Cynthia B. Dillard Seattle University
Dr. Cynthia B. Dillard (Nana Mansa II of Mpeasem, Ghana, West Africa) is Dean of the College of Education at Seattle University. Prior to this appointment, she served as the Mary Frances Early Professor of Teacher Education in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice at The University of Georgia. Her scholarly research interests include critical teacher education, spirituality in education, and African/African American feminist studies. Her ground-breaking scholarship focuses on cultivating a spirit of (re)membering in the lives of Black women educators and a forwarding a commitment to opening a space for Black people and all those who love Black people to (re)member the humanity, history and culture of African people.
Dr. Dillard has published numerous articles, book chapters, and done scholarly presentations across the globe. Two of her books, On spiritual strivings: Transforming an African American woman’s academic life (SUNY Press, 2006) and Learning to (re)member the things we’ve learned to forget: Endarkened feminisms, spirituality and the sacred nature of research (Peter Lang, 2012) were selected as Critics’ Choice Book Award winners by the American Educational Studies Association. Her fourth book, The spirit of our work: Black women teachers (re)member was published in 2021. In addition to numerous awards honoring her teaching, research, and service, Dr. Dillard received the prestigious Taylor and Francis AESA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. She is also the recipient of the 2012 AERA Distinguished Contributions to Gender Equity in Education Research Award, given for her distinguished research and practices that advance public understanding of gender in education, and she received the AERA Division G Henry T. Trueba Award in 2016, honoring the ways her scholarship and teaching has transformed the social contexts of education.
Dr. Dillard founded and directs a preschool and elementary school with her husband in Mpeasem (M-pee-a-sem) in the Central Region of Ghana, West Africa. There, she also holds the distinct honor of being enstooled as Queen Mother of Development (Nkosua Ohemaa) for the village, an esteemed lifetime position of leadership within the community. She also offers numerous and popular retreats to Ghana, West Africa through her small business, Full Circle Retreats Ghana. In addition, Dr. Dillard serves as the Executive Director and President of GIVE.BUILD.SHARE, a nonprofit organization designed to support educational opportunities for children and families by building schools in Ghana. As Dr. Dillard notes, to whom much is given, much is expected—and she embodies this commitment in everything she does. Dr. Dillard has opened the doors for so many. She has supported, nurtured, pushed, believed in, made a difference for, and mentored so many. While I have benefited from the many ways Dr. Dillard has poured into my life, this recognition is on behalf of all of us whom you have loved, guided, and modeled what it means to live life on purpose. I have borne witness to how she pours into our field through her scholarship, teaching, service, advocacy, and mentoring. I aspire to be more like Dr. Dillard. As a scholar who walks her talk, I am incredibly grateful and honored to award my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Cynthia Dillard, the Presidential Citation for 2023.
Paul Cobb Vanderbilt University
Dr. Paul Cobb is a Research Professor at Vanderbilt University’s Department of Teaching and Learning. He has written extensively on the topic of mathematics teaching and learning, with a focus on improving the quality of mathematics teaching and student learning on a large scale. His vast body of research has been published in the U.S. and internationally across mathematics, teacher education, learning sciences, administrative and evaluation journals, as well as books and edited volumes. Dr. Cobb’s current research focuses on developing practical measures of key aspects of high-quality mathematics and investigating their use as levers for as well as measures of instructional improvement.
Dr. Cobb’s work has been recognized numerous times, including his receiving the Hans Freudenthal Medal for cumulative research program over the prior ten years from the International Commission on Mathematics Instruction (ICMI) in 2005, and the Silvia Scribner Award from the American Educational Research Association’s Division C in 2010 for research that contributes to our understanding of learning and instruction. Dr. Cobb is an elected member of the National Academy of Education and an Invited Fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences. The evolution of his research program is described in the 2010 book, A Journey in Mathematics Education Research: Insights from the Research of Paul Cobb, edited by Erna Yackel, Koeno Gravemeijer, and Anna Sfard.
I am so impressed with the impact of Paul’s scholarship in education and beyond—his work exemplifies the theme of this year’s AERA meeting. As the chair of my mentoring committee at Vanderbilt University when I was a junior faculty pursing tenure and promotion, Paul worked overtime to help me build a research trajectory true to my own interests and the needs of our field. I am grateful for Paul’s thoughtful mentorship and the advocacy he has engaged in on my behalf and so many others. Paul has been an essential mentor, friend, and advocate, and I will be forever grateful for all he has done to support me over the years. It is my honor to award Dr. Paul Cobb the Presidential Citation for 2023.
Anita Woolfolk Hoy The Ohio State University
Anita Woolfolk Hoy is Professor Emerita in the Department of Educational Studies, College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. Professor Hoy’s research focuses on motivation and cognition, specifically, students’ and teachers’ sense of efficacy—their belief that they can produce desired effects by their own actions. With a former OSU doctoral student, Megan Tshannen-Moran, and a graduate class of teachers and teacher educators, Professor Hoy developed the Teachers Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES), the most widely used measure of teachers’ efficacy beliefs. Teachers’ judgments about their capabilities have proved to be powerful predictors of student achievement and teacher well-being and having a reliable measure of teacher efficacy has encouraged research around the world on this important factor in student learning. With her husband, Dr. Wayne Hoy, she also developed the concept of academic optimism, another key predictor of student achievement. Professor Hoy’s work on teacher efficacy and on academic optimism have had international impact in research and teacher education.
Professor Hoy served as the editor of Theory Into Practice, a widely recognized journal that brings the best ideas from research to practicing educators. She has authored or coauthored over 120 books, book chapters, and journal articles. Her seminal text, Educational Psychology, in its 15th edition in 2023, is the most widely read educational psychology text in the world, translated into over a dozen languages. Professor Hoy is a Fellow of both the American Psychological Association and the American Educational Research Association and has served as President of Division 15 (Educational Psychology) of APA and Vice-President for Division K (Teaching & Teacher Education) of AERA.
Professor Hoy’s storied career began in Texas, where she was born and educated. She began her work as a psychologist serving students in elementary and secondary schools across 15 counties in central Texas—sometimes driving 200 miles a day to work with students and teachers who did not have access to school psychologists. She started working in higher education in 1973 as an assistant professor at Rutgers University and joined The Ohio State faculty in 1994. I count myself as one among those fortunate enough to have learned from Professor Hoy as my adviser at The Ohio State University. I would not be the scholar and mentor I am today without the research training, the kind, gracious, and difference-making mentoring, and ongoing encouragement that Dr. Hoy provided both during my time as a graduate student and throughout my career. Dr. Hoy is one of the most genuine and brilliant people I know. As a friend who has been there for me during some of the most challenging times of my life and career, I am incredibly grateful and honored to award Professor Anita Woolfolk Hoy the Presidential Citation for 2023.
2022 - Geoffrey B. Saxe by AERA President Na’ilah Suad Nasi
2021 - Vanessa Siddle Walker by AERA President Shaun Harper 2020 - Jackie Irvine and James Anderson by AERA President Vanessa Siddle Walker
2019- Jeannie Oakes and Vanessa Siddle Walker by AERA President Amy Stuart Wells
2018 - Sharon Feiman-Nemser and Carol D. Lee by AERA President Deborah Ball
2017 - Alfredo J. Artiles, Henry T. Frierson and Gloria J. Ladson-Billings by AERA President Vivian L. Gadsden 2016 - Amy Stuart Wells and John S. Rogers by AERA President Jeannie Oakes 2015 - Etta R. Hollins and Adelaide L. Sanford by AERA President Joyce E. King 2014 - Larry V. Hedges and Felice J. Levine by AERA President Barbara Schneider 2013 - Shirley Brice Heath, Yvonne Sessions Lincoln, and John Brooks Slaughter by AERA President William G. Tierney 2012 - Kofi Lomotey, Cynthia A. Tyson and Rick R. McCown by AERA President Arnetha Ball 2011 - Linda Darling-Hammond, Patricia Gandara and Mike Rose by AERA President Kris D. Gutiérrez 2010 - Luis C. Moll, Geoffrey B. Saxe, and William F. Tate by AERA President Carol D. Lee 2009 - Richard J. Shavelson and Carol H. Weiss by AERA President Lorraine M. McDonnell 2008 - Walter R. Allen, Patricia F. Campbell, and John Q. Easton by AERA President William F. Tate 2007 - Edmund W. Gordon and Robert E. Stake by AERA President Eva L. Baker 2006 - Beverly M. Gordon by AERA President Gloria Ladson-Billings 2005 - Ann Lieberman by AERA President Marilyn Cochran-Smith 2004 - Ralph J. Putnam by AERA President Hilda Borko 2003 - Robert Glaser by AERA President Robert L. Linn 2002 - Fred Newmann, Lloyd Bond, and Mike Smith by AERA President Andrew C. Porter 2000 - Pat Graham by AERA President Lorrie A. Shepard 1998 - Elizabeth Cohen by AERA President James A. Banks 1997 - Elizabeth Fennema by AERA President Penelope L. Peterson 1995 - James Comer, M.D. by AERA President Jane A. Stallings 1994 - Jerome Brunner by AERA President Ann L. Brown
The nomination deadline has passed.