Kansas City Kansas Community College

A national teacher of the year, a 45-year educator, the director of one of the nation’s largest libraries, a leader in providing services to children with disabilities and one of Kansas City’s most historic schools are the 2009 inductees into the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame.

Enshrinement of the five inductees will come at the 14th annual induction ceremonies to be held at Kansas City Kansas Community College on Saturday, Nov. 7.

The inductees are Ken Bingham, who was named to the National Teachers Hall of Fame for 2009; Dr. Jim Gill, whose career as a teacher, counselor, administrator, consultant and juvenile court volunteer, has spanned 45 years; and R. Crosby Kemper III, the Chief Executive Officer of the Kansas City Public Library.

They will be joined by the Children’s Therapeutic Learning Center (CTLC), a provider of services and education to children with disabilities; and Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, the former Lincoln High School which has been providing education in Kansas City for nearly 1½ centuries.

“This is truly an outstanding class of inductees,” says chairman Phil Witt, the news anchor of Fox News 4 WDAF-TV, who will emcee the gala induction ceremonies. Founded in 1996, the event is a fund-raiser for the KCKCC Endowment Association which annually provides $300,000 in scholarships to KCKCC students.

Open to the public, tickets are $65 and can be reserved by calling the KCKCC Endowment Association at 913-288-7632. The 2009 inductees:

KEN BINGHAM – In addition to becoming the seventh teacher from Kansas to be inducted into the National Teacher Hall of Fame, the Blue Valley West teacher is a member of the Kansas Teachers Hall of Fame, a Kansas Master Teacher and a National Biology Teacher of the Year and has been a Presidential Award winner for Excellence in Teaching Science and National Space Educator of the Year. A 1963 graduate of the University of Kansas, Bingham taught four years at Wyandotte High School and 34 years at Shawnee Mission West before moving to Blue Valley West to open that school in 2001. A Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher in Japan in 1999, Bingham has dedicated breaks from school to teaching in China, Fiji, Australia, Tanzania and the former Soviet Union.

DR. JIM GILL – A graduate of Wyandotte High School in 1959, KCK Junior College in 1961 and Pittsburg State, Dr. Gill’s 45 years of continuous service to education has included being a teacher, counselor and administrator in the Pittsburg, Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley school districts. He was the founding principal for both the Leawood and Pleasant Ridge middle schools in the Blue Valley district and while principal at Leawood, the school was awarded the prestigious Blue Ribbon Award by the U.S. Department of Education. The recipient of Master Teacher, the Michael James President Award and KAMELOT Award for Distinguished Career Service, Dr. Gill has also served as a juvenile court probation counselor and taught as an adjunct professor at nine different colleges.

R. CROSBY KEMPER III – Since assuming the position as chief executive of the Kansas City Public Library, R. Crosby Kemper has made the 10 branch system the center of metropolitan life-long learning through its innovative Speaker Series, “Big Read” project, historic preservation and public programming. After graduating with a major in history from Yale University, Kemper joined UMB Financial Corp., in 1977 before leaving in 1981 to spend a year teaching English in China. Returning to New York, he served as executive director of the British Institute of the U.S. He rejoined UMB in 1983 and served as president of UMB-St. Louis for seven years before returning to Kansas City as chairman and CEO, a position he held from 2000-04 when he joined the Kansas City Public Library.

CTLC – Since 1947, the Children’s Therapeutic Learning Center (CTLC) has been a leader in the Kansas City area in providing services to children with disabilities and their families. Selected by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to be Wyandotte County’s lead agency for services for children with disabilities from birth to age three, CTLC serves more than 250 youngsters in the county along with providing early intervention to provide foundational skills to become independent, productive adults to kids in Jackson, Clay, Platte and Ray counties in Missouri and Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas. In addition, early childhood intervention services focus on the habilitation of persons with developmental disabilities including developing pre-academic skills and enhancing life skills.

LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL – What was for than a century Lincoln High School but now is Lincoln College Preparatory Academy has been providing education since 1865 when it was founded as an ungraded school to educate the black children of the newly free slaves. Officially organized as a high school in 1886, the R.T. Coles vocational school was founded in 1915 and a junior college curriculum added in 1936. Although the Junior College was closed in 1954, the high school remained until 1978 when it was made into a magnet school and the name changed. Through all the years and changes, the school has excelled academically with 90 percent of the student body successfully completing post-secondary school and more than 200 scholarships awarded graduates by the Lincoln High/R.T. Coles National Alumni Assn.

The Mid-America Education Hall of Fame was established to identify and recognize individuals, organizations and corporate supporters notable for their contributions to education and to provide well-deserved recognition to education and its impact on the quality of life. Nominations are open to all interested persons and inductees are selected from one or more of four criteria: 1) Demonstrates a commitment to education; 2) Works to improve quality of life in the community through their commitment to education; 3) Strives to increase educational opportunities for others; and 4) Supports significant changes that have improved the quality of education.