July 11, 2011
Education professor receives distinguished service award from national organization
Janice Wissman, professor of curriculum and instruction, was honored with the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences’ most prestigious national award, the AAFCS' Distinguished Service Award, at its recent 102nd Annual Conference and Expo in Phoenix, Ariz. Wissman is the first Kansas member of the association to receive the award, which is given in recognition of exemplary state and national professional service.
Wissman has served as president of two national family and consumer sciences teacher education organizations and was a member of the development panel for national family and consumer sciences standards. At K-State she initiated, developed and coordinated a summer in-service program that has been offered 15 times during the last 20 years and continues to serve as a model for preparing high school food science teachers throughout the country.
Her professional work associated with program development and accreditation extends to all K-12 teacher education programs. In the state of Kansas she served on the statewide committee responsible for the development of Kansas's teacher licensure standards and chaired the Kansas State Department of Education Program Evaluation Committee that approves and recommends all new and continuing teacher education programs and recommends unit accreditation in the state.
Wissman has served on numerous teacher education accreditation teams in the state, and at the national level has been an invited presenter for the National Association of Council of Teacher Education.
Following graduation from K-State Wissman commenced her professional career as a high school home economics teacher in Anaheim, Calif. She returned to her alma mater where she served as a secondary teacher educator in the College of Education. In 2010 she retired as associate dean of the College of Education and began phased retirement.
She holds a master's degree from K-State and a doctorate in higher education from the University of Kansas. She has received numerous awards for her professional leadership and service including the national AAFCS Leaders Award, the national Mortar Board Excellence in Advising Award and in 2010 she received the Kansas Association for Career and Technical Education's Carl Perkins Outstanding Service Award and the Kansas State University College of Human Ecology Alumni Award.
Based in the Washington, D.C., area, the American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences is the only professional association for family and consumer sciences students and professionals from both multiple practice settings and content areas. For more than 100 years AAFCS has focused its mission on providing leadership and support for professionals whose work assists individuals, families and communities in making more informed decisions about their well-being, relationships and resources to achieve optimal quality of life.
Members provide research-based knowledge about the topics of everyday life, including human development, personal and family finance, housing and interior design, food science, nutrition and wellness, textiles and apparel and consumer issues. They are early childhood, elementary, secondary, university/college, and Extension educators, administrators and managers, human service professionals, researchers, community volunteers, business people and consultants who create integrated solutions to complex social and economic challenges.