Pius' Connealy wins Freda Drath Battey Distinguished Educator award

An inspirational and innovative English teacher at Lincoln Pius X High School has been named the winner of the 2005 Freda Drath Battey Distinguished Educator award from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Education and Human Sciences.

Jane Connealy, who teaches 10th-grade English composition and social literature at Pius, received the award at a May 3 luncheon on the UNL campus. The award is presented annually by the college for excellence in teaching, coupled with recognition in other complementary educational activities, such as counseling of students or initiation of student-oriented programs. It carries awards of $6,000 to the recipient and $3,000 to the recipient's school. Teachers are nominated by former students who are enrolled in the College of Education and Human Sciences.

Connealy is widely admired by students and colleagues for her willingness and ability to adapt a course's curriculum to meet an individual student's needs and interests, often sacrificing her own time to do so. She started the innovative Pius Embedded Writing Institute in 2003, a program that helps teachers in subjects other than English to incorporate writing into their classrooms. The idea has since spread to other schools and districts.

"Her most striking quality is her humility," one former student wrote in support of Connealy's nomination. "She takes little credit or thanks for her vast array of accomplishments, and is always putting someone else in the spotlight while she works behind the scenes. Jane has shown me how one person can make an enormous difference, and has inspired me to make changes to improve myself and the world around me."

Connealy, who earned a bachelor's degree from UNL (1985), has taught at Pius since 1998. She previously taught at St. Patrick's Senior High School in North Platte and Cathedral of the Risen Christ Elementary School in Lincoln.

The Freda Drath Battey Distinguished Educator award is made possible by a University of Nebraska Foundation fund established in 1986 by Joan and Charles W. Battey of Shawnee Mission, Kan., and Marian (Battey) and Harold W. Andersen of Omaha, to commemorate the life and career of their mother and mother-in-law, Freda Drath Battey, a 1923 University of Nebraska graduate who taught school in Ashland.

CONTACT: Jenny Patrick, Education & Human Sciences, (402) 472-5400