ONEONTA — The secondary education department of the State University College at Oneonta will present Awards for Exemplary Service to four area educators during a Celebration of Teaching Reception at 4 p.m. Thursday.

The event will be held in the Craven Lounge of the college's Morris Conference Center.

In addition to the awards, the reception will recognize area teachers who have contributed their time and expertise to the college's secondary education program. The event is a prelude to National Teacher Appreciation Week, May 4-10.

The annual Awards for Exemplary Service will be presented this year in the areas of mathematics, English, foreign language, and family and consumer science.

The recipients are:

• Deborah Jackson, who will receive the award in mathematics education. She has taught for the past 25 years at Unatego Central School, where she now teaches Math 7. She is a resident of Otego and a graduate of SUCO.

• Colin MacKenzie, who will receive the English education award. He is a resident of Franklin who has taught for 28 years in the Delaware Academy Middle School. He teaches seventh-grade English and is a graduate of Hartwick College.

• Lynda Mitchell, who will receive the foreign language education award. She teaches Spanish in Grades 8-12 at Cherry Valley-Springfield Central School, where she has taught for half of her 30-year career. A resident of Cooperstown, she has a master's from SUCO and a bachelor's degree from the State University College at Cortland.

• Jacqueline Rowe, who will receive the award for family and consumer science education. She teaches family and consumer science in Grades 9-12 at Oneonta High School. She has taught in the Oneonta school district for 18 years of her 25-year career. An Oneonta resident, she holds a degree from Mansfield State University in Pennsylvania.

Two adjunct faculty members from the SUCO secondary education department will also be recognized at the reception for their continuing service to the department. Patricia Hoyt and Ann Loitsch have worked with student teachers and taught courses in the business education program at SUCO for several years.

Hoyt teaches business courses at Unatego Central School in Grades 7-12. Loitsch, a 1997 recipient of the Exemplary Service Award, retired from the Unatego Central School district after 33 years of teaching high school business courses.

To be eligible for the Awards for Exemplary Service, a teacher must have worked with the college as a cooperating teacher or college supervisor for at least five years, officials said. The teachers, who serve as role models for SUCO students, must demonstrate high standards of knowledge in content and instruction, service to the school and community and a love of learning.

More information about the Awards for Exemplary Service is available from Dennis Banks, chairman of the SUCO secondary education department's awards committee, at 436-3391.