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University of Wyoming

Disinguished Alumni & Faculty Awards

Distinguished Alumni & Faculty

(From left to right) Fran Joerz, Peggy Ransom, Jo Ellen Williams, Kathy Southards, Myron Basom

Three former faculty and two alumnae were honored at the University of Wyoming College of Education’s inaugural Distinguished Alumni and Former Faculty Recognition Award recognition luncheon Friday, April 25.
Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are Peggy Hitchcock Ransom and Fran Woodmansee Joersz. Distinguished Former Faculty Recognition Award recipients are Myron Basom, the late Clarice Whittenberg and the late Oscar Schwiering.

After graduating from UW in 1949 a BA in elementary education, Ransom began her teaching career at Stanton Elementary School in Laramie. She followed that assignment with teaching positions in Pennsylvania and Indiana from 1952-1960, when she began graduate studies at Ball State University.

Ransom earned MA (1961) and EdD (1965) degrees from Ball State before joining that institution’s faculty, where she served from 1965 until her retirement in 1996. She is a frequently published expert on reading strategies and a longtime member of the International Reading Association. She has appeared in Who’s Who in American Education and Who’s Who of Women. Ransom also is a member of the Indiana State Reading Association Hall of Fame and the Indiana Association of Teachers Hall of Fame.

Joersz graduated from UW in 1975 with a BA in elementary education, embarking on a distinguished teaching career n elementary, middle and junior high schools. She has served on the faculty of Horizon Junior High School in Bismarck, N.D., teaching seventh grade written and oral communication.
Joersz was North Dakota teacher of the year in 1991. She also received the Milken Award and the North Dakota Professional Courage Award in 1994. The latter recognized her efforts to overcome a book banning challenge.

Basom holds an EdD (1965) from the UW College of Education, where taught educational administration courses in the college for 30 years before retiring. Basom’s reach extended far beyond the Laramie city limits, traveling for years to teach sitebound students across Wyoming. The university recognized his dedication in 1986, when it presented its Hollon Award for Excellence in Off-Campus Teaching.

He played a significant role in shaping the college’s principal and superintendency preparation programs. Basom also served as executive director of the Wyoming Association of School Administrators for 28 years. The College’s Basom School Leadership Institute is named for Myron.

The late Oscar C. Schwiering joined the College of Education faculty in 1925, serving on the educational administration faculty for 29 years. Schwiering oversaw construction of the current Education Building during his tenure as dean (1939-1954). He retired in 1954.

He taught at the college level and served as a principal before coming to Wyoming, where he was Cheyenne High School principal (1912-1916), Douglas superintendent of schools (1916-1919) and Rock Springs superintendent (1919-1925). He died at his home in California in 1963.

Whittenburg came to Laramie in 1930 to teach at the UW Lab School and served on the UW faculty until retirement in 1963. In addition to her Lab School assignment, she taught UW methods courses in arithmetic, children’s literature and social studies.

The noted historian published A History of Wyoming’s People, a widely used text in fourth grade classrooms across the state for many years.

She earned a BS in education from Central Missouri State Teachers College and an MA in education from the University of Chicago.