Nov. 4, 2003

National Education Association Honors Futrell

Graduate School of Education and Human Development Dean Recognized for Outstanding Service to Public Education with Foundation Award

Mary Hatwood Futrell, dean of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development (GSEHD) and former president of the National Education Association (NEA), recently received the 2003 NEA Foundation Award for Outstanding Service to Public Education. Jointly created by the NEA Foundation and the NEA in 2000, the award honors an individual who has made exceptional contributions to public education.

“No other woman has labored so passionately, so energetically or so effectively to make a good education the birthright of every child in the world,” said Sharon P. Robinson, chair of the NEA Foundation Board of Directors.

During an unprecedented six-year term as NEA president, Futrell led efforts to make the organization a champion of civil and human rights, especially women’s rights. Her human and civil rights advocacy work also includes serving as president of ERAmerica and working tirelessly to increase national awareness of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Futrell, a GW alumna, has been dean of GSEHD since 1995, and is a professor of educational policy studies and co-director of GSEHD’s Center for Curriculum, Standards and Technology. She currently serves on the boards of the Holmes Partnership, the Kettering Foundation, the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future and the National Society for the Study of Education. She also has served on the boards of Phi Delta Kappa, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Quality Education for Minorities Network and the NEA Foundation. Lastly, she is a member of the UNESCO High Level Group on Education for All.

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