Three quiet leaders
What is it about these people? What could they be thinking?
While searching for an image, I happened on this photo and thought, “What a dang delightful image of three wonderful contributors,” so I’ll share it with you Dear Readers. I got this shot in Denver (CO, US) in 2012, when happened to have a camera with me and these three leaders in our business were in the same place and looking my way.
That’s Linda Lewis, the late Martin J. Kaufman, and Melody J. Tankersley standing outside a coffee venue at the annual meeting of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Some brief notes:
Those Dear Readers who are informed about special education policy will know about Linda Lewis (left in the photo) because of her long-standing advocacy for special educators and kids with disabilities and their families. Linda was a tireless supporter of policies and practices aimed at improving our business. She was a familiar figure to legislators, administrators, lobbyists, researchers, and other advocates in discussions about laws, procedures, and spent decades representing groups such as the Division for Research (Council for Exceptional Children), helping them to know the implications of different advocacy positions and where the pressure points were that those organizations could and should touch to advance the organizations’ goals.
Marty (more formally, “Martin J.”) Kauffman had at least two careers related to special education. Special Education Today documented some of his contributions in birthday remembrances of him (e.g., 22 September 2024). Marty was a leader in the US federal government’s Office of Special Education Programs, particularly in guiding research efforts; before the advent of the Institutes of Education Sciences, his office funded the studies that many US researchers conducted (including many on which I worked). Then he became dean of the school of education at the University of Oregon, helping solidify and advance that school’s efforts in preparation of clinical practitioners and in research (especially /on effective practices). During his time as dean, he also served in the presidential chain for the Division of Research Insiders will know that another wonderful thing Marty did was to team up with Linda or some tings.
Melody Tankersley will be known by many for her many publications on identifying effective practices and understanding disabilities as well as her contributions to organizations such as Division for Research as well as other groups. Melody, however, has been providing support on the broader front of education in general more recently in her career. She has been a part of the senior leadership team for Kent State University since the 20-teens; she is currently Senior Vice President and Provost for Kent, a position that gives her responsibility for guiding the entire university, including its multiple campuses in Ohio as well as special programs around Earth.
One might be tempted to see the Division for Research as the through-line for these three people, and that would be quite sensible. But I suggest that there are other important commonalities, one of the most important of which is that they are, like many special educators, not in this business as self-aggrandizing grubbers but rather as people interested in what they can realize for others.
Finding this photo presented a marvelous opportunity to tip my cap to these good people, and say, “thanks.”