LITTLEJOHN RECEIVES MERLUZZI AWARD FOR ADVOCACY
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - William Littlejohn, director of Indiana State University's Blumberg Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Special Education, was presented the Bernadette Merluzzi Award during the Indiana Resource Center for Families with Special Needs (IN*Source) annual conference.
The Merluzzi Award is for outstanding advocacy on behalf of young children and young adults with disabilities and their families. IN*Source, since the '70s, has strived for effective educational programs and appropriate services for children and young adults with disabilities.
Richard Burden, IN*Source executive director, and Dan Ryan, a member of the IN*Source Board of Directors, presented Littlejohn with the award.
"Over the years, we have come to respect and appreciate Bill and his hard work and dedication," Burden said of Littlejohn during the presentation. "He is just a fine person. He has a good heart. He has touched the lives of so many - so many who have benefited from his knowledge, wisdom and conviction."
Littlejohn has devoted his professional life to research, teaching and advocacy, primarily in the field of special education. A lifelong Hoosier, he received his bachelor's (1964) and master's degrees (1965) in special education from Indiana State University and his doctorate in school administration from Indiana University (1976).
During his career, he has worked in a variety of capacities, including as a teacher of the educable mentally retarded for Elkhart Community Schools, as executive director of the Madison Area Educational Special Services Unit, as project director for Indiana Special Education Administrators' Services (ISEAS) at Indiana State from 1979 to 1989 and most recently, as director of the Blumberg Center (17 years) and project director for the Center's Creative Problem Solving (CPS) initiative (since 1994).
Through research and training initiatives, Littlejohn and his staff have worked to bring emerging and best practices into the classrooms and into the lives of students with disabilities.
"Bill will quickly tell you that much of the work of the Blumberg Center comes from his staff and that's true," Burden added. "It is also true that the work reflects his vision, his leadership, his commitment to students with disabilities, their families and their schools."
Littlejohn will retire from Indiana State later this year, after 20 years of dedicated service.
-30-
Contact: William Littlejohn, Blumberg Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Special Education, at (812) 237-2830 or wlittlejohn@indstate.edu
Writer: Maria Greninger, associate director, ISU Communications & Marketing, (812) 237-4357 or m-greninger@indstate.edu
ISU Communications and Marketing: (812) 237-3773 or http://www.indstate.edu/news
|
