Two Women Scholars From the University of Wisconsin Win Book Award

Two women scholars at the University of Wisconsin have been selected to receive the 2016 Outstanding Book Award from the American Educational Research Association. The winners are Diana E. Hess, dean of the School of Education and Paula McAvoy, program director of the Center for Ethics and Education in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. The two women will be honored at the association’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. on April 10.

The two University of Wisconsin faculty members are being honored for their book The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education (Routledge, 2014). Their research provides best practices for holding discussions of political issues in high school classrooms.

Dr. Hess has been dean of the School of Education since 2015. Previously, she was senior vice president of Spencer Foundation in Chicago. Earlier, she was a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin from 1999 to 2009. Professor Hess is a graduate of Western Illinois University in Macomb. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction in social studies from the University of Washington.

Dr. McAvoy joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin in 2015. She too worked at the Spencer Foundation in Chicago as an associate program officer. Earlier, she was assistant professor in educational administration and foundations at Illinois State University. Dr. McAvoy is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, where she majored in international relations. She holds a Ph.D. in educational policy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.