Susanne Frensley, Hillsboro teacher for the last five years, was selected 2007 Tennessee Teacher of the Year.  Mrs. Frensley has taught Social Studies and Art History in Metro for 12 years. In 2001, she transitioned from Stratford High School to Hillsboro High School. Currently, Mrs. Frensley teaches Art Survey and AP Art History.

Graduating cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in East Asian Studies and a M.Ed. in Secondary Education, Mrs. Frensley completed her graduate coursework in art history at the University of Kansas. Each year, she avidly pursues professional development through museum programs and exhibitions in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Washington, DC, and Atlanta, as well as at institutions of higher education, including The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Stanford, Columbia and Beijing University. She has studied art in China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Italy, France, England, and Ireland.

Hillsboro’s art history student population is highly diverse and go on to attend a range of colleges and universities to include Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, Smith, Tulane, Vanderbilt, NYU, UT, Erlam and Goucher among others.

Mrs. Frensley is the proud parent of two daughters, both of whom attend Sylvan Park Paideia Elementary School in the Hillsboro cluster.

As a part of the Tennessee Teacher of the Year Award, Mrs. Frensley will receive a $17,000 technology grant from the Niswonger Foundation. Technology is key to the effective implementation of the art history curriculum, and Frensley is very excited about the prospect of making technology more available to her students.

The 2007 National Teacher of the Year will be announced in April of 2007. At that time all of the State Teacher of the Year winners will meet President Bush in a Rose Garden ceremony and Mrs. Frensley will have a picture made shaking the President’s hand in the Oval Office. I am excited about standing in the Oval Office where so many important decisions have been made.