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UNK-Community Early Childhood Conference
2024 Award Recipient will be announced soon!
Dr. Carol Renner is a well-known figure in Kearney, renowned for her extensive dedication to Kearney Public Schools as the associate superintendent. Her educational journey spans across various roles and locations, encompassing positions as a classroom teacher, resource teacher, director of special education, and director of curriculum/staff development in California, Missouri, Hawaii, and Nebraska.
Dr. Renner holds an impressive academic background, including a Doctorate of Philosophy in Curriculum, Administration, and Instruction, along with a Specialist of Education degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She also earned a Master of Education specializing in learning disabilities from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Bachelor of Education from Fontbonne University in St. Louis. Her commitment to education extends beyond the classroom, as she has actively contributed to numerous local and state educational boards and even earned a position on the International Committee for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). Dr. Renner’s outstanding contributions to her communities have been recognized through her distinction as Business Woman of the Year in two Nebraska communities.
Dr. Renner’s dedication to community involvement and fostering parental inclusion within the educational process remains at the core of her work. In Nebraska, her significant achievements include her involvement with the Buffett Early Childhood Institute, instrumental in securing a Sixpence grant for early childhood education in Kearney. Additionally, she played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Bright Futures Preschool, which serves disadvantaged individuals, non-English speakers, and young mothers, demonstrating her unwavering commitment to advancing education and inclusivity.
Dr. Meisels became the founding Executive Director of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute in 2013. His goals: Making Nebraska the best place in the nation to be a baby. Strengthening an early childhood workforce suffering from low pay and high turnover. Making quality early childhood education available to all children. And closing the achievement gap. During his time in Nebraska, Dr. Meisels has led the implementation of the Superintendents’ Early Childhood Plan, where thousands of students inside Omaha-area schools receive a full range of programming, some of it starting at birth, meant to help close the achievement gap by focusing on the earliest years of brain development. Throughout Nebraska, with his leadership, the Buffett Institute has been involved in identifying and trying to remediate a system in which many families simply cannot afford high-quality early care and education for their young children, and a system in which early childhood teachers are paid poverty-level wages. Through research, partnership, collaboration, an advocacy, Dr. Meisels has brought attention to several key areas of critical need, across all sectors of the Nebraska early childhood workforce.
(Accepted by Pam and Patrice Plambeck)
The third annual presentation of the Plambeck Early Childhood Pioneer Award honors the family of the late LaVonne K. Plambeck, celebrating the woman who pioneered the Montessori Early Childhood movement in Nebraska over the past six decades. In addition to opening multiple Montessori early childhood centers and a Montessori Teacher Training Center in Omaha, LaVonne assured the continuation of her pioneering efforts through the establishment of a teacher scholarship at UNO, the Plambeck Child Development Center at UNK, and the UNK Montessori Teacher Education program. LaVonne's daughters Pam and Patrice will accept the award on behalf of the Plambeck family.
Through her work as the former Early Learning Connections Coordinator at ESU 10, Roxanne increased early childhood workforce access to high-quality professional development using creative and collaborative approaches. Her effort toward meeting the professional development needs of all populations in the service area, particularly the opportunities extended to rural Nebraska early childhood educators was noted by colleagues.
UNK’s College of Education presented the inaugural Early Childhood Pioneer Award to LaVonne Kopecky Plambeck of Omaha in 2019. The Early Childhood Committee then named the award in her honor. An educational legend and visionary, Plambeck has supported and invested in high-quality experiences for young children for decades. She opened Omaha’s first Montessori Educational Center in 1968 and later added seven locations and opened schools in Denver and Fort Worth. Plambeck also launched the Mid-America Montessori Teacher Training Institute to provide professionals with training and certification. In addition to working on early childhood education extensively with UNK, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Buffett Early Childhood Institute, College of Saint Mary and Concordia University, she has served the Nebraska Association of Young Children, American Montessori Society Board of Directors, Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education and an advisory committee on early childhood education for the state of Nebraska, and was appointed to a White House conference on families. A financial gift from Plambeck added two dedicated Montessori classrooms to UNK’s Plambeck Early Childhood Education Center, as well as an endowed Montessori education professorship and an endowed fund that supports workshops, seminars and other outreach activities for early childhood education providers across Nebraska.
UNK’s College of Education presented the inaugural Early Childhood Pioneer Award to LaVonne Kopecky Plambeck of Omaha in 2019. The Early Childhood Committee then named the award in her honor.
An educational legend and visionary, Plambeck has supported and invested in high-quality experiences for young children for decades. She opened Omaha’s first Montessori Educational Center in 1968 and later added seven locations and opened schools in Denver and Fort Worth. Plambeck also launched the Mid-America Montessori Teacher Training Institute to provide professionals with training and certification.
In addition to working on early childhood education extensively with UNK, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Buffett Early Childhood Institute, College of Saint Mary and Concordia University, she has served the Nebraska Association of Young Children, American Montessori Society Board of Directors, Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education and an advisory committee on early childhood education for the state of Nebraska, and was appointed to a White House conference on families.
A financial gift from Plambeck added two dedicated Montessori classrooms to UNK’s Plambeck Early Childhood Education Center, as well as an endowed Montessori education professorship and an endowed fund that supports workshops, seminars and other outreach activities for early childhood education providers across Nebraska.
