A UTM professor of Communications, Dorotha Norton, died about 3 p.m. Friday, June 23, at The Med in Memphis. Norton was hospitalized with a head injury Wednesday after a fall.

Visitation will begin at 5 p.m. Sunday, June 25, at First Baptist Church in Kenton. The funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday, June 26, also at the church. Karnes-Thompson Funeral Home in Kenton is handling the arrangements. The phone number is 731-749-8000.

“Dorotha Norton loved her work with students. She was tough, but fair, and a wonderful mentor to many students during her 40 years at UT Martin,” said Dr. Nick Dunagan, UTM chancellor. “It is hard to believe that she will no longer be with us engaging students and providing a high standard in her speech communications classes. We offer our thoughts and prayers to her family and friends.”

Dr. Tom Rakes, provost and vice chancellor of Academic Affairs, ordered the flag to be flown half staff in her honor.

Norton, a UTM faculty member since 1966, was recently recognized with the 2006 Coffey Outstanding Teacher Award, presented annually to a faculty member who demonstrates strength in teaching and contributes to the teaching profession through extracurricular achievements, leadership qualities and scholarly activities.

In 2005, she received the University of Tennessee National Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher Award. Students, alumni and faculty nominate outstanding teachers based on classroom performance, scholarship and service. Also in 2005, she was presented with a scholarship endowment established in her name that was initiated by alumni leaders in the field of Communications. The scholarship, awarded anually, is earmarked for an outstanding Communications major who is an excellent public speaker.

Norton also was named Speech Educator of the Year in 1992 by the Tennessee Communication Association.

“The Communications Department is a close-knit family, and we have lost the foundation of that family in the passing of Dorotha Norton,” said Dr. Robert Nanney, department chair. “Professor Norton has been a colleague, mentor and dear friend to us all through the years. Through the last four decades on this campus, and through the entire history of this department, her impact cannot be measured. We will miss her terribly.”

Norton, a resident of Kenton, currently was teaching two sections of public speaking. Throughout her career, she has taught various Communications courses, including voice and diction, a requirement for all Communications majors, since the inception of the Communications Department in 1978. She began at UTM as an instructor of English, and also taught English in the public schools before coming to UTM.

A graduate of Union University, Norton received master’s degrees from Memphis State University and Murray State University.