Awards
Award Nominations
An essential part of our mission is recognizing distinguished accomplishments in education law. Nominations are now open.
Timeline for Award Nominations:
Nominations Open: May 1, 2026
Nominations Close: July 31, 2026
Public Announcement of Awards: September 15, 2026
Awards Ceremony: October 21-24, 2026 at Annual Conference
2025 Recipients
The Joseph C. Beckham Award
2025 Award Recipient: Dr. Shantel Palacio
"Dr. Palacio's work addresses a well-documented gap in education law. It considers the multiple, intersectional ways in which education law and policy serve to create racial and class-based oppression in urban environments." - Steven Nelson
"This work entails a detailed, multi-method approach to understanding legal phenomena. It leverages a law and society approach that combines robust methods and legal analysis to get to the core of a well-known problem: segregation." - Rhodesia McMillian
Dr. Joseph Scoboria (Beckham Award Runner-Up)
"Dr. Scoboria's dissertation uses thorough, mixed methods to put a social science spin on legal analysis. His use of discourse analysis to evaluate the impact of legal cases on the political process is spot on and appropriate. In any other year, this is dissertation of the year" - Tiffany Puckett.
"How Harrisburg Blinked is worthy of consideration for dissertation of the year. Overall, the submission makes an important contribution to the field; it melds legal analysis with a political analysis." - Rhodesia McMillian
The Steven S. Goldberg Award
2025 Award Recipient: Areto Imoukhuede
"Professor Imoukhuede's work addresses a contemporary, urgent matter. In speaking to the walk away from racial analyses in equal protection cases, Professor Imoukhuede sets himself apart from the rest of the field, pushing us to think more critically about where the field of education is going and where we've been." - Steven Nelson
"This work is stellar. It's timely and appropriately addresses education law in the context of educational justice. The work is beyond a mere racial analysis; it focuses our attention on how we can address the walk away from racial analysis and back toward a more individualistic and liberal approach to understanding equal protection. His work is spot on to warn us of a return to Plessy." - Mark Anthony Gooden
The M.A. McGhehey Award
2024 Award Recipient: Suzanne Eckes
“The McGhehey Award is presented to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service to the Education Law Association and whose work has made an impact nationally in the field of law and education. Indeed, Dr. Suzanne Eckes’ career exemplifies these standards making her deserving of this award.” - Kevin Brady
The August Steinhilber Award
2025 Award Recipients: William Thro, Bryan Beauman, & Carmine G. Iaccarino
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"This brief tackles an important issue: the coverage of Title IX. While some may disagree on the arguments in the memo, the brief is well-written and legally sound. Overall, the submission of this brief should make the University of Kentucky proud of its legal team." - Raquel Muniz