Raymie McKerrow, Professor Emeritus within the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University, will receive the National Communication Association’s (NCA) 2017 Wallace A. Bacon Lifetime Teaching Excellence award.

Professor McKerrow will officially receive his award during the NCA’s 103rd Annual Convention Nov. 16-19 in Dallas, TX.

“I was thrilled to learn of Professor McKerrow’s Lifetime Teaching Excellence recognition by the NCA,” said Ohio University President M. Duane Nellis. “His academic contributions, both as a teacher and a scholar, over the past five decades have positively impacted the lives of countless individuals at OHIO and throughout the world.”

The Wallace A. Bacon Lifetime Teaching Excellence Award is given annually to honor outstanding teaching by retired NCA members at any grade level from kindergarten through graduate, NCA members who are not currently engaged in full-time teaching, and/or NCA members who have demonstrated a long-term commitment to teaching.

Professor McKerrow, a past president of NCA, retired in 2015 after 50 years of modeling the role of teacher-scholar. Nominators, all former students, noted his strong commitment to diversity and inclusion has now seeped far beyond the classroom as he has stewarded so many “others” into the academy as well as how his students have moved into different areas of Communication – a testament to his ability to make critical rhetoric relevant beyond disciplinary silos.

The Awards committee noted that they were especially impressed with Professor McKerrow’s scholarship (including his textbook Principles and Types of Speech Communication/Public Speaking—now in its 16th edition), the warmth of his relationships with students, his special care for those who were hurting or somehow on the margins, and the three awards named in his honor that highlight the accomplishments of undergraduates.

“The Communication discipline has a long tradition of exceptional scholarship,” NCA Executive Director Paaige K. Turner said. “Raymie McKerrow’s contributions are noteworthy, and we are proud to honor him with this award.”

For more information about NCA’s awards program, visit http://www.natcom.org/awards/.