We also recognize the College’s faculty and students who have won the 2025 College Research Awards, as well as our Outstanding Student Medallion winners at the Spring Faculty Meeting. Additionally, College of Education faculty and staff scheduled to retire this academic year were honored for their service. Please visit the  College of Education on Social Media for photos and to congratulate our awardees. Congratulations to all on their accomplishments!

Distinguished Staff Awards

• Paul Deckard, Finance
• Kelli Halfman, Office of Undergraduate Programs
• Dawn Thomas, Illinois Early Childhood Asset Map

Faculty Instruction Awards

Outstanding Faculty Mentoring Award

Gloriana Gonzalez, Curriculum & Instruction

Spitze-Mather Faculty Award for Excellence

Cherie Avent, Educational Psychology

Outstanding Faculty Award for Public Engagement

Rachel McMillian, Curriculum & Instruction

David Zola Distinguished Teaching Career Award

Jennifer Cromley, Educational Psychology

Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award

Rachel Roegman, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership

Excellence in Online Teaching Award

Osly Flores, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership

Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award

Asif Wilson, Curriculum & Instruction

Outstanding Teaching Award for Teaching Assistants

• Praveen Chhikara, Curriculum & Instruction
• Nic Heimpel, Educational Psychology

Bureau of Educational Research Awards

Dissertation Awards

• Taiylor Rayford, Curriculum & Instruction, advised by Aixa Marchand
• Shiyu Sun, Educational Psychology, advised by Nidia Ruedas-Gracia
• Hannah Kuneyl, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, advised by Lorenzo Baber
• Aigul Rakisheva, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, advised by Samantha Lindgren
• Cecilia Vaughn-Guy, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, advised by David Huang
• Adetutu Fabusoro, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, advised by Jessica Li
• Mostafa Hanafy, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, advised by Nicholas Burbules
• Armando Torres, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, advised by Samantha Lindgren
• Megan Best, Special Education, advised by Michele Schutz

Hardie Faculty Fellow Awards

Hardie Faculty Fellows

• Melissa Goodnight, Educational Psychology
• Rachel Roegman, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership

Hardie Distinguished Scholar Awards

• Jina Kang, Curriculum & Instruction
• Robb Lindgren, Educational Psychology

Research Seed Grants

SynthesisAI: Partnering with AI in Collaborative Knowledge Creation

Xinran Zhu, EPOL, and Liam Magee, EPOL

Learning Together: Building a Sustainable and Mutually Beneficial Partnership Between a Local School and UIUC Elementary Math Methods Courses

Mari Alshuler, C&I, Scott Filkins, C&I, Adam Poetzel, C&I, Curtis Mason, EPOL, Cara Gutzmer, SCE, & Sue Talbott, SCE

Reimagining Design Processes in Inclusive Extended Reality for Collaborative STEM Learning

Jina Kang, C&I, SaadedineShehab, Siebel Center for Design, and Christian Millan-Hernandez, University   Laboratory High School

Developing Deep AI-ASI Literacy: Asset Mapping and Needs Assessment Survey

Nicholas Tanchuk, EPOL, Rebecca Taylor, EPOL & Tim McIlvain, ILTC

Outstanding Student Medallions

• Bilkisu Tariq, Curriculum & Instruction, Bachelor's Program
• Sana Zeeshan, Special Education, Master's Program
• Destiny Williams-Dobosz, Educational Psychology, Doctoral Program
  

Dean's Medallion

• Michaelene Ostrosky, Grayce Wicall Gautier, Professor of Education Emerita

2025 Faculty and Staff Retirements

• Joyce Atkinson, Journal of Educational Theory, 25 years of service

• Gina Manola, Marketing and Communications, 13 years of service

• Denice Ward Hood, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, 16 years of service

• Arlette Willis, Curriculum & Instruction, 33 years of service
  

• Stacey Wombles, Office of Advancement, 27 years of service