Dr. Paul Vermette, a professor of education at Niagara University, received Leadership Niagara’s Lifetime Achievement Award during the organization’s annual awards luncheon, held today at the Conference Center Niagara Falls.

A professional educator since 1971, Dr. Vermette has served as a teacher and supervisor of social studies in public and parochial schools in New York and New Jersey. He joined the Niagara University faculty in a full-time capacity in 1985.

At NU, Dr. Vermette teaches courses in instructional methods, curriculum planning and teaching for diversity, and played a role in the development of the CCTL, a university committee that has been instrumental in the creation of the “active & integrated” philosophy that marks the institution’s commitment to quality teaching.

Dr. Vermette has authored (or co-authored) four texts on learning from teaching and is the author of more than three dozen articles on the topics of constructivism, cooperative learning and concept learning. In the last few years, he has also published on social-emotional learning and the teaching of math, two critically important modern topics.

Dr. Vermette has been a longtime supporter of Leadership Niagara, and presently serves as a consultant for the LYNC program, the eight-month youth leadership development program. LYNC participants may extend their learning in a three-credit course Dr. Vermette teaches on diversity and globalization, democratic citizenship, leadership in personal and organizational frameworks, and individual development.

A highly visible advocate for teacher professional growth, Dr. Vermette is currently president-elect of the New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NYACTE). He has also been deeply involved in the activities of the Institute for Learning-Centered Education, the NYS Middle School Association, the NYS Council for Social Studies and the Great Lakes Association for Cooperation in Education in Toronto. He has served on several Catholic school boards of trustees and now sits on the board of the Catholic Academy of Niagara Falls.

Dr. Vermette has been presented with educational awards from the Diocese of Buffalo (1976) and Niagara University (1998), and received the Neal Appleby Award for New York’s Outstanding Teacher Educator in 2007.

To learn more about Leadership Niagara, please visit www.leadershipniagara.com.

Additional information on Niagara University’s College of Education can be found at www.niagara.edu/education.