Impact Update: Spring 2026 honors and awards
Spring has brought a plethora of recognitions that acknowledge the excellence of our faculty. These distinctions celebrate work that not only advances individual disciplines, but also resonates across institutions and around the world.
The result is a portfolio of work with global reach and significance that is improving lives.
College’s global stature attracts cohort of international scholars
Noelle Arnold, Professor of Educational Administration and Senior Associate Dean of Engagement, Discovery and Global Education, and her staff welcomed the first two members of a cohort of visiting scholars from Kazakhstan.
Shyryn Akimbekova, PhD, and Symbat Yessimkulova, MA, have joined the college community for a yearlong academic residency under the title Interdisciplinary Technology Leadership and Research Methodologies.
The residency is supported by the Bolashak International Scholarship Program, administered by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Ohio State’s selection as a host institution reflects the college’s international reputation and the growing momentum of the Ohio State-Kazakhstan collaboration.
Special education professor honored for legendary impact on field
Donna Y. Ford, Distinguished Professor of Special and Gifted Education, has been recognized by the National Association for Gifted Leaders as a leader preserved in the National Association for Gifted Children Legacy Archive Project.
She is known for her leadership, scholarship, advocacy and mentorship of educators, researchers and practitioners, both with the association and in the field. Her work nurtures talent and inspires the next generation of gifted learners.
A video by the association celebrates Ford’s quality contributions to the lives of gifted children.
Article of the year by educational psychologists
Kamontá Heidelburg, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology (also called School Psychology in the college), and his co-authors received an Honorable Mention for Article of the Year at the 2026 National Association of School Psychologists Annual Convention.
This award is presented by the School Psychology Review editorial board to honor the most influential articles published that year. The honorees’ paper, “Micro-Level Advocacy Toward Socially Just Multi-Tiered Systems of Support: Knowledge and Values,” is one of the top two most impactful articles in the journal for 2025.
Sarah Lang, Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Science and Principal Investigator of the U.S. Department of War Child Development Virtual Lab School, was elected to the Board of Directors for Child Care Aware® of America. It is the nation’s leading organization with an on-the-ground network focused on making childcare work for children, families and communities.
Lang was elected along with Carl Hairston, area executive vice president for First Citizens Bank, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia regions, and Charlene Wong, a pediatrician and nationally recognized health policy leader, Duke University.
“These three exceptional leaders bring deep expertise, lived experience and a shared commitment to building a future where quality childcare ignites opportunity for every child, family and community,” said Encarni Gallardo, Child Care Aware’s board chair. “I am honored to welcome them and energized by the leadership they bring. …”
Two awards honor Moore for public service to STEM education
James L. Moore III, Distinguished Professor of Urban Education specializing in School Counseling, received the 2026 Distinguished Public Service Award from the American Educational Research Association this spring.
Moore, currently on leave from Ohio State, is assistant director of the Directorate of STEM Education with the National Science Foundation (NSF). In this role, and in his prior role starting in 2015 as program director of Broadening Participation in Engineering within the Directorate of Engineering of NSF, he has, as the award states, “been at the forefront of efforts to increase recognition and support for education research.”
At AERA’s 2027 annual meeting, Moore will present the Public Service Lecture.
Moore also received the Outstanding STEM Educator Award at the ninth Annual STEM Education Conference presented by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He received the award from the Rio Grande Valley STEM Education Consortium.
The award celebrates his “remarkable contributions to STEM education through exceptional scholarship, mentoring, and teaching.”
Pasque receives legendary Guba Award from AERA SIG
Penny Pasque, Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs, recently received the prestigious and highly celebrated Egon Guba Award from the American Educational Research Association’s Qualitative Research Special Interest Group.
The award, named for Egon G. Guba, the well-known expert in qualitative research, recognizes Pasque for how she shares her field-shaping expertise with others worldwide.
Her many nominators praised her extraordinary influence, breadth of scholarship and leadership that have marked her as a defining voice in qualitative inquiry at a relatively early stage in her career.
Pasque works across disciplines, bringing the benefits of qualitative research to researchers in fields such as medicine, sociology and public policy. Many were not aware previously of how qualitative research can augment the impact of their results.