AACTE Names Outstanding Dissertation Award After Distinguished Educator James D. Anderson
AACTE has named its annual Outstanding Dissertation Award in honor of James D. Anderson, a leading scholar of American education. Anderson currently serves as dean of the College of Education, the Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor of Education, and affiliate professor of History, African American Studies, and Law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His landmark 1988 book, The Education of Blacks in the South, transformed the field of African American educational history and also won the American Educational Research Association outstanding book award in 1990.
The AACTE Outstanding Dissertation Award is given annually to recognize excellence in doctoral dissertation research, or its equivalent, that contributes to the knowledge base of educator preparation or teaching and learning with implications for educator preparation. Overseen by AACTE’s Committee on Research and Dissemination, this year’s award will be presented at AACTE’s 75th Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Ind. February 24-26, 2023.
Anderson has an extensive repertoire of achievements throughout his tenure. He is a staunch proponent of education in general, the history of U.S. education, and African American educational history. Most recently, in 2021, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest honor societies in the nation. In 2020, he was also sworn into the Board of Trustees at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and inducted into the Stillman College Education Hall of Fame. Anderson has been recognized with many awards over the years, including AERA’s Palmer O. Jonson Award, in 2016, for best article. Anderson has also served as a participant and adviser in the PBS Documentaries School: The Story of American Public Education (2001), The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow (2002), Forgotten Genius: The Percy Julian Story (2007), and Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities (2018).
AACTE is currently accepting entries for the 2023 James D. Anderson Dissertation Award. The deadline to submit entries is August 26.
For more information, please contact Weade James at 202-478-4591 or wjames@aacte.org.
