For four decades, William Pearson Tolley was one of the nation's pre-eminent leaders
in higher education. By the time he retired in 1969, having served as Syracuse
University's chancellor for 27 years, he had reconfigured the Syracuse campus,
tripled enrollment and made lifelong learning his career legacy.
As part of that legacy, Tolley endowed the Tolley Medal in 1966 to recognize
distinguished leadership in lifelong learning. Since then, the medal has been awarded
just 12 times-most recently in 2004.
In recognition of the critical importance of lifelong learning in today's world, SU's
School of Education-known for its innovative programs in both lifelong learning
and disability studies-will award the medal regularly beginning with this year.
The 2009 recipient is Tom Skrtic, professor of special education at the University of
Kansas and a senior research scientist in KU's Institute for Life Span Studies. Skrtic
will receive the medal May 2 during the awards dinner of the Ninth Annual Second
City Conference on Disability Studies in Education, held at the Sheraton Syracuse
University Hotel & Conference Center.
Skrtic also will receive the conference's Senior Scholar Award and will give the
opening plenary address, "Rights, Capabilities and Disability Needs Politics:
Institutional Barriers to Social Justice in School and Society."
"Tom Skrtic was one of the first scholars in the United States to help develop the field
of disability studies, even before we had the term 'disability studies,'" says Douglas P.
Biklen, dean of the School of Education, who will present the award. "His scholarship
examines issues of voice, democracy and inclusion, and calls on the world to examine
cultural and social meanings of individual difference."
"I am deeply honored to receive the Tolley Medal and humbled to be included
among its recipients," Skrtic says. "Access to meaningful lifelong learning for all is a
core entitlement of a just society and thus a central concern for the field of disability
studies in education."
Working to build a new discipline
Skrtic was recognized in 2004 by the Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership as one
of the two most influential figures in reconceptualizing the philosophy and practice of
special education.
He has directed 30 federal grants and contracts; published seven books and more
than 100 articles, chapters and research reports; and lectured and consulted on school
organization and special education policy throughout the United States and Canada,
and in Asia, Europe and Russia.
He also has received numerous honors for his teaching, including the Faculty
Achievement Award for Teaching from the University of Kansas School of Education
(2008) and being named the Gene A. Budig Teaching Professor in Special Education
by the University of Kansas (2005-06) and a Danforth Associate, for excellence in
humanistic teaching, by the Danforth Foundation (1978-84). From 1996-2002, he
was a senior scholar at the Glenda B. and Forrest C. Shaklee Institute for Improving
Special Education in Wichita, Kan.
The Tolley Medal
Syracuse University established the Tolley Medal in 1966 to recognize outstanding
contributions by national and international leaders in what was then known as adult
education. In naming the award for Tolley, SU's Board of Trustees paid tribute to a
man whose own interest was expressed in consistent, personal support of Syracuse's
program and of adult education activities worldwide.
At first, the medal was awarded by the Board of Trustees; later, it was awarded by
University College, SU's continuing education division.
Past recipients are: Morris Keeton of the Institute for Research and Assessment in
Higher Education at the University of Maryland University College (2004); Kay J.
Kohl of the University Continuing Education Association (2003); Milton Reid Stern of
the University of California, Berkeley (1994); Alexander Nathaniel Charters, SU
professor emeritus of adult education (1986); Paul Henry Bertelsen of UNESCO
(1983); Thurman James White of the University of Oklahoma (1979); Lalage Brown
of Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria (1975); James Robbins Kidd of The Ontario
Institute for Studies in Education (1973); Kenneth G. Bartlett, SU professor emeritus
and first dean of University College (1971); Sidney G. Raybould of the University of
Leeds, England (1970); Mohan S. Mehta of the Indian Adult Education Association
(1969); and Cyril O. Houle of the University of Chicago (1966).
School of Education tradition in disability studies
SU's School of Education, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007, is renowned
for its accomplishments in disability teaching practices and inclusive education.
The school pioneered the inclusion movement in the United States, making way for
all learners to participate fully in mainstream classrooms and other inclusive learning
environments.
It also offered the nation's first graduate program in disability studies.
The School of Education is a partner in SU's interdisciplinary
Center on Human
Policy, Law and Disability Studies-a policy, research and advocacy organization
that works to ensure the rights of people with disabilities-and home to the
Facilitated Communication Institute, which fosters understanding and knowledge of
facilitated communication, an alternative means of expression for individuals with
severe disabilities.
