February 2010 > Alumni

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Recent Graduates Honored for Their Dissertations

Emily Nusbaum, an assistant professor at CSU-Fresno, has been named the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation for 2010 by AERA’s Disability Studies in Education special interest group.

Nusbaum, who was previously Emily Mintz, filed her dissertation, entitled, “Vulnerable to Exclusion: A Disability Studies Perspective on Practices in an Inclusive School,” last May at UC Berkeley’s GSE, and almost immediately accepted the position in the College of Education at CSU-Fresno, where she currently teaches courses in the Moderate-Severe disabilities credential program.

“My field is still small, yet the rigor and depth of work that exists and is produced is impressive,” says Nussbaum, whose dissertation chair was Professor Judith Warren Little. “It is a tremendous honor for me. I believe so strongly that our schools can be more just and humane for many more children than they are. My work explores the potential for this, by identifying the forces of institutional and cultural exclusion that separate and marginalize many students, yet are largely unnoticed and unexamined.”

Another 2009 graduate, Amanda Lashaw, from Social and Cultural Studies graduate, was awarded second-place finalist for the 2009 Council on Anthropology and Education (CAE) Outstanding Dissertation Award for her dissertation, "The Ethics of Optimism: Progressive Sensibilities in the Era of 'The Racial Achievement Gap.’ " Lashaw received her award in early December at the American Anthropology Association meetings in Philadelphia.

 

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