Keifer-Boyd Receives VSA Beverly Levett Gerber Special Needs Lifetime Achievement Award

The National Art Education Association (NAEA) has named Karen Keifer-Boyd, professor of art education and women's, gender, and sexuality studies, recipient of the 2018 NAEA, The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), VSA Beverly Levett Gerber Special Needs Lifetime Achievement Award. This prestigious award, determined through a peer review of nominations, recognizes an NAEA member whose exemplary lifetime career has made a unique and lasting impact on art education?s important role in the lives of people with special needs. The award was presented at the NAEA National Convention in Seattle, WA, March 22-24, 2018.

NAEA President Kim Huyler Defibaugh states, "This award is being given to recognize excellence in professional accomplishment and service by a dedicated art educator. Karen Keifer-Boyd exemplifies the highly qualified art educators†active in education today: leaders, teachers, students, scholars, and advocates who give their†best to their students and the profession."

Keifer-Boyd is past president of the National Art Education Association (NAEA)†Women?s Caucus†(2012-2014), NAEA Distinguished Fellow Class of 2013, and†2012 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Gender Studies at Alpen-Adria-Universit‰t Klagenfurt, Austria. She serves on the†Art Education Research Institute Steering Committee, on the Council for Policy Studies, and as past coordinator of the Caucus on Social Theory. She is co-founder and editor of†Visual Culture & Gender. She has been honored with leadership and teaching awards, including two Fulbright Awards (2006 in Finland and 2012 in Austria) and the 2013 Edwin Ziegfeld Award. Her writings on feminist pedagogy, visual culture, inclusion, cyberart activism, transcultural dialogues, action research, creativity, and eco-social justice arts-based research are in more than 50 peer-reviewed research publications and translated into several languages.†She co-authored the following books: Including Difference: A Communitarian Approach to Art Education in the Least Restrictive Environment (NAEA, 2013), InCITE, InSIGHT, InSITE †(NAEA, 2008), Engaging Visual Culture (Davis, 2007); co-edited Real-World Readings in Art Education: Things Your Professors Never Told You (Falmer, 2000); and served as editor of the Journal of Social Theory in Art Education and guest editor for Visual Arts Research. In her chapter "Creativity, Disability, Diversity, and Inclusion"†in the†Handbook of Arts Education and Special Education†(Routledge, 2018), she draws on†Disabilities Studies†theory and practices that change attitudes and environments to create an inclusive world of difference.

NAEA is the professional association for art educators. Members include elementary, secondary, middle level and high school art teachers; university and college professors; education directors who oversee education in our nation?s fine art museums; administrators and supervisors who oversee art education in school districts, state departments of education, and arts councils; and teaching artists throughout the United States and many foreign countries.

For more information about the association and its awards program, visit the NAEA website at†www.arteducators.org