Help AACTE Honor Outstanding Work Through Awards
Greetings to my AACTE colleagues around the country!
As your AACTE Board of Directors chair and as a recent recipient of an AACTE Best Practice Award (on behalf of my institution), I encourage you to apply or nominate worthy individuals and programs for the 2019 AACTE awards. The call for entries is open through October 10, 2018.
AACTE is the leading voice of our profession, representing over 800 member colleges and universities. Within our rich professional network, there are far more individuals and programs doing phenomenal work than we can recognize, but we want to try. Receiving an award in any category is an incredible honor, but to win, we must have nominations and applicants.
Thus, I am appealing directly to you for your assistance. You know where the best work is happening and who the individuals, programs, and groups are who are engaged in meaningful and impactful work. Please consider who or what program would be a strong candidate for the following awards and invite them to apply:
- Outstanding Dissertation Award (for dissertations completed since July 2016)
- Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology
- Best Practice Award in Support of Global and International Perspectives
- Best Practice Award in Support of Multicultural Education and Diversity
- Margaret B. Lindsey Award for Distinguished Research in Teacher Education (typically for mid-career scholars)
- David G. Imig Award for Distinguished Achievement in Teacher Education (related to policy or research)
- Edward C. Pomeroy Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education (related to the field overall)
You can read about these awards on AACTE’s website and download the complete call for entries here. The selection process is carried out by AACTE’s standing committees, which review all of the entries before determining the winners to be honored at the next AACTE Annual Meeting.
During the most recent Annual Meeting, I was honored to accept the 2018 AACTE Best Practice Award in Support of Global and International Perspectives on behalf of Rutgers University (NJ). Our Graduate School of Education won this award for a particular program called The Conversation Tree, although it is just one of many global initiatives we have under way, with faculty working in 26 countries around the world.
The Conversation Tree was chosen for this award in part because of how many different people are engaged in it—including faculty, students, alumni, and members of our diverse surrounding community. The program was started in response to needs of our local community in New Jersey–the fact that a number of adults were newcomers to the United States who were struggling with learning English. The program offers opportunities for informal conversation, and it also engages our teacher candidates as volunteer facilitators through curriculum-based service-learning.
You can hear more about The Conversation Tree in the video above, the program website, or AACTE’s write-up in Ed Prep Matters.
To receive an award in any category from AACTE is quite an honor–but you have to “play to win.” I hope you’ll submit an entry for 2019!
Wanda J. Blanchett is 2018-2019 chair of the AACTE Board of Directors and provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at Rutgers University (NJ).
Tags: AACTE governance, global issues, inclusion
