Award Winners

2008 – Thomas O. Erb
Thomas O. Erb was presented the John H. Lounsbury Award at NMSA's 35th Annual Conference in Denver. Tom Erb has been the distinguished editor of Middle School Journal for the past 14 years, taking NMSA's flagship publication through expansion and improvement. Tom is a scholar, researcher, writer, philosopher, advocate, curriculum specialist, administrator, and first and foremost, a teacher. His dedicated service to NMSA has been extensive, including service as a board member, conference presenter, and committee member.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of DePauw University, Tom's first four years of teaching were as a middle school core teacher in progressive Wilmette, Illinois. He also taught sixth grade in the University of Chicago's Lab School and spent two years in West Africa as the head teacher in a middle school. When at the University of Florida, where he completed his doctorate in curriculum with a minor in African studies, he served as outreach coordinator for the Center for African Studies and as a research assistant in the Institute for the Development of Human Resources. He has presented in Europe and was a key player in three of the annual China-United States conferences held in Beijing. As a university professor for almost 30 years, Tom has been cited for his excellence at the University of Kansas, where he served for 25 years, and at DePauw University, where he held a distinguished professor post.

Tom Erb has published articles, books, monographs, book reviews, and research reports that number into the hundreds. He has conducted more than 200 consultancies and workshops. His extensive contributions to the Kansas Association for Middle Level Education (KAMLE) include many years as editor of the KAMLE Journal and as the association's executive director. KAMLE awarded Tom its Michael James Award for Distinguished Service, and the association has named its award for the best teaming situation as the Thomas O. Erb Award.

2007 – Alfred A. Arth
Alfred A. Arth was presented the John H. Lounsbury Award for Distinguished Service at the 2007 NMSA Annual Conference in Houston, Texas. Following graduation from Patterson State Teachers College in 1962, Al became a sixth grade teacher in Ridgewood, New Jersey. A few years later, after he received his masters in education degree, Al ventured out to the University of Oklahoma, where in 1968 he received an Ed. D. Then it was back east to teach at the University of Virginia. Four years later Al Arth was off to the University of Wyoming, where he pioneered the development of graduate and undergraduate middle level teacher education programs. After 16 successful and very active years in Laramie, Al became a professor at the University of Nebraska. There, over the next 18 years, he developed one of the first doctoral level middle school programs, organized summer middle level academies, Kids on Campus, and instituted many other special activities. Most recently, Al made one more career move, joining York College in York, Nebraska, as an adjunct professor.

In the early days of the middle school movement, Al distinguished himself as one who carried the new middle school message to the byways and highways. He spoke and presented from Alaska to New England, from Saskatchewan to Texas, and yearly everywhere in between, as he gave of his time to spread the fledgling middle school idea. A listing of his travels to speak and conduct workshops takes up 21 pages and contains over 300 entries! His list of more than 100 publications is particularly noticeable, for his publications almost always involve one or two co-authors, indicative of Al's penchant for serving as a mentor. He has assisted more people in becoming active professionals in the middle school cause than anybody else.

A risk taker, a creator, an instigator, Al was the driving force that led to the 1962 publication of NMSA's first position paper, This We Believe. He has served on NMSA's Board and chaired a committee. He created the Middle Level Invitational that provided, for 28 years, an informal forum that brought together old hands with new invitees. Al was a founding member of NASSP's Middle Level Council that began in 1981 and continued until 1995. The council advanced the cause of middle level education considerably through its widely scattered Frontline Conferences and its publications. He created the Middle School Circus that has become a very popular feature at NMSA conventions. But of particular significance, Al has carried the circus and other presentations to the conventions of NASSP, NAESP, and ASCD, spreading the middle school message to other major organizations. In recent years, he has been involved with Native American schools in Nebraska. These are just a few of the activities and services this remarkable educator has had a hand in.

2006 – Barbara Brodhagen
Barbara Brodhagen became the 17th recipient of the John H. Lounsbury Award at the National Middle School Association 33rd Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Barb holds three degrees, including a Ph.D., from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has taught special education, elementary grades, and in a variety of teamed middle level situations, including looping and multiage. Barb has also held a number of supervisory and leadership positions in the course of her 30-plus year career. Whatever her title, she is first and foremost a teacher. Her special talents come to the forefront when she is in direct relationship with learners, whether they are children, young adolescents, or adults. What sets her apart is her deep and abiding respect for the dignity of others, especially young people.

Barbara has served our association directly and continuously for many years, including chair of the Curriculum Committee, as a contributor to This We Believe and two of its follow-up publications, and as a conference presenter almost annually. Her excellence has been recognized by the New England League of Middle Level Schools, which named her the 2005 recipient of its Jim Garvin Distinguished Educator Award, and by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, which made her a Teacher Scholar for 1999-2001. The University of Wisconsin College of Education awarded her its Distinguished Alumni Award in 2001.

2006 – Sue Swaim
NMSA Executive Director Sue Swaim is the 18th recipient of the John H. Lounsbury Award, which was presented at the National Middle School Association 33rd Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Sue Swaim began her career as an elementary teacher in the late 1960s and then became a middle school teacher. She was selected as the principal of the elementary and middle school at the University of Northern Colorado's Laboratory School. Active professionally early on, she became executive director of the Colorado Association of Middle Level Education, one of the very first strong affiliates of NMSA. She then was elected to be a board member of NMSA; and ultimately, her demonstrated leadership led to her election as its 1991 president. Then in August of 1993 she was called upon to become our association's executive director. Over the following 13 years, her leadership has been highlighted by many notable events and achievements including the establishment of a satellite office in Washington, D.C.; the initiation of the Month of the Young Adolescent; the initiation of collaborative relationships and joint projects with other national organizations; the relocation and expansion in facilities and personnel of NMSA's headquarters; the doubling of our association's budget and more than a doubling of its membership; the development, publication, and promotion of the 1995 and the 2003 revisions of This We Believe; the initiation of NMSA's Middle Level Leadership Institute and other special conferences; and the development of Success in the Middle: A Policymaker's Guide to Achieving Quality Middle Level Education, a major policy statement based on This We Believe. Sue Swaim has had a vision about the education of young adolescents and the commitment and skills needed to carry it out. She has actually lived out every day the recommendations of This We Believe. As a result, middle level education has gained a place of prominence on the national education agenda.

2003 – J. Howard Johnston
Dr. Johnston became the 16th recipient of the John H. Lounsbury Award at the National Middle School Association 30th Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Johnston has been engaged in education for the past 34 years as a junior high and high school language arts teacher and college professor. He received this award in recognition of his accomplishments as a teacher, author, researcher, speaker, and for service provided to the field of middle level education. His extensive professional development work has put him in touch with hundreds of faculties in the 50 states and all across the globe. He has keynoted virtually every major middle level conference in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, and beyond. Additionally, he has authored a wide array of articles, chapters, research reports, and several books. As a teacher and professor, he has been popular with students, not because of his easy requirements but rather the opposite; students are drawn to him by the attraction of high standards, meaningful challenges, readily shared wisdom, and conscientious, personal attention to individuals. Lounsbury summed up Johnston's recognition during his presentation by saying, "for your long-standing commitment to young adolescents, particularly those typically underserved, for your manifold and valued services to the cause we share in common, whether expressed in writings, oral presentations, consultations, research studies, scholarly treatises, or classroom teaching, all emanating from a personhood of decency and quality, you can rightfully be characterized as a giant in American education."

2002 - Chris Stevenson
Dr. Chris Stevenson became the 15th recipient of the John Lounsbury Award at NMSA's 29th Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon. Although he has accomplished much as a professor, writer, presenter, and consultant, Stevenson was particularly recognized for the impact he has had on others as a mentor and role model. Dr. Stevenson has strong beliefs and convictions about how schools could do better by young adolescents through strategies such as partner teaming, curriculum integration, and improved student-teacher relationships. He believes in young adolescents and strives to ensure their active voice and engagement in the learning community. In his presentation speech, Dr. Lounsbury noted that, "Chris teaches by who he is and how he relates to others as much as by what he knows." His influence on curriculum and instruction has been substantial and his work will continue to have impact well into the future.

2001 - Nancy Doda
NMSA recognized Dr. Doda for her outstanding achievements and commitment to middle level education. Although noted for her speeches that engage her listeners, she has contributed significantly to professional literature, teacher and administration preparation through her college teaching, and professional development through over 1,000 workshops, consultations, and summer institutes. As Dr. John Lounsbury commented when presenting this award, "Because of her commitment and fierce determination, her moral stature, and her global influence, Nancy Doda has achieved distinction as one of a kind, a master teacher who genuinely cares about kids and acts accordingly as a vibrant and highly esteemed professional leader."

1999 - Sherrel Bergmann

1998 - Paul S. George

1997 - James Beane

1995 - John H. Swaim

1993 - Joan S Lipsitz

1991 - James Garvin

1990 - George Melton

1989 - C. Kenneth McEwin

1987 - Gordon Vars

1985 - Conrad F. Toepfer

1983 - Don Eichhorn

1981 - William Alexander

1978 - John H. Lounsbury