Contact: Maridith Geuder
The superintendent of Winona Public Schools is the first to receive a statewide leadership award from Mississippi State University.
Doris Blackwell Smith is the 1997 selection for the Jayne A. Burrows Sargent Award for Excellence in Leadership. The award is given by the educational leadership department.
The honor is named for the Meridian School District superintendent who recently was appointed to a similar position in Jackson. It recognizes outstanding achievement by a practicing woman administrator in Mississippi's public schools or colleges.
Smith, who has headed Winona's schools since 1990, previously held administrative posts in Covington County and in Venezuela. She also has directed the English Language Center at the University of South Alabama.
She is founder and a member of the board of directors of the National Staff Development Council. A former teacher in Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi, she also serves on the Governor's Education Task Force and represents the state at the National Goals 2000 Conference.
Smith holds doctoral and bachelor of science degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi and a master's from William Carey College.
She was presented the Sargent Award by department head Ned Lovell at a recent campus ceremony.