Past Award Winners

Outstanding Contribution to Career Education for Exceptional Children

Ken Hoyt – April, 1979

Outstanding Contribution to Handicapped Persons

Angie Gialas – April, 1979

Assistance to DCDT

Gene Nagle –1980 

Continued Dedication & Outstanding Contribution 

June Robinson  – April, 1983

Outstanding Service & Lifetime Service Award

Joanne Balmer – April, 1995, Historian, Newsletter Editor, Membership Chair

Lifetime Achievement Award

Donn Brolin – April 2, 1996

Lifetime Achievement Award

Andrew Halpern – April 2006

Employer of the Year

Federal Reserve Bank-2021

This award is presented to an individual or organization that has demonstrated innovation in transition services. The award is named after Marc Gold whose innovative “Try Another Way” approach opened the door employment for many students with severe disabilities.

This practitioner honor is awarded to an educator who has demonstrated outstanding commitment and service to the career education and transition of students with disabilities. The award is named in recognition of Iva Dean Cook, a DCDT founding member, past president and a pioneer in teacher preparation in transition.

The Oliver P. Kolstoe Award is presented to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the field of career development and transition through means other than direct classroom instruction (which is recognized by the Iva Dean Cook Teacher of the Year Award). The award is named in recognition of Oliver P. Kolstoe, a DCDT founding member and past president whose early research and publications significantly shaped the field of transition.

This honor is awarded to an individual who has provided significant leadership and service in transition to a state or province. Donn Brolin was a founding member and the first president of DCDT and as author of the Life Centered Career Education curriculum was influential in the career development and early transition movement.

This award is presented to an individual who has contributed to more positive outcomes for transition-aged youth and to the field of transition through a body of research in transition. The award is named in honor of Patricia Sitlington, a DCDT past-president who has contributed significantly to knowledge in the field through research.

This Award Honors a Secondary Teacher who is in his or hers first five years of teaching.  It will be awarded to an educator who has demonstrated outstanding, innovative and committed services to the career education and transition of secondary students with disabilities.  The award is named in recognition of Andrew Halpern, a DCDT past president whose research and publications significantly shaped the field of transition.

This award recognizes a graduate student who, through research completed during their doctoral program, shows significant promise for contributing to positive outcomes for transition-aged youth and to the field of transition through transition research. To be considered for the award, graduate students (or recent graduates whose research was completed during their doctoral program) must submit their research for the DCDT Patricia L Sitlington Emerging Researcher poster session.  Each student’s poster will be reviewed by a committee during the poster session with awards made to the top students during the DCDT annual conference.

2017

• Leslie Bross, University of Kansas
  • Evidence-Based Practices for Young Adults with Autism in Employment Settings
• Kelly A. Clark, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
  • UPGRADE Your Job Performance Grant
• Hyejung Kim, University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • Intersectionality in the Transition to Postsecondary Education among Korean-American Students with Autism
• L. Danielle “Danie” Roberts-Dahm, University of South Florida
  • Inclusive Higher Education and Employment: An Analysis of Program Components
• Misty Terrell, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
  • Effects of Using Behavior Chain Interruption Strategy on Increased Social Interactions of Young Adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism

2018

• Lauren Bruno, Virginia Commonwealth University
  • Investigating Secondary Special Educator Transition Competencies and Attrition
• Jennifer L. Bumble, Vanderbilt University
  • Building Interagency Collaboration: Examining the Personal and Professional Networks of Transition Educators
• Christina Gushanas, Texas A & M
  • Examining the Effects of Video Self-monitoring on Communication Within an Employment Setting Among Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
• Sheida Raley, University of Kansas
  • Examining Whole-Class Implementation of the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction in Inclusive High School Mathematics Classes
• Tracy Sinclair, University of Oklahoma
  • Using Self-Evaluation to Improve Work Performance of Transition-Age Youth in Community Work Settings

2019

• Wen-hsuan Chang, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
  • The Effects of Asynchronous Online Parent Training on Knowledge of Secondary Transition Services for Parents of Transition Age Youth with Disabilities
• Cynde Katherine Josol, Michigan State University
  • Exploring the Development of Friendships Between Young Adults with and without Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
• Jessica Monahan, University of Connecticut
  • College and Career Readiness and Teacher Expectations of Students with and Without Disabilities
• Joshua Pulos, University of Oklahoma
  • Effects of the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction on Academic and Non-Academic Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis
• Wen Zeng, University of Cincinnati
  • A Mixed Methods Study of Postsecondary Enrollment and Completion of Students with Learning Disabilities

2020

• Belkis Choiseul-Praslin, University of Oklahoma
  • Validation of the Spanish and Chinese Versions of the Transition and Assessment Goal Generator (TAGG)
• Kaitlyn Millen, University of Northern Colorado
  • Exploring Self-Determination in Youth and Young Adults who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
• Vidya Munandar, University of Kansas
  • Planned Happenstance Skills and College Students with Disabilities
• Quinn Perkins, Grand Canyon University
  • Parent Involvement in Transition Programs: A Qualitative Descriptive Study
• Mary Whirley, Texas A&M University
  • Investigation of a Check-in Check-out Procedure to Increase Communication between Employees with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities and their Supervisors