David G. Imig Distinguished Service Award 

About the Award 

The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate’s David G. Imig Distinguished Service Award is presented in recognition of an individual who has demonstrated important contributions to the Vision and Mission of CPED and/or the reclaiming of the EdD as the highest quality professional practice doctorate in education.  

Eligibility and Selection 

The recipient of this award will be a faculty member, administrator, student or graduate of a CPED member university. The recipient will have contributed significantly to improving the professional doctorate in education (EdD) either at their home institution or within the CPED Consortium.  

The Imig Award is presented at the annual Convening of CPED. Individuals may not nominate themselves. Any CPED member – student, administrator, faculty or graduates—may be nominated by a fellow colleague. 

Nominations should include the following submitted as one PDF document:

• Nomination cover letter
• CV of nominated faculty
• Letters of support 
• Supporting materials (articles, publications, etc.)

The selection criteria include evidence of distinguished contributions that advance the CPED Mission and Vision and/or the reclaiming of the EdD through: 

Award Recipients

This year, CPED received several nominations of faculty members who have demonstrated important contributions to the Vision and Mission of CPED and/or the reclaiming of the EdD as the highest quality professional practice doctorate in education. Our Review Committee spent a great deal of time thoughtfully considering the merits of each application and had to make some tough decisions. As a result, this year we have three outstanding winners. Please see their names and distinctions below and join us in celebrating their noteworthy efforts! We will be awarding these winners at the upcoming CPED Convening Reception, October 13^th, 6pm ET.

2022 - Dr. Nancy Fichtman Dana, University of Florida

Focusing on the impacts of practitioner inquiry as a professional learning strategy, Dr. Nancy Fichtman Dana has contributed significantly to improving, enhancing, and reclaiming the professional doctorate in education through her leadership, teaching, advising, and scholarship within and beyond CPED-influenced EdD programs and the consortium. A distinguished researcher and teacher at the University of Florida, Dr. Dana works to embed inquiry as a signature pedagogy into the Teachers, Schools, and Society (TSS) EdD program in Curriculum and Instruction. With a commitment to transforming the advanced preparation of equity-minded educational professionals, Dr. Dana was instrumental in the initial development of this professional practice doctoral program, and she continues to devote much time, effort, and energy to designing and implementing inside-out innovations, which contributed to TSS being recognized as the CPED Program of the Year in 2020.

2022 - Dr. Jacqueline Hawkins, University of Houston

As described by her nominators, Dr. Jacqueline Hawkins is most deserving of the David G. Imig Distinguished Service Award as she has been instrumental in not only initiating the Professional Leadership Ed.D. at the University of Houston College of Education, but she has continued to work tirelessly to develop and improve the program. Support letters describe Dr. Hawkins as a co-learner, bringing expertise to bear in supporting the student through the development and critical refinement of doctoral research by asking key questions, avoiding assumptions, and insisting on an unwavering commitment to rigor. They also identify the important scholar-practitioner work in which she engages with students, resulting in dozens of co-developed published articles, book chapters, presentations, district professional development workshops, and school board presentations. As UH’s Provost summarizes, “Dr. Hawkins lives the CPED values of diversity, learning, partnership, people, social justice, and students first. I cannot stress enough her influence on professionalizing the Ed.D. at a time when educational equity is more important than ever.”

2022 - Dr. Deborah Peterson, Portland State University

Deborah Peterson transformed scholarly practice in the administrator licensure program at Portland State University (PSU), enhancing PSU’s capacity to successfully initiate system-wide change in the administrative preparation program and the PSU College of Education EdD program. As a direct result of her leadership, a team from the PSU College of Education was granted $1 million (2021) to recruit and prepare special education administrators in the doctoral program, using Improvement Science as a signature pedagogy.

Within CPED, Deborah co-chaired the Improvement Science CIG and facilitated Challenge Fridays as well as webinars at multiple convenings and meetings. Her published work promotes the EdD as a professional practice degree and has been shared in a variety of forms. Most importantly, in all of these efforts, she centered equity and justice promoting their importance in educating Scholarly Practitioners through these lenses.

2021 - Dr. Jennifer Fellabaum-Toston, University of Missouri

2021 David G. Imig Distinguished Service Award Winner: Dr. Jennifer Fellabaum-Toston from CPED Initiative on Vimeo.

2020 - Dr. Ray Buss, Arizona State University

2020 CPED David G. Imig Distinguished Service Award Reflection - Ray Buss from CPED Initiative on Vimeo.

2020 - Dr. Lauri Johnson, Boston College

2020 CPED David G. Imig Distinguished Service Award Winner Reflection - Lauri Johnson from CPED Initiative on Vimeo.

2019 - Dr. Edmund "Ted" Hamann, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

2018 - Dr. Debby Zambo, Arizona State University

2017 - Dr. David G. Imig, University of Maryland