Kurt Butefish, Executive Director of the Tennessee Geographic Alliance, will receive In December 2020 the Outstanding Support for Geography Education Award from the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE).
Kurt is being honored with this national award in recognition of his outstanding, decades-long contributions to supporting geography education and geography educators within the state of Tennessee and across the US.
During Kurt’s tenure, the Alliance has trained over 1190 teachers in 1-4 week institutes and thousands more teachers in shorter (half-day to multi-day) workshops. He is widely praised for developing a multi-state annual Geo-Literacy Leadership Institute that has trained 117 professionals from 14 states over five years, preparing them to take a leading role in geography education advocacy in a time in which geography is being diminished in the curriculum. As a “geoevangelist,” Kurt has shaped state and federal education legislation and standards, mobilized educators to advocate and lobby, and educated teachers, administrators, state education officials, and members of Congress on the importance of geography education.
It is very fitting that this recognition comes to Kurt as he nears retirement from the University of Tennessee. He has done so much for our program and our field and his presence in our Department will be sorely missed.
