Community members from the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences and the Priscilla Pond Flawn Child and Family Lab School have been recognized for their important work in the community by the Austin Association for the Education of Young Children.
Dr. Aletha Huston, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, was awarded The 2016 Jeannette Watson Advocate of the Year Award. This award has been given out since 1988 to a public policymaker or official who has enhanced the quality of life for young children in the Austin area. Dr. Huston’s area of expertise includes child development, child care and poverty and child policy. She authored several books, including Children in Poverty: Child Development and Public Policy; Big World, Small Screen: The Role of Television in American Society; Developmental Contexts of Middle Childhood: Bridges to Adolescence and Adulthood; and Higher Ground: New Hope for the Working Poor and their Children.
Mary Jamsek, a Master Teacher at the Lab School for 18 years, received the 2016 Mabel Pitts Leadership Award. This award has been given out for the last 31 years to AAEYC members in recognition of outstanding leadership and contribution on behalf of young children. Ms. Jamsek recently became the Director of Quality Assessment and Assurance in Accreditation of Programs for Young Children for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) in Washington, D.C., the most prestigious agency in the nation with the most rigorous and highly respected accreditation standards.
