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Emerging Special Educators of Color Leadership Travel Award

The Council for Exceptional Children is committed to upholding the vision of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and to support all of our members, volunteers, and staff as well as the infants, toddlers, and students with exceptionalities and their families we serve, especially those differentially impacted by systemic racism. In this spirit, we invite racially/ethnically diverse CEC members who are in their first seven years of service to apply for the Emerging Special Educators of Color Leadership Travel Award.

Information
Information
Deadline:
November 30, 2023
Award type:
Presented by:
CEC National
Contact
Gennith Johnson, Chief Engagement Officer

Award Details:

The Council for Exceptional Children is committed to upholding the vision of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and to support all of our members, volunteers, and staff as well as the infants, toddlers, and students with exceptionalities and their families we serve, especially those differentially impacted by systemic racism. In this spirit, we invite racially/ethnically diverse CEC members who are in their first seven years of service to apply for the Emerging Special Educators of Color Leadership Travel Award.

Winners of the award will receive a $500 travel stipend as well as complimentary registration to the CEC 2024 Convention & Expo in San Antonio, TX. In addition, there may be special opportunities provided for networking and mentoring at the in-person convention.

Applicants for the CEC Emerging Special Educators of Color Leadership Travel must be a member of CEC at the time of submission and have not previously received the travel award. In addition, those applying for the Emerging Special Educators of Color Leadership Travel Award for Teachers & Career Professionals must be within their first seven years of service to apply and able to attend the CEC Convention in San Antonio, TX.

 

The Emerging Special Educators of Color Leadership Travel Award for Teachers is open to CEC members whose primary employment role is in the classroom, and currently teach infants, toddlers, youth and children from birth to grade 12. The Emerging Special Educators of Color Leadership Travel Award for Career Professionals is open to CEC members that are non-classroom educators such as Specialized Instructional Support Personnel (SISP), school administrators or higher ed faculty. 

 

In addition, CEC has the vision to create a Leadership Academy for racially underrepresented members. Therefore, recipients of the Emerging Special Educators of Color Leadership Travel Award will be asked to participate in up to two focus groups. The focus groups will allow recipients to share insights that can contribute to the development of the leadership academy.

Applicants will be asked to respond to the following questions in their application, as well as to upload a current resume/CV:

  1. What are your responsibilities, if any, in current efforts to incorporate topics of diversity, equity, and social justice into programming in your instructional practice, school, agency, or institution of higher education? (maximum 150 word count)
  2. How has the incorporation of diversity, equity, and social justice into programming and/or curriculum planning helped to improve outcomes for diverse student learners with exceptional learning needs or skills and knowledge of special education teacher candidates? (maximum 150 word count)
  3. How will you use your experience at the Council for Exceptional Children national convention to further incorporate topics of diversity, equity, and social justice into your instructional practice, school, agency, or institution of higher education? Describe at least two (2) specific initiative you will undertake to meet this objective when you return home. (maximum 150 word count)
2023 Award Recipients

Verlincia Alex

Special Eduaction Teacher

National Heritage Academies

Lafayette, LA

Shannon Benion-Burks

Internvention Specialist/Classroom teacher/IS Lead Teacher

Cincinnati Public Schools

Cincinnati, OH

Naima Bhana

Assistant Professor of Special Education

Niagara University

Buffalo, NY

Ashaki Budden

ESE VE Teacher 

The School District of Palm Beach County 

Lake Worth, FL

Crystal Carter-Harrington

Special Education Director

North Panola School District

Batesville, MS

Amanda Alexia Catterlin

Speech-Language Pathologist, Ph.D. Student  for Special Education

Fayetteville Public Schools and University of Arkansas

Fayetteville, AR

Dr. Christopher Cormier

Associate Professor

Loyola Marymount University

Los Angeles, CA

Karina Du

Project Specialist, Doctoral Student, Student Teaching Supervisor

San Mateo County Office of Education; UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University

San Leandro, CA

Elizabeth Fisher

Special Education Teacher & Adjunct Faculty

Milwaukee Public Schools

Milwaukee, WI

Allison Gunter

Intensive Behavior Intervention Coordinator

Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools

Gastonia, NC

JoAnn Houston

Special Education Teacher

Gwinnett County Public Schools

Tucker, GA

Nahid Husain-Habib

Diverse Learner Teacher

Mary G. Peterson Elementary School, Chicago Public Schools

Chicago, IL

Sungwoo Kang

Graduate teaching assistant/Instructor of record

Purdue University

West Lafayette, IN

Veronica Kang

Assistant Professor

University of Maryland at College Park

College Park, MD

Carlos Enrique Lavin

Assistant Professor in Special Education

College of Charleston

Charleston, SC

Martin Odima Jr.

Special Education Teacher, Adjunct faculty

St. Paul Public Schools, MN | University of St. Thomas, St. Paul

Maplewood, MN

Haerin Park

Assistant Professor

University of Saint Joseph

Manchester, CT

Acer Pitas

Resource Teacher/Consultant

Big Country Educational Cooperative

Miles City, MT

Jaleesa Pleasants

Early Childhood Special Education Teacher

Henrico County Public Schools

Henrico, VA

Jinwei Song

Research Assistant

University of Connecticut Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service

Storrs, CT

Sarah Taylor

Sped Teacher 6-12

Pawhuska School District

Bartlesville, OK

 

Last Updated:  1 November, 2023

Contact

For more information on the travel awards, contact CEC Chief Engagement Officer, Gennith Johnson at gjohnson@exceptionalchildren.org.

 

Support the Awards

The Emerging Special Educators of Color Travel Awards are partially supported by CEC’s Diversity Fund.  Contributions to the endowment can be made here: https://exceptionalchildren.org/give/about-cec-endowments   

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