Congratulations to Akiko Morimoto, the California Association of Teachers of English 2008 Distinguished Service Award winner.

The CATE Distinguished Service Award recognizes outstanding service to the profession of teaching English/language arts in California. Nominees are identified using the following criteria: The nominee shall have been a CATE member for at least 15 years, and served in significant positions of leadership within CATE, both at the local council committee level and at the CATE Board level. The nominee shall have been recognized as a local, state, and national leader in English/language arts education and shall have made a substantial contribution to the improvement of the profession. Akiko Morimoto is the epitome of the above definition as she has dedicated herself to our profession with a cornucopia of achievements that demonstrate the depth and breadth of her distinguished service.

Akiko distinguishes herself through sixteen years of meritorious service in significant positions on the CATE Board from 1990-2006 as vice president, member-at-large, middle and unspecified, GSDCTE representative, and convention chair. She continues to present at the conventions, and facilitate the new teacher reception.

Akiko Morimoto has also served NCTE as a middle level representative, Region 8 Affiliates Representative, annual convention local arrangements co-chair for San Diego and San Francisco, Executive Director Search Committee, Nominating Committee member, Nominating Committee, Middle Level Chair, Language Commission, and received the NCTE Richard W. Halle Award for Outstanding Middle Educator Award in 2007.

Akiko’s dedicated work in the Greater San Diego Council of Teachers of English continues to be stellar. She has served as president, vice president, publicity, vice president, and member-at-large, unspecified. She is always an integral part of the GSDCTE conference process and continues to present at a local level on a regular basis.

As an English teacher for twenty-nine years, National Board Certified teacher, and school improvement program coordinator, Akiko was a driving force at Washington Middle School where she was an AVID coordinator and teacher, mentor teacher, and yearbook advisor. She was the first public educator to be invited to serve on the Old Globe Theaters Board. Akiko is a San Diego Writing Project fellow and a California Reading and Literature Project fellow, and received a Teacher Excellence Award from both CATE and GSDCTE. Her incredible resume goes on and on with notable work in the Annenberg film, “Teaching Multicultural Literature: a Workshop for the Middle Grades,” and herself as the fictional “Ms. Morimoto” in Becoming Naomi Leon, by Pam Munoz Ryan.

These are just a few of the accomplishments that exemplify Akiko Morimoto as a truly worthy recipient of the CATE 2008 Distinguished Service Award, and we congratulate and thank her for distinguishing herself at the local, state, and national levels.