Distinguished Alumni Awards
The College of Education presents Distinguished Education Alumni Awards to recognize notable professional achievements of college alumni. The honorees are selected by the college leadership and are recognized biennially.
The Distinguished Education Alumni Award (DEAA) is the highest recognition for an alumnus of the College of Education and recognizes notable career and life achievements of our alumni. Awarded biennially, the next awards will be presented in the fall of 2021.
Do you know of a notable College of Education alumnus? Nominate them by November 30, 2020. College leadership will review the nominations and select our 2021 honorees.
The award is not meant to be restrictive in its criteria, but rather inclusive of all of the various life paths our alumni may take.
Do you want to know who’s been honored in the past? See the full list of prior recipients below.
Nominate a Distinguished Alumnus
Nominate Now2019 Distinguished Education Alumni Awards (show/hide)
Pamela R. Clinkenbeard (PhD ’84, MS ’80)
Pamela R. Clinkenbeard is a professor of educational foundations and the co-director of Challenging Advanced Learners programs at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where she teaches courses in educational psychology, educational research and the psychology and education of gifted and talented students. In addition to her degrees from Purdue University, she also holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University. Her research interests include the development of student motivation, psychology and education of gifted students, neuroscience of early childhood giftedness and policy research on diversity and economics in gifted education. She is also a member of our Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute advisory board.
James T. McDonald, III (PhD ’02)
James McDonald III, a former elementary and middle school teacher, is a professor of science education and director of the Central Michigan GEMS Education Center at Central Michigan University (CMU). In addition to his Purdue degree, he also holds degrees from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, California State University-East Bay and Saint Olaf College. He has been honored with the Michigan Science Teachers Association College Science Teacher of the Year and as one of the Top 25 Education Professors in Michigan, both in 2013, and the Distinguished Faculty Service Award from CMU in 2018. McDonald is the former chair of the CMU Academic Senate, former president-elect for the Council for Elementary Science International and past president for the Michigan Science Education Leadership Association. He’s currently the Michigan representative for the NASA Solar System Ambassador, NASA Jet Propulsion laboratory and a member of our Dean’s Advocacy Council.
Martha Nyikos (PhD ’87)
Martha Nyikos is an associate professor of literacy, culture and language education and director of world languages and second language education programs at Indiana University. She has been the principal investigator on multiple STARTALK grants from the National Security Agency in addition to numerous other cross-disciplinary and dual language research grants. Nyikos’ teaching excellence has been twice recognized with the Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award and was a nominee once again in 2018. She regularly provides professional development workshops on dual language teaching and issues in language acquisition in the U.S. and abroad.
2017 Distinguished Education Alumni Awards (show/hide)
John Campbell (PhD ’07, MS ’91, BA ’89)
John Campbell is vice provost at West Virginia University, where he is responsible for operational units including enrollment management, financial aid, information technology, online learning and student accounts. He began his career at West Virginia University as the associate provost and chief information officer—assuming system-wide leadership of the growing technology infrastructure. He provided oversight to a system-wide restructuring of the central information technology resources used by the nearly 10,000 faculty and staff on campus.
Before coming to Morgantown, Campbell was the associate vice president for academic technologies at Purdue University. His research focused on the use of academic analytics to identify students at risk of failing their courses. His group was awarded the 2016 Technology Pioneer Award from the Education Advisory Board. He founded the Signals project, which gives instructors real-time feedback and lets them intervene with struggling students as early as the second week of class. Signals was featured on NBC Nightly News and in the Chronicle of Higher Education and won numerous awards.
Patricia Albjerg Graham (MS ’57, BS ’55)
Patricia Albjerg Graham, Charles Warren Professor of the History of Education emerita at Harvard University, is a leading historian of American education. Her career in teaching, administration and scholarship spans more than four decades.
She began her career as a classroom teacher and high-school guidance counselor. She has held positions as a lecturer and professor at Indiana University, a visiting professor at Northern Michigan University and a professor of history and education at Columbia University. In 1977 she was appointed by the President of the United States as the director of the National Institute of Education, then the federal government’s educational research agency, where she served until 1979. She made history at Harvard by being appointed as the first female to be named dean of a whole faculty—the Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty. Additionally, she was president of the Spencer Foundation, chair of the board of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and vice-chair of the board of Central European University.
Sheila Klinker (MS ’70, BS ’61)
Sheila Klinker is an Indiana state representative for Indiana House District 27 where she has served since 1982. Prior to being elected, she was an elementary school teacher in the Lafayette School Corporation for more than two decades and was the outreach liaison for the Purdue University’s College of Education.
She has worked tirelessly towards advocating for the rights of children and families, as well as individuals who are mentally ill or developmentally challenged. As a leader on the House Ways and Means Committee, Klinker is a tenacious advocate for funding home and community based services for people with mental illness. She has pushed legislation to all levels of education, prenatal substance abuse initiatives, First Steps, guardianship issues, veterans’ issues, protection and advocacy issues, as well as most recently authoring legislation to create Lifelong Learning Accounts (LiLAs) for low-income working adults pursuing education or job training.
Sarah Powley (MS ’85)
Sarah Powley serves as an instructional coach for secondary teachers of all disciplines in the Tippecanoe School Corporation in Lafayette, Indiana. For 27 years prior to that, she was an English teacher at McCutcheon High School in Lafayette and Chair for High School Language Arts in the Tippecanoe School Corporation. She has also taught English in middle schools in Wisconsin and Connecticut and in the Tippecanoe School Corporation.
Powley is the recipient of numerous teaching awards, among them the Milken National Educator Award, the US/NIS Teaching Excellence Award, two Eli Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowships, the Purdue Education Department’s Crystal Apple Award, and the Irena Sendler Award for Holocaust Education. Recently, she was named a “Woman of Distinction” by the YWCA of Lafayette. Mrs. Powley maintains a blog, In an American Classroom, in which she reflects on the experiences of educators and describes best practices in secondary classrooms. She is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, Phi Delta Kappa, and the National Education Association and its local and state affiliates.
Gilman Whiting (PhD ’04)
Gilman Whiting is an associate professor and director of graduate studies for African American and diaspora studies, He directs the Scholar Identity Institute and the Black male initiative at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. His areas of research include educational disparity; special and gifted education; sociology of race, sports, and American culture; research methods, and fatherhood initiatives.
Whiting has authored more than 60 scholarly articles in journals such as the Roeper Review, Journal for Secondary Gifted Education, and The International Journal of Sport and Society as well as numerous book chapters. In 2006 Whiting re-conceptualized his dissertation on young Black and Brown fathers and created the Scholar Identity Model™, a psycho-social model to assist whole communities to rethink ways to combat academic apathy. He is the founding chair of the Achievement Gap Institute at the George W. Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt. Additionally, Whiting consults with dozens of school districts and programs nationally and internationally.
2015 Distinguished Education Alumni Awards (show/hide)
Dorothy Lawshe
Dorothy Lawshe spent nearly 50 years in education, half of that as a tireless advocate for gifted children. Her work helped thousands of high-ability youth in Indiana and Michigan, especially those from underserved populations. As a graduate student at Purdue, Dorothy helped develop student enrichment programs. Marcia Gentry, director of Purdue’s Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute, said, “Her work at Purdue under John Feldhusen laid a foundation for her service to the field for years to come. She was the founding director of Michigan State University’s Office of Gifted and Talented Education (GATE). Dorothy’s efforts on behalf of gifted children are far-reaching. She has always advocated for developing talents among children from underserved populations.” An endowed fund at MSU named for Dorothy continues her mission to provide children from disadvantaged backgrounds with access to talent development programs.



2013 Distinguished Education Alumni Awards (show/hide)
Albert Kwing-Wong Siu (PhD’79 Counseling Psychology)
Albert Siu is Vice President and General Manager of the PAREXEL Academy, a unit of Human Resources that manages the Learning and Leadership Development function for PAREXEL—a global clinical research and regulatory consulting and outsourcing company. Previous positions include Vice President for Learning and Development at Boston Scientific, President of Gilead Learning, and Chief Learning Officer for AT&T where he executed a Memorandum of Understanding agreement between China’s State Planning Commission and AT&T to enable the process of transforming China’s state owned telecommunication enterprises into various market-based, customer-focused corporations. He also served 16 years with Hewlett-Packard, including eight years in China and Hong Kong. Siu has served on the board of directors at Thrivent Financial for 14 years, and currently serves on the Board of Directors at Wittenberg University.



2011 Distinguished Education Alumni Awards (show/hide)
David Fenell (Edu PhD ’79)
David Fenell is professor of counselor education at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, and was the interim dean of the College of Education. He teaches a range of courses including counseling theories and techniques, group counseling theory and techniques, and marriage and family therapy. His introductory textbook, Counseling Families: An Introduction to Marriage and Family Therapy, has been adopted by academic institutions nationwide. He is a Colonel (retired) in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps Reserve, and was mobilized immediately after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Fenell deployed to both Afghanistan and Iraq, where he delivered psychological support to military personnel. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for each combat tour. In addition to his Ph.D. in counselor education from Purdue University, Fenell also earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in physiology from Oklahoma State University.




2009 Distinguished Education Alumni Awards (show/hide)
Jane Zimmer Daniels (MS ’73, PhD ’88)
Jane Zimmer Daniels works for the Henry Luce Foundation as the director for Clare Booth Luce and Higher Education Programs. Called the “mother of women in engineering programs,” she is a leader in assisting women entering careers in science and engineering. For 20 years Jane was the director of Purdue’s Women in Engineering Program (WiEP) and advisor for the Society of Women Engineers. She has been a visiting scientist at the National Science Foundation’s Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology and is one of the three founding members of the national organization Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN). Jane is a current member of Purdue’s Engineering Advisory Council. Beth Holloway, director of Purdue’s Women in Engineering Program, says “Purdue is a national leader in the graduation of women engineers because of the programs that Jane developed while she was on campus. Jane worked tirelessly to improve the climate for women at Purdue, both in the College of Engineering and at the University level, while at the same time, continuing the programs that provided support and encouragement to female engineering students.”




2007 Distinguished Education Alumni Awards (show/hide)
Phillip Wankat of West Lafayette, Ind. — Award of Distinction
He received his master’s degree in education from Purdue in 1982. Wankat, Clifton L. Lovell Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Education and director of engineering education undergraduate degree programs, joined the Purdue faculty in 1970. He has supervised more than 40 master’s and doctoral students and is a key faculty member in the newly created department of engineering education at Purdue. Wankat is a member of the Indiana Project Lead the Way leadership team, which aims to create partnerships with schools to prepare students for success in science, engineering and engineering technology.

Carol Lambdin of Dayton, Ohio — Mentor Award
Lambdin received a bachelor’s degree in education from Purdue in 1967. She teaches first grade for Mad River Local Schools in Dayton. For the past 15 years, she has served as a mentor for the Mad River Local Schools’ Entry Year program, through which she has guided more than 40 teachers during their first year of teaching.
Dana Fairchild of Chicago — Young Educator Award
Mackey received a master’s degree in education from Purdue in 1998. She works as a school counselor in Chicago Public Schools. Since joining the school system in 2000, she has developed a schoolwide, comprehensive guidance program, led faculty in-services and helped bring her school into compliance with national standards. Mackey also serves as a program director for Cabrini Connections in Chicago, bringing agencies, volunteers and fundraising events together in support of a tutoring and mentoring program for at-risk children.

2006 – 1991 Distinguished Education Alumni Awards (show/hide)
2006
Karen Symms Gallagher (PhD ’82)Karen B. Gossard Bogan (BA ’66)
Sally Downham Miller (BA ’71, MA ’80, PhD ’82)
Laura Reasoner Jones (BA ’73)
Daniel G. McNulty (BA ’01)
Jane Butler Kahle (MA ’63, PhD ’71)
2005
Robert B. KaneTamara Morse
Erna Seecamp Yackel
Richard “Rusty” King
Susan Bunte
Heidi Fernandez
John Carnaghi
Robert Conyne
Miraca Gross
2004
Janine M. BernardWilliam E. Christopher
M. Kay Clark
Edwin C. Leonard
Gregg O. Lehman
Lawrence G. Shoaf
Kenneth L. Gleason
Jodi L. Allen
2003
Muhyieddeen Sh. Touq (PhD’72)Ellsworth P. Christmas (BS’58, MS’61, PhD’64)
Esther Lee (PhD’71)
Erick Pruitt (BA’98)
Joanne Troutner (BA’74, MS’76)
James Thomas (BS’48, MS’52, PhD’60)
Sue Spooner (BS’60, PhD’75)
Barbara Siegfried (BS’59, MA’63)
2002
Mrs. Sara McGrew MacGregor (BA’98)Mr. Theodore Leuenberger (BS’72, MS’77)
Ms. Margaretha Motes (BA’68)
Mr. Roger Norris (BA’72)
Dr. Jack Miller (PhD’75)
2001
Dr. Willie F. Trotty (PhD’77)Dr. Barbara Bradley Stonewater (BA’68, MS’69)
Mrs. Rhonda Lantz Buzan (BA’71)
Dr. Bernadette Cole Slaughter (PhD’83)
Mrs. Amy M. Jacks (BA’99)
2000
Dr. Marylu K. McEwenDr. Russell L. Nichols
Mr. Robert S. Foerster
Dr. William R. Fellmy
Mrs. Amy D. Sturgeon
1999
Dr. Ann E. RobinsonMr. Thomas G. Grabill
Ms. Barbara Jo McCain
Ms. Patricia Lynn O’Brien
Mr. William Shidler
1998
Mr. James C. ChaseyMrs. Lauralee Foerster
Dr. Carole A. Ames
Ms. Michelle L. Graham
1997
Dr. William A. JenkinsDr. Harlan R. Day
Mr. George W. Miller
Mrs. Jill R. Fuller Todd
1996
Dr. Joan P. GipeMrs. Hazel J. Feldhusen
Dr. Nellie F. Moore
Mr. Paul D. Schuyler
Mr. John P. Pearl
1995
Ms. Janet C. AultDr. Robert Dalton
Ms. Elizabeth Halterman
Ms. Marie C. Roth
1994
Dr. Christine Marie CampbellDr. Timothy F. Hyland
Mrs. Amy M. McClelland
Dr. Richard J. Noeth
1993
Ms. Cheryl A. CowanMr. Donald C. Manlove
Mrs. Sandra K. Shoemaker
1992
Dr. Richard L. AndrewsDr. Rita Rodgers Culross
Mrs. Kathryn Hamblen Blackwell
1991
Dr. Richard D. MillerDr. Lowell C. Rose
Dr. Kathleen Steele