She is an educator, a leader and a world traveler.
Saturday, Dr. June Murry will give the keynote address at the annual Ida Mae Theus-Mays Scholarship banquet at the Lannom Center in Dyersburg.
Dr. Murry serves as principal and instructional leader at Liberty Technology Magnet High School in Jackson, where she is respected for holding teachers accountable for content and class performance. Her love of children, her focus on learning and her spirit of giving back are reflected in the outstanding quality of instructional modeling she provides both in the classroom and in the community.
And she gets results. During her eight-year tenure at Liberty Tech, the school has surpassed the state’s benchmark for Average Yearly Progress (AYP), achieved a graduation rate of 94.3 percent and captured three state Class AA boys basketball championships.
Dr. Murry has presented various training seminars on leadership, management and counseling topics. Her presentations and keynote addresses have won her acclaim and recognition in both the education and business arenas.
She earned degrees in the areas of early childhood education, educational pychology and guidance, supervision and leadership and child and youth studies. She has served as a classroom teacher and counselor for grades K-12 and served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin.
Dr. Murry is a frequent guest lecturer on instruction and supervision and served on the advisory board for administration and counseling at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson. She is the past chairman of the Jackson-Madison County School Coordinated School Health advisory board and a member of the School Nutrition Advisory Council.
In addition to her career in education, she is a licensed cosmetologist and has served as a beauty college instructor.
In addition to this dynamic and inspirational speaker, the evening at Dyersburg State will present a full and varied program of music and a complete dinner.
The First Friday Christian Band will also perform. Members of the group are Tamala Vaughan, Tim Slayton, Marsha Callahan, Jeremy Garner, Robert Valientes Jr. and Bobby Hughes. The Sons of David — Frank Shaw III, Reginald Taylor, Caleb Barrett Theus Williams, Larry Jones Jr. and Kevin Clayborne — will provide music during dinner.
Toast mistress for the festivities will be banquet founder and coordinator Emma Mays-Reynolds. Also making remarks and presentations will be DSCC President Karen Bowyer, DSCC Vice President for Institutional Advancement Youlanda Jones-Wilcox and Faith Apostolic Church pastor Bishop J. Denard Williams.
Banquet co-coordinator Dr. Darnishia R. Williams will recognize the Faith Deliverance Apostolic Church 2011 graduates.
The event and scholarship are a celebration of the memory of a devout believer and supporter of education and founder of Faith Deliverance Apostolic Church, Ida Mae Theus-Mays. The scholarship fund was established to help provide an education for second-year students at DSCC. Preferably, recipients should be African-American. The students must have and maintain a minimum 2.5 grade point average, must be active in campus life at DSCC and must be an active member of a Christian-centered church. In coordination with the Financial Aid Office and the financial aid guidelines at Dyersburg State, the trustees of Faith Deliverance Apostolic Church make the selection.
The process includes the submission of an application, a letter from the applicant and two reference letters.
For more information about the banquet or the scholarship program, Ms. Mays-Reynolds at reynolds@dscc.edu, reynolds46@vzw.blackberry.net, (731) 286-3215 or (731) 445-9348. Tickets are $50 each and are available in the DSCC business office in the Eller Building on the Dyersburg campus.