A legacy of teaching excellence: Ohio State’s Susie Whittington earns NACTA’s top honor

COLUMBUS, Ohio — M. Susie Whittington, a Distinguished Professor at The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), has received the 2025 Distinguished Educator Award from the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA), the organization’s highest honor.

The award recognizes Whittington’s meritorious service to higher education through teaching, educational research and academic leadership. Nominated by NACTA members, coworkers, students and colleagues nationwide, the honor reflects decades of dedication to teaching excellence and student success.

NACTA is a professional society that promotes excellence in teaching agriculture and related disciplines at the postsecondary level.

Whittington, who plans to retire in August, called the award a “pinnacle achievement” as she reflects on her career.

“NACTA has been an important organization in my career; it’s the only organization, to my awareness, in agriculture that advocates for the art and the science of teaching,” she said. “Given the prestigious list of previous recipients and our shared passion for good teaching, receiving the NACTA Distinguished Educator Award is a pinnacle achievement as I approach retirement.”

CFAES Senior Associate Dean Tracy Kitchel praised Whittington’s far-reaching influence.

“Dr. Whittington’s impact on agricultural education in Ohio and beyond is immeasurable,” Kitchel said. “She has shaped generations of educators and contributed meaningfully to how we think about and practice teaching in agriculture.”

Whittington has spent nearly 30 years at Ohio State, where she most recently served as executive director of Academic Enrichment and the Second-Year Transformational Experience Program (STEP). She holds the honorific title of Distinguished Professor in CFAES and has been nationally recognized for her teaching and service.

Her many accolades include the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Teaching Excellence Award; NACTA’s Teaching Award of Excellence and Murray Brown Leadership Award; and Ohio State’s Plimpton Outstanding Teaching Award and Pomerene Departmental Teaching Award. She also received the Josephine Sitterle Failer Award for Outstanding Service to Students from The Ohio State University Alumni Association.

Throughout her career, Whittington has taught the Methods of Teaching class for more than 25 years, developed the general education course Toward Cultural Proficiency and currently teaches Advanced Methods of Teaching. She has led research focused on improving student cognitive engagement and is a junior author of the widely used textbook Methods of Teaching Agriculture, as well as the lead editor of The Art and Science of Teaching Agriculture: Four Keys to Dynamic Learning.

A three-time graduate of the CFAES Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership (ACEL), Whittington credits her success to the example set by her mentors.

“ACEL has a rich, 100-plus year history of teaching excellence and of leading the nation in preparation of professors and researchers for academic institutions and agencies globally,” she said. “The expectation was that we would pay forward that which our mentors had role-modeled for us.”

Whittington’s leadership of STEP, a university-wide program supporting second-year students, was especially meaningful to her as a former first-generation student who once considered leaving Ohio State during her second year.

“It was easy for me to passionately immerse into creating programming for retaining second-year students,” she said. “Together with a team of dedicated, committed people, we made a difference in the lives of Ohio State students.”

In addition to her professional contributions, Whittington and her husband, Pat Whittington — assistant dean for student development at CFAES — have established the Pat R. and Melena S. Whittington Undergraduate Teacher Education Scholarship Fund. The endowed fund provides annual support to student teachers to help offset the expenses associated with their student teaching experience.

Reflecting on her career, Whittington said one of her greatest rewards has been the enduring relationships she has built with students and their families.

“I have students with whom I’m still connected with their parents, and now I am sharing heartwarming experiences with my students’ children,” she said.

“Teaching Methods of Teaching means you are entrusted with the caretaking of the quality of teaching in rural, urban and other communities across Ohio and beyond. I hope my students saw, heard and felt how deeply I cared about them, about teaching, and about agriculture and agricultural education.