Dr. Jane Norwood, 1965, has been awarded the Distinguished Alumni Achievement award. 

Jane is proud to have graduated from Coker University in 1965 with a degree in elementary education. She has made several transitions since leaving Coker, from being a Coker-Nut to becoming a Cobra with a fighting spirit. Currently, she is a member of the Coker University Board of Trustees and has served twenty-three years, not consecutively, and under four presidents.  Other services to the University have been on the Alumni Council and the Board of Visitors.  She and her husband, Ballard (Buddy) Norwood endowed the Jane Parler Norwood Scholarship.

After graduating from Coker, Jane attended the University of South Carolina, earning both a Master of Education and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Psychological Services: Reading. She is a Professor Emeritus at Appalachian State University, having taught there for thirty-three years and being tenured at the Professor rank.  

In her service career, Jane was a member and/or officer in the following committees/organizations:  Coker University Board of Trustees, North Carolina State Board of Education (Vice-Chair, Committee on Teacher Quality, Chair), North Carolina Teaching Fellows Commission (last Chair), North Carolina Annual Testing Commission, Educational Advisory Board of the North Carolina School of Science and Math (Chair), Three Boards of Education Liaison Committee (Co-Chair), Advisory Board North Carolina Agency for Public Telecommunications, North Carolina Writing Test Task Force, National Association of State Boards of Education (Board of Directors and Chair of Adolescent Literacy Taskforce), National Council of the Accreditation of Teacher Education (Unit Accreditation Board),  North Carolina School Improvement Panel, Southern Regional Educational Board, and North Carolina Council of the International Reading Association (President).

In 1992, North Carolina Governor James G. Martin gave her the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the state’s highest honor. In 2001, she received the National State Boards of Education’s Distinguished Service Award.

Jane also volunteered at Charlotte Douglas Airport greeting and assisting visitors for ten years.  She is active in her church, Providence Baptist where she has served as a Deacon and is on the Personnel Committee and the Altar Guild.