Mike Doland, left, president of the McNeese Alumni Association's Board of Directors, presents the 2008 Distinguished Faculty Award to Dr. Delma McLeod-Porter, director of the Write to Excellence Center and professor of English at McNeese State University. McLeod-Porter will be honored as this year's recipient during McNeese's spring commencement ceremony Saturday, May 17. McNEESE PHOTO

Dr. Delma McLeod-Porter, director of the Write to Excellence Center and professor of English at McNeese State University, is the recipient of the 2008 Distinguished Faculty Award presented by the McNeese Alumni Association.

McLeod-Porter was selected from a field of professors nominated by their academic departments, and she will be honored during spring commencement at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 17, in Burton Coliseum.

Sponsored by the McNeese Alumni Association, the award originated in 1958 when it was called the President's Cup. This award is presented to a full-time faculty member on the basis of achievements in teaching, research, publications, campus and community involvement.

McLeod-Porter received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Houston in Houston, Texas, her Master of Arts degree in English from Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas, and a doctorate in English from Texas A&M University at College Station.

She joined the McNeese English and foreign languages department in 1992 as an assistant professor of English. In addition to her teaching, she has directed freshman and sophomore English and coordinated the writing lab for her department for several years.

She recently was named the 2008 recipient of the prestigious Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Individual Achievement Award. Over the year¹s she has been a consultant, scholar and member of the LEH advisory board for the Prime Time Family Reading Program, which includes adult reading and family literacy programs. She made more than 30 presentations for this LEH program. She has also received over $50,000 in LEH grants for two summer teaching institutes.

McLeod-Porter has made extensive contributions to teaching not only in the humanities, but also across the whole McNeese curricula. She has worked to enhance the learning of writing at all levels across the campus and played an important role as chair of the Write to Excellence Committee that developed the Quality Enhancement Plan initiative for the recent SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) reaccreditation process. Because of this passion for writing, she was named director of the Write to Excellence Center at McNeese.

At McNeese, she has received a Pinnacle Excellence Award for outstanding teaching, several Shearman Research grants, TASC grants and McNeese community support funds for the Write to Excellence Center, faculty development and equipment for academic enhancement labs.

She has served on numerous university committees, has published several books, articles and reviews on writing effectively and made presentations at several conferences. She also finds time to serve on community boards and committees such as Volunteers of America, Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Black History Month Planning Council and Mayor's Committee on Race Relations. She is currently secretary of the International Club of Southwest Louisiana.

She is also a member of several professional organizations including the South Central Writing Center Association, International Writing Center Association, Louisiana Association of Developmental Educators, International Reading Association, Louisiana Council of Teachers of English, Linguistic Society of America, National Council of Teachers of English, South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Conference for College Teachers of English and American Dialect Society.