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Awards Program

The AACTE Awards Program recognizes excellence in both member institutions and individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of educator preparation. In identifying notable programs, practices, activities, writing, and research, these awards encourage all member institutions to strengthen the profession of teacher preparation through innovation, high standards, and leadership. Submit by July 11. 

Best Practice Awards

This award, overseen by AACTE’s Committee on Global Diversity, recognizes the infusion of diversity throughout all components of a school, college, or department of education (SCDE) as critical to quality educator preparation and professional development. Specifically, the incorporation of issues related to culture, language, demographics, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, and exceptionalities in the education process is perceived as important.

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This award, overseen by AACTE’s Programmatic Advisory Committee on Educator Diversity (PACED), recognizes a promising practice from a school, college, or department of education (SCDE) demonstrating outcomes and advocacy related to various activities, practices, programs, pedagogies, systems, and/or policies that lead to, or is likely to lead to, an increase in educator diversity.

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This award recognizes exemplary practice in the intercultural, global, cross-cultural, and international arenas. It is overseen by AACTE’s Committee on Global Diversity as part of its mission to ensure that a global/international perspective is brought to policy and programs associated with the preparation of education professionals.

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This award, overseen by AACTE’s Committee on Innovation and Technology, recognizes an innovative use of educational technologies in an AACTE member institution- school, college, or department of education (SCDE).

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This award, overseen by the AACTE Holmes Programmatic Advisory Committee, recognizes Holmes Program institutions that demonstrate exemplary and innovative practices in supporting graduate students of color resulting in increased productivity of its scholars. The award-winning institution will receive special recognition at AACTE’s 2026 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA.

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Professional Achievement Awards

The Margaret B. Lindsey Award, overseen by the Executive Committee, recognizes distinguished achievement in research over the last decade that has had a major impact on the field of educator preparation. Margaret B. Lindsey was a longtime professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, whose own writing and research had a tremendous and lasting impact on the field.

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This award, overseen by the Executive Committee, recognizes an individual for distinguished achievement in the field of policy and/or research related to policy in educator preparation. The career achievement acknowledged by this award must take place in the formulation, implementation, research, or analysis of educator preparation policy. The award is named for AACTE President/CEO Emeritus David G. Imig, who led the Association from 1980 to 2005.

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This award, overseen by the Executive Committee, recognizes outstanding contributions to educator preparation, either through distinguished service to the educator preparation community or through the development and promotion of outstanding practices in educator preparation at the collegiate, state, or national level. It is named for Edward C. Pomeroy, who was AACTE’s executive director from 1952 to 1980.

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Writing and Research Awards

This award, overseen by the AACTE Committee on Research and Dissemination, recognizes exemplary books from AACTE members that make a significant contribution to the knowledge base of educator preparation or of teaching and learning with implications for educator preparation. The award-winning book and its author/editor(s) will receive special recognition at AACTE’s 2026 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA.

This award is named for Gloria J. Ladson-Billings who is known for her work in the field of education, her expertise is in cultural pedagogy and equity in educator and student instruction, including critical race theory. Submissions closed on June 6.

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This award recognizes excellence in doctoral dissertation research (or its equivalent) that contributes to the knowledge base of educator preparation or of teaching and learning with implications for educator preparation. This award will be given to an individual who completed their dissertation at an AACTE member institution. Overseen by AACTE’s Committee on Research and Dissemination, the award includes a $1,000 cash prize as well as special recognition at AACTE’s 2026 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA.

This award is named for James D. Anderson. He is one of the towering giants in the history of American education. With his landmark 1988 book, The Education of Blacks in the South, he transformed the field of African American educational history.

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AACTE Past Awardees

AACTE announced the 2025 recipients of its annual awards for innovative research, best practice, and exemplary leadership in educator preparation at the 2025 Annual Meeting. 

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2025 Gloria J. Ladson-Billings Outstanding Book Award Winner:
Authors Patricia A. Edwards, Ph.D., Michigan State University; Kristin L. White, Ph.D., Northern Michigan University; Laura J. Hopkins, Ph.D., Life International School in Spain; and Ann M. Castle, Ph.D., Michigan State University, “Teaching with Literacy Programs”

2024 Gloria J. Ladson-Billings Outstanding Book Award Winner:
David Stroupe, Ph.D., author, “Growing and Sustaining Student-Centered Science Classrooms”

2023 Gloria J. Ladson-Billings Outstanding Book Award Winner:
Leslie Fenwick, author, Jim Crow’s Pink Slip: The Untold Story of Black Principal And Teacher Leadership

2025 James D. Anderson Outstanding Dissertation Award Winner:
Maya Kaul, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education

2024 James D. Anderson Outstanding Dissertation Award Winner:
Mariah Deans Harmon, Ed.D., Assistant Professor, College of Education at Pennsylvania State University

2023 James D. Anderson Outstanding Dissertation Award Winner:
Lightning Peter Jay, Assistant Professor, Department of Teaching Learning and Educational Leadership, Binghamton University

2025 Martin Haberman Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) Article Award Winner:
“Different Methods for Assessing Preservice Teachers’ Instruction: Why Measures Matter” by authors Arielle Boguslav, Ph.D., Annenberg Institute at Brown University, and Julie Cohen, Ph.D., University of Virginia School of Education & Human Development

2024 Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education Article Award Winner:
“Developing an Equity-Centered Practice: Teacher Study Groups in the Preservice Context,” by authors Allison Firestone, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, Rebecca Cruz, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, Darcie Massey, University of California, Berkeley

2023 Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education Article Award Winner:
“Toward a Healthy Racial Climate: Systemically Centering the Well-being of Teacher Candidates of Color,” by authors Rita Kohli, University of California Riverside; Alison G. Dover, California State University Fullerton; Uma Mazyck Jayakumar, University of California Riverside; Darlene Lee, University of California Los Angeles; Nick Henning, California State University Fullerton; Eddie Comeaux, University of California Riverside; Arturo Nevárez, California State University, Stanislaus, (formerly, University of California Riverside); Emma Hipolito, University of California Los Angeles; Andrea Carreno Cortez, University of Washington (formerly, University of California Riverside); and Margarita Vizcarra, University of California Riverside

2025 Best Practice Award in Support of Multicultural Education and Diversity Winner: 
University of Dayton’s School of Education and Health Sciences, Department of Teacher Education

2024 Best Practice Award in Support of Multicultural Education and Diversity Winner:
New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development’s Teacher Residency

2023 Best Practice Award in Support of Multicultural Education and Diversity Winner:
Urban Social Justice Teacher Education Program at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education

2025 Increasing Educator Diversity: Promising Practice Award Winner:
Miami University’s College of Education, Health & Society, TEACh (Transformative Educators Advocating Change) program

2024 Increasing Educator Diversity: Promising Practice Award
University of Northern Colorado’s Center for Urban Education

2025 Best Practice Award in Support of Global and International Perspectives Winner:
University of North Carolina at Charlotte Department of Reading and Elementary Education

2024 Best Practice Award in Support of Global and International Perspectives Winner:
Howard University (HU) School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction

2023 Best Practice Award in Support of Global and International Perspectives Winner:
College of Education, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign iGlobal Program

2025 Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology Winner:
Temple University’s College of Education & Human Development

2024 Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology Winner:
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV)

2023 Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology Winner:
Kansas State University College of Education

2024 Best Practice Award for Exemplary Holmes Program:
University of Central Florida

2023 Outstanding Holmes Institution Award Winner:
Florida Atlantic University

 

2025 Margaret B. Lindsey Award for Distinguished Research in Teacher Education Winner:
Andrew Kwok, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture at Texas A&M University

2024 Margaret B. Lindsey Award for Distinguished Research in Teacher Education Winner:
Sarah McCarthey, Ph.D., Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

2023 Margaret B. Lindsey Award for Distinguished Research in Teacher Education Winner:
H. Richard Milner IV, Vanderbilt Peabody College of Education and Human Development

2025 David G. Imig Award for Distinguished Achievement in Teacher Education Winner:
Mary Vixie Sandy, Ed.D., executive director of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing

2024 David G. Imig Award for Distinguished Achievement in Teacher Education Winner:
Jane West, Ph.D., former AACTE Senior Vice President

2023 David G. Imig Award for Distinguished Achievement in Teacher Education Winner:
AACTE Advisory Council of State Representatives

2025 Edward C. Pomeroy Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education Winner: 
Wanda J. Blanchett, Ph.D., distinguished professor and former dean, Rutgers University-New Brunswick Graduate School of Education

2024 Edward C. Pomeroy Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education Winner: Kimberly A. White-Smith, Ed.D., Dean and Professor, School of Leadership and Education Sciences, University of San Diego, Vice President of the California Council on Teacher Education

2023 Edward C. Pomeroy Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education Winner: Cassandra P. Herring, President and CEO, Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity

More Blog Entries

Lunch & Learn: Howard University’s Award-Winning Elementary Education International Cultural Immersion Program

Recipient of the 2024 AACTE Best Practice Award in Support of Global and International Perspectives shares how its elementary education program integrates global experiences into the curriculum.

UTRGV to Showcase Program’s Tech Innovation in Webinar

Recipients of the 2024 Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology spotlight its program’s ability to equip teacher candidates with essential skills for modern education.

AACTE Lunch & Learn: University of Northern Colorado's Award-Winning Center for Urban Education

Recipients of the inaugural AACTE 2024 Increasing Educator Diversity: Promising Practice Award discuss their work in preparing teachers from traditionally underrepresented communities.