NW Missouri Times

Dr. Shelly Hiatt, a counseling professor at Northwest Missouri State University, has received the 2025 Governor's Award for Excellence in Education. The award was presented by Governor Mike Kehoe in a ceremony held in Jefferson City, Missouri.

The Governor's Award, which is sponsored by the Missouri Council on Public Higher Education, is given annually to a distinguished faculty member from each of Missouri's four-year higher education institutions. At Northwest, the recipient is selected from those who have earned the University's Faculty Excellence Award for teaching.

Hiatt has been a member of the Northwest faculty since 1997, where she has been teaching courses related to psychology and school guidance and counseling. Her nomination highlighted her dedicated commitment to teaching excellence and her application of best practices in curriculum design, instructional methods, and student support.

Hiatt is lauded by students for providing an informative and compassionate classroom experience. According to a graduate student in the school counseling program, Hiatt “models the behaviors and methods she expects from her school counseling students.”

Undergraduate students often commend the practical experiences Hiatt facilitates in her classes, noting that her feedback encourages them to excel in their work. Throughout the 2023-2024 academic year, students consistently appreciated her organizational skills, engagement, communication abilities, and her capacity to deliver enlightening information without overwhelming them.

Dr. Hiatt holds an Ed.D. in educational leadership from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She also has a Master of Education in guidance and counseling along with a bachelor's degree in elementary education, both obtained from Northwest. Her academic pursuits focus on comprehensive school counseling programs, suicide prevention, and crisis and disaster planning in schools.

###