To celebrate our alumni excellence across the arts, health, and education, the School of Education has selected four notable UW–Madison alumni to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award.
The School of Education will be honoring the four recipients — who have made outstanding contributions to their field — with an awards ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 12, in the Education Building’s Wisconsin Idea Room (room 159).
As part of this celebration, each award winner will be delivering a presentation that explains how their time with the School of Education shaped their life, career, and current path. The individual presentations begin and 1 p.m., with awards being presented to this year’s recipients around 3:45 p.m.
Following are this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award winners, with their presentation times and topics:
Adrienne Dixson (PhD ’02)
Distinguished Alumna in Curriculum and Instruction
Presentation at 1 p.m.: The Word Made Flesh: The Wisconsin Idea as Scholarly Practice
Adrienne Dixson is the new head of the Department of Education Policy Studies at Penn State’s College of Education, a role she started on July 1.
Dixson has a passion for conducting research that impacts social justice and educational equity. She spent the previous two years centering her work in this realm as the executive director of the Education and Civil Rights Initiative (ECRI) at the University of Kentucky, where Dixson previously was a professor of educational leadership studies.
Dixson’s research takes place within the theoretical frameworks of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Black feminist theories. In 2006, Dixson and her colleague, Celia K. Rousseau-Anderson, edited one of the first book-length texts on CRT in Education, titled “CRT in Education: All God’s Children Got a Song.” She is also a co-editor of “Handbook of Critical Race Theory and Education.”
Dixson’s efforts have recently shifted to focus on how educational equity is mediated by school reform policies in the urban south. In particular, this work focuses on school reform in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, exploring how local individuals interpret and experience these policies, and how those policies become influenced by or reflect racial dynamics.
Dixson also previously served as a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2011-22) and as a faculty member at Ohio State University (2004-11).
Deborah Harris (PhD ’83)
Distinguished Alumna in Educational Psychology
Presentation at 1:45 p.m.: Ed Psych Girls are Great
Deborah Harris is a distinguished figure in the field of educational measurement, including spending more than three decades at ACT, a nonprofit organization that administers the college entrance exam by the same name. Harris is credited with playing a vital role in shaping the assessment landscape, including the implementation of the ACT on a computer.
Harris earned her PhD in 1983 through the Quantitative Methods program in the UW–Madison School of Education’s No. 1-ranked Department of Educational Psychology. She then spent the majority of her career at ACT in multiple leadership positions, including as vice president of psychometric research.
In her distinguished 40-year career, Harris’ scholarship has focused on the areas of test equating, scaling, and context effects for purposes of ensuring that the scores that are reported for assessments are directly comparable and indicate the same level of achievement across different sets of items, administration conditions, and types of tests. Harris had a unique opportunity to embed her research into improving the high-stakes assessments taken annually by over 2 million students worldwide.
Harris spent the past seven years at the University of Iowa’s College of Education, where she taught in the Educational Measurement and Statistics program. Harris’ resume also includes serving in leadership positions with the National Council for Measurement in Education, and as editor-in-chief for Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice.
Julie Causton (BSE ‘95, MS, ‘99, PhD, ‘03)
Distinguished Alumna in Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education
Presentation at 2:30 p.m.: Seven Things the UW–Madison School of Education Taught Me About Life, Career, and Circles
Julie Causton, a best-selling author and inspiring speaker, brings her wealth of experience and passion for inclusion to this insightful presentation. As the founder of Inclusive Schooling, Causton has dedicated her career to helping educators and school leaders create environments where every student can thrive. Alongside her colleague, Kristie Pretti-Frontczak, she works with school districts across the world to deliver transformative and engaging professional development aimed at creating learning environments where all students flourish. Their work is designed to help educators and school leaders reimagine educational systems, practices, and spaces to be more inclusive.
In this talk, Causton will introduce her “Circle Maker” concept, emphasizing the importance of building communities where everyone has a place in inclusive classrooms. Drawing from her time at UW–Madison’s School of Education, she’ll reflect on how the principles of equity, collaboration, and belonging have guided her successful career. Attendees will leave with valuable insights and practical resources to support inclusive practices in their own educational settings.
With a background that includes years as a public school educator and a professor at Syracuse University, Causton’s approach is grounded in both experience and a deep commitment to discovering innovative practices in inclusive education. Join her for an engaging and thought-provoking session that will leave you inspired to reimagine education.
Deborah Dryden (BA ‘68, MFA ’72)
Distinguished Alumna in Theatre and Drama
Presentation at 3:15 p.m.: Telling Stories Through Fabric and Clothing: Costume Design for the Theatre
Deborah Dryden has designed costumes for theatres nationwide, including the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., Denver Center Theatre Company, Guthrie Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Minnesota Opera Company, and the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. She designed the costumes for the premiere production of Robert Schenkkan’s “All The Way” for the American Repertory Theater and on Broadway.
Dryden is the resident costume designer emerita for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where she had the privilege of designing for four decades.
Throughout her career, Dryden developed her interest in fabric painting and dyeing for the theatre. Her work in that field resulted in the publication of a book on the subject, “Fabric Painting and Dyeing for the Theatre.” She continues to explore new techniques in surface design.
Awards include the national Michael Merritt Award for excellence in design and collaboration, USITT Distinguished Achievement Award in Costuming and the Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award.
Exhibitions of her designs have appeared at the Prague Quadrennial, the Bakhrushin Museum in Moscow, and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Dryden is professor emerita of design at the University of California-San Diego, where she taught costume design for 17 years.