Shaping Our Future Leaders JoLisa Hoover 1992 Graduate of McMurry with a Degree in MultiDisciplinary Studies When the U.S. Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, was looking for 25 exceptional teachers throughout the country, she had over 1,000 applications among the nation’s finest educators, all hoping to be selected to serve in Teaching Ambassador Fellowship positions with the U.S. Department of Education. By July 2008, after all of the sifting and sorting was complete, Secretary Spellings announced that one of those 25 exceptional educators would be JoLisa Hoover, McMurry graduate of 1992 from Leander, Texas. According to the Department of Education, the 25 Teaching Ambassador Fellowships are awarded to
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the “Classroom Fellows.” They will serve their regular teaching contracts with their districts and will be paid to perform additional Fellowship duties for the Department of Education. As practicing classroom teachers, these Fellows will share an important perspective for—and will gain more knowledge about—education policy and program development. They will share their experiences with other Fellows and with the Department of Education at designated times throughout the year. It will allow outstanding teachers, such as Ms. Hoover, an opportunity to contribute to the greater debate about education in America while still performing vital roles in their classrooms and schools. The selection of JoLisa may have been a surprise for her, but it did not take McMurry University by surprise. Those who have watched her grow as a leader on and off campus have always known she had something special. JoLisa came to McMurry to officially begin the career path that would lead her to the steps of the White House, but that path actually began many years before. Even JoLisa’s earliest entrepreneurial endeavor involved children. As a teenager, she established a self-described “baby-sitting empire” and provided childcare services to over 30 families in her hometown. One of those “clients” was McMurry ex ’69,
