Faculty Hall of Fame Award 2001
Billye VanSchuyver
Billye VanSchuyver was born in Stratford, Oklahoma. She received a bachelors of liberal
studies and Ph.D. in secondary education from the University of Oklahoma, and a M.A.T. in
counseling from Oklahoma City University.
She began her career in higher education at
Oklahoma City University where she worked from 1972 until 1981 as professor of education
and director of student teaching. While there, she founded and coordinated the first
graduate level gifted and talented degree program in the state of Oklahoma.
In 1981,
Cameron University hired her as chair of the department of education and psychology.
She was later named head of the division of education and behavioral sciences and in 1985
became dean of the newly established school of education and behavioral sciences and
director of teacher education, the positions she held when she retired in 1996.
Under
her leadership, Cameron's teacher education programs and graduate level education
programs received national accreditation. Also initiated was an innovative
post-baccalaureate teacher education program, CAMSTEP, which was cited as an exemplary
program by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education.
Dr. Van
Schuyver has served as member and officer in a number of professional organizations
including the Oklahoma Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. Her impact on
students' lives was enhanced through her efforts to bring the most current technology to
campus by supporting a media and technology lab for pre-service teachers. She was a
proponent of the use of interactive TV and the Internet to support distance learning
which is very much a part of Cameron today. She actively particapated in every function
of the education department and served on numerous university committees. She has also
been involved in the educational communities of the surrounding area, serving as a
consultant to the Lawton Public Schools and to Flower Mound School.
When asked her
philosophy of education, Dr. Van Schuyver said... "Human beings are born with a drive to
learn, to develop, to find a place in their world, and to have an effect upon it. The
good teacher realizes that the very worst thing she can do is to frustrate that natural
drive; like the good physician, the good teacher must
