Strahan Awarded with Lifetime Achievement Award

 College of Education and Allied Professions      November 3, 2020

Dr. Dave Strahan, Professor Emeritus and former Taft B. Botner Distinguished Professor of Middle Grades Education at Western Carolina University, was awarded the The Richard “Dick” Lipka Lifetime Achievement Award by the Middle Level Education Research Special Interest Group, the highest honor that can be awarded by the group. 

Dr. Strahan has produced an enduring record of impactful scholarship in middle level education. He has more than 130 professional publications to date, including the influential books Promoting Harmony: Young Adolescent Development and School Practices and Mindful Learning: Teaching Self-Discipline and Academic Achievement. His work has appeared in every major middle level venue as well as highly respected journals with a general readership including Teacher Education Quarterly, The Clearing House, Journal of Teacher Education, Elementary School Journal, NASSP Bulletin, and Journal of Early Adolescence.

Dr. Strahan has served in numerous leadership roles in the field, including recent terms of service as chair of the AMLE Research Advisory Committee, executive advisor to the MLER SIG, and a member of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform. During his long, impactful career, Dave also served as editor of Middle Grades Research: Selected Studies (the precursor to Research in Middle Level Education), was president of North Carolina Professors of Middle Level Education, and was a member of the board of directors of the North Carolina Middle School Association. This is just a sampling of many ways Dr. Strahan has actively served middle level education through local, state, regional, and national organizations.