2020 Conference SPeakers
Morphet Award Winner
(Dissertation of the Year) (August 6) In 1998, Molly Fuller found her niche in education when appointed the Aldine ISD program director for Head Start. Seventeen years later, an Early Head Start program was added so that children have a continuum of comprehensive services from infancy to prekindergarten. She has oversight of both programs and is an advocate for an equitable approach to education, a system that emphasizes social-emotional learning alongside rigorous academics. Dr. Fuller’s vocational passion is to provide programs that are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusivity that honors the uniqueness of each individual. |
As a life-long learner, Dr. Fuller took a circuitous journey to her present position. Fourteen years after receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in English, she obtained her teaching certificate combined with a Master of Science degree in Elementary Education. After teaching for seventeen years, she obtained her principal certification. One of her sons commented, “Mom, when are you going to make up your mind on what you want to be?” What she wanted to be was a leader in education. Forty-nine years after her first college graduation, she received her Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership from Texas A&M-Commerce. In addition to fulfilling this dream, Dr. Fuller co-authored a journal article with her dissertation chair, Dr. Nathan Templeton, for the 2019 fall issue of Educational Leadership Review.
Dr. Fuller is involved in her church, a voracious reader, an avid gardener, and seamstress. Of all her accomplishments, she is the proudest of being a mother and grandmother. She wants to be known as someone who pursues her dreams and considers others more important than herself
Dr. Fuller is involved in her church, a voracious reader, an avid gardener, and seamstress. Of all her accomplishments, she is the proudest of being a mother and grandmother. She wants to be known as someone who pursues her dreams and considers others more important than herself
ICPEL 2020 Living Legend
(August 6) Betty Alford, Ph.D., is a professor, department chair, and doctoral program director in the Department of Educational Leadership at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She is also professor emerita from Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) where she previously served as department chair, professor, and doctoral program coordinator. Alford attained her Ph.D. in Educational Administration from The University of Texas in Austin in 1996. Prior public-school experience included service as an elementary teacher, a secondary teacher, a high school counselor, an assistant elementary principal, and a middle school principal. Alford served on the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration Board of Directors from 2004-2007 and served as NCPEA Yearbook editor in 2011, as associate editor in 2010, and as assistant editor in 2008 and 2009. She presented research at 18 NCPEA/IPCEL conferences and 12 American Association of School Administrator Conferences Within a Conference sessions when NCPEA was affiliated with that conference. In addition, she served on the publications committee as well as the executive director and site selection committees for NCPEA. Alford’s research agenda has centered on strengthening a college-going culture for students of underrepresented groups, the study of successful school leadership in high need schools, and the identification of key practices for the improvement of educational leadership preparation programs. While at SFA, she served as lead writer or co-writer for educational grants totaling over $20 million to meet identified needs and served in roles of director or principal investigator for each of the funded grants. Her previous awards include Outstanding Academic Advising Award in 2019 and in 2016 for Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Education and Integrative Studies, the James A. Vornberg Living Legend award from the Texas Council of Professors of Educational Administration, SFA Foundation Faculty Achievement Award for Research, the SFA Department of Secondary Education and Educational Leadership Teaching Excellence Award for three years, and the SFA Phi Delta Kappa Educator of the Year award. In addition, she has a strong record of scholarship through conference presentations and publications with a sustained focus on issues of equity and excellence as leaders for social justice. |
2020 Ted creighton publishing award winners
Carol A. Mullen, PhD, is Professor of Educational Leadership at Virginia Tech, USA. A twice-awarded Fulbright Scholar, she was honored with the 2020 Theodore Creighton Publication Innovation Award from ICPEL; the 2020 OISE Leaders & Legends Excellence Award from the University of Toronto/OISE; the 2017 Living Legend Award from ICPEL; and the 2016 Jay D. Scribner Mentoring Award from UCEA. She served as ICPEL’s 67th President from 2012–2013 and is President-Elect of the Society of Professors of Education. She is author of Revealing Creativity (2020) and Canadian Indigenous Literature and Art (2020), and editor of Creativity Under Duress in Education? (2019) and Handbook of Social Justice Interventions in Education (in press). Her doctorate is from the University of Toronto/OISE. <camullen@vt.edu> |