Five faculty members from Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development were recognized with awards and honors at the 2026 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, April 8 - 12.
Golnaz Arastoopour Irgens, assistant professor in human-centered learning technologies, received the 2026 Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies from AERA Division C. This award recognizes early-career scholars whose work is technically innovative and deeply humanistic with a commitment to improving the lives of learners. Arasoopour Irgens designs digital learning environments that integrate computer science and culturally responsive pedagogies and uses quantitative ethnography and other learning analytics to understand how learners engage with digital technologies.
Laurie Cutting, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Special Education, was inducted into the AERA Fellows Program following the announcement of her selection earlier this year. Fellows are honored for their exceptional contributions to, and excellence in, education research. A pioneer in the cognitive neuroscience of learning, Cutting is widely recognized for her discipline-crossing studies on how the brain processes reading and language. She joins 15 other Peabody faculty members who have previously been named AERA Fellows. Read Vanderbilt's recent Q&A with Cutting to learn more about her work.
Ellen Goldring, distinguished research dean, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor and professor of educational leadership and policy, was honored with the Division L Lifetime Achievement Award. Goldring studies education policy and school improvement with an emphasis on educational leadership. She examines the implementation and effects of school leadership practices and initiatives such as professional development, coaching and performance feedback. Her scholarship has offered important insights into the roles of assistant principals as well as school district and central office redesign for building and sustaining principal pipelines and career pathways to effective school leadership.
Chezare Warren, associate professor of leadership, policy and organizations, received the association-wide 2026 Scholars of Color Mid-Career Contribution Award. In his scholarship, Warren seeks to understand the conditions that enable Black students' educational success and wellbeing. Warren is principal investigator of The Possibilities Project, an "arts-informed knowledge hub" that generates original research in Black education.
Luis Leyva, associate professor of mathematics education and STEM higher education, received the Division G Early Career Award. Leyva examines how systems of power shape classroom instruction, student support and curricular design in undergraduate mathematics and STEM higher education broadly. His research has uncovered how STEM educational practices limit and promote learning opportunities for marginalized students.
Alumni honors
Lam Pham, PhD'20, an assistant professor at North Carolina State University, won the Division L Long Policy Report Award. Walker Swain, PhD'16, principal researcher at the Learning Policy Institute, earned an honorable mention for the Long Policy Report Award.
