Do you know anyone who has made great strides this past year, shown exceptional professionalism or leadership, developed a new or innovative process or made a contribution to our field that has made a positive impact for our profession and/or the children we serve? If so, please consider your colleagues for the awards listed below.
2023 Nominations Schedule
- Honors nominations deadline of August 3, 2023.
- Committee on Honors will meet in August to review nominations and select this year's recipients.
- Award recipients will be notified in August.
- Recipients will be honored in a special way at the OSSPEAC Conference.
The 3 award categories are Honors of OSSPEAC, Founder’s Award, and Outstanding Service Award.
A short description of the award categories is below. We thank you in advance! If you have any questions, please contact Oscar Gumucio at ogumucio78@gmail.com.
Honors of OSSPEAC
This honor is awarded to a speech/language pathologist and /or educational audiologist who has worked in a school/educational setting and is currently an OSSPEAC member. This award is presented to an individual who has made outstanding contributions through:
- Participation in/contribution to OSSPEAC
- Outstanding work as a clinician/supervisor
- Providing or initiating innovative programming
- Contribution to publications/literature/research
- Other areas of achievement deemed worthy of nomination
Current Winner 2022: William Bolden
Previous Winner 2021: Kathy Tobias
Previous Winner 2020: Jenni Cheek
Founders’ Award
This honor is awarded to up to two members in good standing who exemplify the mission of OSSPEAC, “Removing Communication Barriers for Ohio’s Children” will be honored. The speech/language pathologist and/or educational audiologist will have made an impact through service to their local school district or student(s) in their school district. The following factors are considered:
- Improvement of the life of students who have speech, language, and hearing needs
- Collaboration with district personnel, parents, and students
- Excellence in innovative contributions and programs to the work setting
- Professionalism
- Leadership at the local level
This award is presented by OSSPEAC in honor of the Founders’ of OSSPEAC.
Previous Winner 2021: Jane Mariani Walker
Previous Winner 2020: Kelley Mendoza
Kathleen D. Shelby Outstanding Service Award
This award is presented to an individual who has provided outstanding support to speech/language pathology and/or educational audiology services being provided in a school/educational setting. Recipients may include a classroom teacher, administrator, classroom assistant, educational interpreter, intervention specialist, occupational or physical therapist, counselor, social worker, parent, legislator, or member of another organization.
Current Winner 2022: Gregg Thornton
Previous Winner 2021: Genelle Eggerton
Previous Winner 2020: Tracy Andrews
PAST OSSPEAC AWARDS RECIPIENTS
Current OSSPEAC Award Winners:
The 2022 Founder's Award was awarded to speech language pathologist William Bolden.
William (Bill) Bolden III, MA CCC-SLP is Project Coordinator/SLP and PhD candidate at Kent State University. He is a graduate of Kent State, where he earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Since graduation, Bill has worked exclusively in the public school setting, driven by his passion for language and literacy development. He is particularly interested in how oral narrative interventions can be utilized to improve academic outcomes for at-risk students and identifying ways to close the research-to-practice gap that exists for effective oral language interventions.
The 2022 Kathleen D. Shelby Outstanding Service Award was awarded to Gregg Thornton.
Gregg Thornton currently serves as the Executive Director of the Ohio Speech and Hearing Professionals Board and is responsible for managing board operations and licensure requirements for the practices of audiology, speech-language pathology, and hearing aid dealing and fitting. He is a licensed attorney with thirty years of experience in state government, focusing in the area of administrative and regulatory law.