SEDL Awards
Honoring Heart and Mind: SEDL Recognizes Two Staff Members
Outstanding services to children and outstanding contributions to educational research and development—these dual pursuits have shaped the mission of the Southwest Education Development Laboratory (SEDL) since its founding in 1966.
Nearly 30 years later, these pursuits reflect SEDL's heart and mind. Dr. Preston Kronkosky, SEDL's president and CEO, verifies their importance with two annual staff awards named for the persons whose careers and contributions at SEDL personified excellence in services to children and in educational research, Dr. Edwin Hindsman and Mr. Rogers L. Barton.
SEDL's founding executive director, Dr. Hindsman defined it as an institution serving children who had been historically unserved or underserved by the public schools. He inspired SEDL's researchers and trainers to become these children's champions. Mr. Barton raised SEDL's institutional mission to new heights by insisting that its staff produce nothing less than exemplary, leading-edge research and development.
In 20 years of SEDL service, Maggie Rivas, this year's winner of the Hindsman Award for Outstanding Service to Children, has been an unswerving advocate of children. A senior training/technical assistance associate in SEDL's Center for Language Minority Population Projects, she sees that children who have graduated from Head Start programs continue their success in grade school. Ms. Rivas is also respected as a charismatic presenter of other LMP programs.
"Maggie Rivas has always combined passion and compassion for children with her work," Dr. Kronkosky says. "She epitomizes the profound commitment necessary to tackle the most intractable obstacles. And she accomplishes each and every task she sets out for herself with good humor and grace."
If Ms. Rivas embodies the committed heart, Dr. Shirley Hord, the recipient of the Barton Award for Outstanding Service to Education Research and Development, represents the disciplined mind. A senior researcher in SEDL's Services for School Improvement unit, Dr. Hord counts among her colleagues an international community of researchers who follow her work in change processes and effective leadership strategies for educators.
Lured to SEDL in 1986 from The University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Hord played a key role in the founding of SEDL's nationally regarded Leadership for Change (LFC) Institutes. LFC training directly puts the results of decades of work by Dr. Hord and other researchers into the hands of school principals, district superintendents, and veteran teachers.
"Shirley Hord's work has a value found only in research spanning many years of concentrated effort," says Dr. Kronkosky. "In her insistence upon quality, Dr. Hord has enriched an entire field of inquiry while making educational innovation a goal for progressive educators in SEDL's region and across the nation."
Award for the National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research
The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory is pleased to announce the award of a four-year grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. The award will fund the operations of the National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research.
Contact: Dr. John Westbrook (jwestbro@sedl.org), Director.
512/476-6861 (Voice/TDD) 512/476-6861 (FAX);
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