Mary Beth Bruder, Ph.D., director of the University of Connecticut’s Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and professor at the UConn School of Medicine and the UConn Neag School of Education, was named recipient of the 2024 Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Special Education Lifetime Achievement Award.
The CEC Special Education Lifetime Achievement award annually recognizes an individual in the field who has made significant, continuous contributions to special education, through leadership in the field, development of effective programs, effective personnel preparation, and advocating for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, among other areas. Recipients of the Special Education Lifetime Achievement Award demonstrate CEC’s core values: visionary thinking, integrity, and inclusiveness.
Founded in 1922, The Council for Exceptional Children is a professional association of educators dedicated to empowering educators who work with individuals with disabilities. Members of the CEC advocate for educators and individuals with disabilities, participate in professional development and research, foster networks and communities, and work to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in all that they do.
Bruder has been in the early intervention field for 48 years. Across the span of her career, she has been at the head of multiple federal and state research, demonstration, training, and technical assistance projects. Bruder has brought in over $100 million to UConn Health in funding for programs to advance special education personnel preparation.
In addition to being the director of the University of Connecticut’s Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities for over 20 years, she is also the director of 10 additional state and federal projects which include the Early Childhood Intervention Center for Equity, the Early Childhood Personnel Center, the University of Connecticut Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND), and the National Early Childhood Doctoral Consortium. Bruder has been faculty at the University of Connecticut since 1986 and is currently a professor in the Departments of Public Health Sciences and Pediatrics at UConn School of Medicine and Special Education in the Neag School of Education.
Bruder has been the recipient of many awards, including the Mary McEvoy Service to the Field Award from the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) and the Angel in Adoption Award from Senator Christopher Dodd and the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
Bruder will be recognized for this award at the CEC 2024 Convention and Expo in San Antonio, Texas on March 14.
