Sociology Professor is L&C’s 2024 Emerson Award Winner

GODFREY – Lewis and Clark Community College’s Professor of Sociology Paula Kelso is the winner of the 2024 Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award.

Each year, Emerson Electric Company sponsors the Excellence in Teaching Awards program to recognize educators in the St. Louis metropolitan area – from kindergarten teachers to college professors – who are examples of excellence in their field.

Kelso was shocked and humbled when her win was announced.

“I was so surprised, but thrilled and honored to be acknowledged,” she said.

Liberal Arts, Business and Information Technology Dean Randy Gallaher was pleased about Kelso’s win.

“I am delighted that Professor Kelso will represent Lewis and Clark Community College as the Emerson Award winner,” he said. “Paula’s sociology courses are very popular, and she has an excellent reputation among students.”

Kelso started her undergraduate degree at Millikin University, but ultimately graduated Summa Cum Laude from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, with a Bachelor and Master of Arts in Sociology.

Although she has taught at L&C for 19 years (18 as full-time faculty), Kelso didn’t begin her professional career in the classroom.

“My first career was in the arts,” she said. “I was a professional ballerina and danced most of my career with the St. Louis Ballet.”

After her time with the St. Louis Ballet, she danced with a contemporary ballet company and taught ballet for several years.

This background influenced her choice to pursue sociology.

“Growing up training around professional dancers from all over the world, including Russia, Brazil, China, Japan, Australia, among others, gave me a very early introduction to different cultural ways of thinking and doing things,” she said. “I’ve always been fascinated by human behavior, and I still love learning and teaching about different cultures.”

Kelso also credits her seventh grade social studies teacher, Charles William “Bill” Freymuth.

“Mr. Freymuth had a huge impact on me at an early age,” she said. “He showed me he truly cared, not just about me as a student, but about me as a person. I wouldn’t do what I do without having had the honor of being in Mr. Freymuth’s class.”

After earning her bachelor's, she worked as a social worker in the Child Abuse and Neglect Division for the Missouri Department of Child and Family Services in north St. Louis.

“It was a very tough job, and I learned a lot,” Kelso said. “It definitely gave me the kick in the pants I needed to complete graduate school and become a professor, which was ultimately my goal.”

Kelso’s belief in the power of education as a tool for social change is what inspires her in the classroom.

“I’ve always believed in the adage from Ralph Waldo Emerson,” she said, “To leave the world a bit better… to know that even one life has breathed easier because I have lived – that is to have succeeded.”

It seems her students agree.

“She wants to change the world,” said L&C student Brandy Isom. “She changed my world.”

As do her peers.

“She doesn’t focus so much on what to think, but instead teaches students how to think, how to evaluate material and how to examine more than one side of an issue,” said Communications Professor Christina Chapman. “This is such an important life skill for our students.”

For more information on L&C’s Sociology courses, contact Kelso at (618) 468-4683 or pkelso@lc.edu.

L&C is enrolling now for the Winter Intersession and Spring semester. Contact the Enrollment Center at (618) 468-2222 or enroll@lc.edu.