Education professor receives CLU award

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Michael McCambridge has taught at CLU since 1999 and is currently director of the Liberal Studies Program for aspiring elementary school teachers.

Photo: Brian Stethem

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – May 21, 2008) Education professor Michael McCambridge received the President’s Excellence in Teaching Award at California Lutheran University’s Honors Day Banquet on May 16.

McCambridge, of Sherman Oaks, has taught at CLU since 1999 and is currently director of the Liberal Studies Program for aspiring elementary school teachers.

“Dr. McCambridge is one of the most effective and dynamic teachers I have known,” said School of Education Dean Terence R. Cannings. “He is a true motivator who excels at meeting the needs of individual students and promoting and modeling active learning strategies in the classroom.”

McCambridge, who has a strong arts and theater background, is an expert in the use of drama as a teaching tool. At CLU, he has developed arts outreach programs in local school districts, started a university drama ministry and serves as the Education Director for the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company. He has a distinguished 36-year career in education with experience teaching at every level from elementary school to graduate courses in public and private schools. He has also served as a principal and district curriculum director.

As a professor, McCambridge works to create opportunities for teachers-in-training to explore how good teaching practices can result in not only academic achievement but also personal, social and moral growth for kindergarten through 12th grade students. He has researched and written about the role of teachers in raising good citizens.

McCambridge grew up in Fostoria, Ohio, and graduated from Ohio University. He went on to earn a master’s degree in education from Pepperdine University and a doctorate in education from the University of San Francisco. He belongs to Emmanuel Lutheran Church in North Hollywood, one of two churches where he has organized drama ministries.

A former CLU president created the Excellence in Teaching Award to recognize professors who are held in high esteem by their peers, the students and the university community. The award was presented for the first time in 1995.