpose to address the under-representation of African American and Hispanic faculty in Florida by increasing the number of qualified citizens with doctoral degrees.  Each year, 50 fellowships are awarded to students who are pursuing a doctoral degree at one of the nine participating Florida universities.  The Fellowship program consists of a contribution towards tuition, fees and stipends, as well as a comprehensive system of academic support. 

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