The Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award recognizes a distinguished record of research (even years) or service (odd years) to the field related to learning and teaching in educational leadership and administration. The 2025 award will recognize a faculty member with a distinguished record of excellence in service related to teaching and learning in the field of educational leadership and administration. 

The LTEL SIG is pleased to announce Dr.  Mariela A. Rodríguez is the recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award. 

Mariela A. Rodríguez, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at The University of Texas at San Antonio. She is currently a Leadership Fellow for Student Success in the College of Education and Human Development and is the Graduate Advisor of Record (program coordinator) for the M.Ed. in K-12 Educational Leadership program. Dr. Rodríguez’s research focuses on leadership practices that support equitable learning environments for culturally and linguistically diverse students. At the national level, Dr. Rodríguez served as the Vice President of Division A: Administration, Organization, and Leadership within the American Educational Research Association (AERA) from 2021-2024. She was also President of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) from 2017-2018. In 2021, Dr. Rodríguez received the Jay D. Scribner Mentoring Award through UCEA in recognition of her dedication to mentoring graduate students and emerging scholars. She was appointed as a Co-Editor of the American Educational Research Journal (AERJ) in 2024.  

The Robert Kottkamp Outstanding Dissertation Award recognizes a recent doctoral graduate as well as her or his dissertation advisor for research, evaluation, or scholarship that aligns with the LTEL SIG goals, mission, and purpose research. The dissertation, successfully defended during the previous calendar year, may investigate educational leadership preparation and development programs, assess the impact of preparation on leadership practice, examine policy issues related to state or national leadership standards assessment and credentialing, or contribute through disciplined inquiry to the knowledge base about learning and teaching in educational leadership. The dissertation award also recognizes the contributions by former SIG Chair Robert Kottkamp (emeritus professor at Hofstra University) and co-founder of the UCEA/LTEL SIG Taskforce on Evaluating Leadership Preparation Programs. 

The LTEL SIG is pleased to announce Dr. Mario Jackson is the 2025 recipient of the Robert Kottkamp Outstanding Dissertation Award. 

Dr. Mario Jackson is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at Florida State University. His major research explores the equity-oriented efforts of principal preparation programs across several areas of their operations including curricula and pedagogical practices, internship, recruitment and admission. Mario’s other interests include crisis leadership, attending to the experiences, leadership, and priorities of principals during school disruptions. 

Note from Dr. Jackson: I am truly honored to be selected as the Robert Kottkamp Distinguished Dissertation Award recipient for 2025 for my dissertation titled, Preparing Principals to Lead for Equity: A Three-Paper Dissertation Examining the Intersection of Principal Preparation and Equity-Oriented School Leadership. The dissertation engages with the critically important topic of how to prepare school leaders for equity, responding to decades-long criticisms about the field’s inattentiveness to this area. Through its three-paper structure, the dissertation conceptually weaves exemplary principal preparation elements/ features and equity-oriented leadership to examine the equity efforts of principal preparation programs, thereby providing actionable insights into the ways other programs can equity holistically. It is my hope that the findings from three studies will catalyze positive changes in how we as educational leadership faculty prepare and support K-12 educational leaders for their equity-oriented leadership responsibilities.