2005 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients Honored

The College of Education, in conjunction with the Educational Alumni Association honored seven recipients with 2005 Distinguished Alumni Awards at an April 23, 2005, ceremony in Champaign. These awards, given each year, honor graduates of the College who have excelled in their personal and professional endeavors.

“These seven individuals have improved the lives of their students, the quality of their schools and of their communities. They have earned our respect and deserve our attention,” said Susan Fowler, Dean of the College of Education of the winners.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards honor outstanding achievements and work of graduates of the College of Education. While the career paths of recipients often run the professional gamut, the one unifying factor is always the ongoing commitment to furthering education in any form.

The Education Alumni Association (the official alumni organization of the College of Education) created the awards in 1995 to recognize and honor the achievements of College graduates. Presented annually, recipients are nominated by peers and selected by a committee of College faculty, alumni and students. Winners’ names are inscribed on a permanent display in the South Lobby of the Education Building.

If you would like more information about the award recipients or about the nomination process, contact Bill Turner (217-244-4217).

 

2005 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients
(in alphabetical order) 

Warren K. Chapman, Ph.D. '93

President, Bank One Foundation
Chicago, Illinois

Warren Chapman, a graduate of the Department of Educational Policy Studies has used his academic and professional career to bring a new state and national focus to the issue of public education reform. From his early work with the Illinois State Board of Education to his ten year tenure as the Lead Program Officer for the Joyce Foundation to his current role as President of the Chase Foundation (formerly the Bank One Foundation), Dr. Chapman has been a leader in creating new partnerships between private philanthropic organizations and public school districts.

Dr. Chapman has used his influence and his knowledge to lead major non-profit foundations, to invest heavily in innovative projects that directly impact the lives of urban youth. Major urban school districts including, Chicago, Cleveland and Milwaukee, have all experienced the positive effects of Dr. Chapman’s advocacy. His success in establishing a new model for philanthropy in education has led other organizations, such as the Gates Foundation and our own University of Illinois Foundation to seek his advice and his assistance.

While Dr. Chapman’s career may have taken him away from the Urbana-Champaign area, he has continued to be a valued contributor to the academic mission here in the College of Education and an eloquent spokesman for the entire University of Illinois. His research has been presented at national conferences and published in journals such as the Phi Delta Kappan. In 2001, he was selected by faculty in the Department of Educational Organization and Leadership to hold the prestigious O’Leary Chair in Financial Management – a one-year, visiting appointment in the College of Education.

Dr. Chapman earned a B.A. in Studio Art and an M.A. in Urban Studies and Urban Education Policy from Northeastern State University.

George M. Gazda, Ed.D. '59

Research Professor Emeritus, College of Education
The University of Georgia
Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Medical College of Georgia
Athens, Georgia

George Gazda earned his Ed.D. in the field of counseling. His experiences in the College of Education, first as a student, and for several years as a professor, led him into a long and distinguished career at the University of Georgia.

During his 31 years at Georgia, Dr. Gazda established himself as both an academic and administrative leader on the campus. Over 90 students earned Ph.D.’s under Dr. Gazda. He has more than a dozen co-authored or edited books to his credit. Over 100 chapters, manuals and monographs carry his name in the professional literature of his field. Even while he continued to develop this reputation as a prolific scholar, Dr. Gazda was building a similar reputation as an innovative leader at the university.

In 1980 Dr. Gazda co-founded the Counseling Psychology Program at the University of Georgia. Just four years later, this new program had earned American Psychological Association accreditation. The April 2005 issue of the US News and World Reports ranks the program eighth in the nation. During his ten years as Associate Dean for Research for Georgia’s College of Education, sponsored research grew from zero to nearly $10 million.

Dr. Gazda’s academic, administrative and personal achievements have earned him numerous awards and recognitions throughout his career, including the Group Psychologist of the Year Award from the American Psychological Association and the Arthur Hitchcock Professional Service Award from the American Counseling Association. Dr. Gazda retired in 1994, but remains an active researcher, author and lecturer.

Dr. Gazda received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Western Illinois University.

Paul M. Lerner, B.S. ’59, Ed.M. ’60, Ed.D. '64

Private practice of psychoanalysis,
psychotherapy, and psychological testing
Camden, Maine

Paul Lerner earned his Ph.D. in the Department of Educational Psychology. With the 1964 completion of his degree, and his winning of a prestigious Karl Menninger Internship, he hit the ground running in what has been a long, successful and nationally-respected career as a clinician and teacher.

Dr. Lerner was the first University of Illinois student to receive a one year internship to work with Dr. Karl Menninger, a pioneer in psychiatry and the treatment of mental illness. Menninger himself later called Dr. Lerner’s advisor to say how impressed he had been by his performance during the year.

From a successful internship, Dr. Lerner moved into a career as a practicing psychologist and as an important researcher and leader in the field. He has been a prolific author, with dozens of publications in leading journals on psychological assessment and clinical practice. He is the author or coauthor of five books dealing with aspects of the Rorscach Test.
Dr. Lerner is a past president of both the Society for Personality Assessment and the Appalachian Psychoanalytic Society.

His career, from Assistant Chief Psychologist at Sinai Hospital of Detroit to professorships at universities in the United States and Canada to his 30 years of private practice has earned Dr. Lerner numerous awards. He has received the Distinguished Psychology Award from the Ontario Psychological Assocation, the Bruno Klopfer Award from the Society for Personality Assessment, and the Hans H. Strupp Award.

Dr. Lerner earned his B.S. in Psychology from the University of Illinois

Marleen C. Pugach, Ph.D. '83

Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee

Marleen Pugach, a professor of teacher education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UMW), earned her Ph.D. in teacher education and special education. Dr. Pugach has spent her career finding ways to improve teaching and learning in public schools. Her efforts to develop better ways to prepare new teachers and to find methods that help all children have broken barriers across academic disciplines and established new national models for positive cooperation among communities, universities and schools.

Dr. Pugach’s leadership creating and sustaining the Milwaukee Partnership Academy is cited as an outstanding example of how her methods and work leads to direct and measurable improvements in schools. This innovative partnership of top administrators and faculty from UWM, the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee Public Schools and industrial leaders has led to increased school funding and to improvements in student learning across all 160 schools in Milwaukee.

Dr. Pugach is nationally respected for her scholarship and research in teacher preparation and training. She is a co-principal investigator of the Carnegie Corporation Teacher for a New Era Project as well as the director for the Teacher Education Program for Urban Communities at UMW. Dr. Pugach was one of the first recipients of the Margaret Lindsey Award by the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education which recognized her significant impact on the field.

Dr. Pugach has a B.A. in the History of Art from Mount Holyoke College and an M.S. Ed. in Special Education from the University of Southern California.

Sandra J. Savignon, B.A. ’61, M.A. ’62, Ph.D. '71

Professor of Applied Linguistics
The Pennsylvania State University
State College, PA

Sandra Savignon, a professor of Applied Linguistics at Pennsylvania State University, has spent over three decades making significant contributions in the area of second language acquisition and in helping others to understand the value of foreign language competence in an increasingly multilingual world. That path began at the University of Illinois with her appointment as a professor of French and continued with her later concurrent appointment as a professor of English as an International Language.

While at Illinois, Dr. Savignon put her unique multidisciplinary approach to linguistics and teaching into practice with the 1980’s creation of the Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education (SLATE) program – an initiative that continues today. This program was the first of its kind in the United States and has served for many years as a model for second language and teacher education programs.

Her scholarly efforts have established Dr. Savignon as an internationally recognized name in the teaching of language. She has over 60 publications in scholarly journals and is the founding editor of the Addison Wesley Second Language Professional Library. She has authored or edited nine books – one of which, Communicative Competence: Theory and Classroom Practice, received the Kenneth W. Mildenberger Medal from the Modern Language Association and has been translated widely throughout the world.

Dr. Savignon holds a B.A. in French/Education and an M.A. in French literature from the University of Illinois.

Peter A. Sola, Ph.D. ‘72

Professor and Chair,
Department of Educational Administration and Policy
Howard University
Washington, D.C.

Peter Sola, professor and Chair of the Educational Administration Department at Howard University, has spent his career addressing the issues facing leaders and administrators in public schools. He has combined teaching and student-centered approaches with scholarship and service at Howard to create programs that provide educators new opportunities and that have consistently led his university to better performance.

“Innovator” and “visionary” are words that are repeatedly used to describe Dr. Sola. During his three decades at Howard, he has continually looked for new ways of teaching and for better ways of teaching – regardless of academic barriers. He helped create a new master’s degree in International Development Education, a program that trains students from less-industrialized nations in how to integrate education with economic development. He is an avid user of technology as a teaching and learning tool – a passion he has shared with his students and colleagues.

Dr. Sola played an integral role in the 2000 establishment of Howard’s EAGLE: Doctoral Program in Urban Educational Administration – a program that has in just four years became the most popular degree in the School of Education. At the heart of all of his accomplishments is Dr. Sola’s belief that academicians have an obligation to go beyond the requirements of research and provide valuable and lasting service to their communities.

Dr. Sola holds a B.B.A. from St. Johns University and an M.A. in History from the University of San Francisco.

Paul G. Theobald, Ph.D. ‘90

Endowed Chair, Urban and Rural Education
Buffalo State University
Buffalo, NY

Paul Theobald, the Woods-Beals Chair in Urban and Rural Education at Buffalo State College, has established himself as a national authority in the area of rural education since earning his 1990 Ph.D. from the Department of Educational Policy Studies. An expert in the history of rural schools in the United States, Dr. Theobald has translated his scholarly work into practices that lead to improved learning opportunities for children.

During his six years as Dean of Eduction and Counseling at Wayne State College in Nebraska, Dr. Theobald earned a reputation as both an outstanding administrator and as a powerful advocate for teacher education in the state. He established an outreach program that sent minority students from Wayne State into area high schools, building new bridges and leading to an increase in minority student enrollment in teacher education programs.
Dr. Theobald also established the Nebraska Teacher World project – a week-long recruiting effort that gives Nebraska high school seniors a look inside the life of a teacher.

Dr. Theobald has maintained a prolific record as a scholar with numerous chapters, journal articles and five books. His 1997 book, Teaching the Commons: Place, Pride, and the Renewal of Community, is currently in a third printing. It was this history of outstanding research combined with his success in establishing new programs with direct impacts on school quality that led to his selection as the first Woods-Beals Chair in 2004.

Dr. Theobald holds a B.A. in history from St. John’s University as well as a B.S. in social studies education and an M.S. in history from Minnesota State University.