12/01/2023

Like the Energizer Bunny, NCDA Award Recipients Keep Going and Going!

By Natalie Kauffman

Every December in Career Convergence, the NCDA Awards Committee likes to focus on and showcase recipients from one of NCDA’s many award categories to kick-off nominations for the next year’s awards. Nominations for the 2024 Awards are now open and due by Wednesday, January 31st.

In this article, two award categories are being showcased: the NCDA Fellow Awards and the Eminent Career Awards because the following two phenomenal women have received both awards. Even more importantly, they each continue to serve NCDA, its members and the many individuals/groups of populations career practitioners serve.

Serving – a Significant Selection Criteria

While all NCDA award nominees are considered for their professional achievements, one key to being selected as an award recipient is service. Above and beyond excelling at fulfilling the duties and responsibilities of paid positions in the career development field, award recipients serve the career development community at the local, state, regional, national, and/or international level outside of work hours. In fact, many NCDA award recipients, like the two extraordinary women who each received NCDA’s top two awards, have directly supported NCDA project initiatives through actively engaging in one or more NCDA committees, councils, and/or work groups. Thankfully, many of our NCDA award recipients, continue to serve; like the Energizer Bunny, they keep going, and going, and going to ensure all people attain fulfilling career and life goals.

Celebrating Rebecca M. Dedmond

Alphabetically, let’s first recognize Rebecca M. Dedmond, Ph.D., who is the 2023 Eminent Career Award recipient. Recently having moved from Virginia to Texas to be closer to her family, Dr. Dedmond is Professor Emeritus from George Washington University. She has been an NCDA Fellow since 2018, has received the NCDA Presidential Award twice and is a past recipient of the NCDA Legislative Award. As a former Co-Chair of NCDA’s Government Relations (GR) Committee, she provides vital assistance to current members and the NCDA DC lobbyist. Additionally, Dr. Dedmond formerly served the NCDA Board of Directors twice as a Trustee-At-Large and CDF Advisory Council Board Liaison. Furthermore, she has co-chaired the Counselor Education Academy and delivered the first School Career Development Advisor training. To the delight of a lucky NCDA member, Dr. Dedmond recently served as an NCDA mentor in the pilot program. Anyone can benefit from watching the NCDA webinar that Dr. Dedmond co-presented on helping to prepare students for the future of work.

Globally, Dr. Dedmond is a two time, NCDA-selected representative to the International Centre for Career Development and Public Policy (ICCDPP) Conference (2018 & 2020). She established the first Virgin Islands National Disability Mentoring Day, through the American Association of People with Disabilities. As an Asia Pacific Career Development Association (APCDA) member, she was invited to be the Keynote Speaker at the 2019 conference in China. Additionally, she is a former APCDA conference program presenter. Furthermore, she is a member of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG).

Celebrating Jane Goodman

Now let’s recognize a second amazing woman, Jane Goodman, Ph.D., who lives not only in Illinois, but also is a winter resident of Florida. Dr. Goodman is a 2006 Eminent Career Award recipient. She has been an NCDA Fellow since 2002. For 11 years, Dr. Goodman served on the NCDA Board in a variety of roles: Secretary, Mid-West Trustee, President-Elect, President (from 1994-95), Past President and ACA Governing Council Representative. From 2013-14, she served as the third Chair of Global Connections Committee (GCC). After stepping down from the chair role, she continued to remain active within the GCC; moving from Sister CDA Subcommittee member to being part of the Spring 2021 International Member Survey team to co-leading the current Shared Insights Project, along with Dr. Dedmond. Dr. Goodman still found time to serve other areas of NCDA, including many years on the Publications Development Council. Furthermore, Dr. Goodman is the author of several books and many articles and book chapters, primarily relating to transitions and the career development of adults, including NCDA’s The Career Counseling Casebook (2nd edition) and the 5th edition of Counseling Adults in Transition (with Mary Anderson and Nancy Schlossberg.)

Globally, Dr. Goodman was honored to keynote one of our association’s global conferences and to be the NCDA-selected representative to the 2015 ICCDPP Conference. She also was honored to keynote two additional international conferences, one in Madrid and a second in Costa Rica. Additionally, Dr. Goodman spearheaded two People to People trips to China. Currently, she is one of three Vice-Presidents of IAEVG. It is also important to note Dr. Goodman’s service to the counseling profession through the American Counseling Association (ACA). She served three times as ACA Treasurer and from 2001-2002 as ACA President. She also is a former Chair of the ACA Foundation.

Be Inspired to Nominate Now

The outstanding contributions of these two winners should inspire many other nominees who also have used their time, talent, and treasure to serve the field of career development. Will you be one of NCDA's 2024 award winners? We look forward to sharing your inspiring story in Career Convergence or Career Developments.

NCDA and the Awards Committee invite you to submit a nomination for a 2024 award. Nominations are due January 31, 2024 at midnight EST. Questions may be addressed to the Award Committee Chair, Jessica Ayub, jessica.ayub@normandale.edu. Do note that all NCDA Awards are open to every member. Please start the process early as the nomination form, two references, and supporting documents are all due at the same time in one submission. Although self-nomination is possible, please keep in mind that every nomination packet requires a nominator and two references. If you self-nominate, you have one less person speaking on your behalf. To ease the nomination process, we invite you to review our Sample Packets for Individual and Group Nominations.

Please note that all nominators and nominees for the following awards are required to be NCDA members except for the Legislative Award (local, state, and national legislators are eligible nominees for this award):

• Diversity Initiative
• Eminent Career (requires a separate nomination process)
• Exemplary Career Center (2 Awards): (1) Education, Government & Business; (2) Non-
• Profit or Community Organizations
• Graduate Student Research
• International Practitioner of the Year
• Legislative
• Merit *
• NCDA Fellow
• Outstanding Career Practitioner
• Service to International Students

^{* As of press time, the Merit award is under consideration for expansion to include both individuals and organizations - stay tuned for an update!}

Access to the 2024 Awards Nomination form is open on the NCDA Awards webpage. One winner will be selected per category unless otherwise stated in the award’s description. Winners will be featured in the NCDA Career Developments publication in the fall of 2024.

On behalf of NCDA, the Awards Committee and all NCDA’s constituencies, we look forward to your nomination submissions. Award winners will be announced at the 2024 Global Career Development Conference in San Diego, California, June 26- June 28, 2024.

Natalie Kauffman is a Private Career Practitioner, Transition Consultant, and a Federal Job Coach & Trainer. She serves NCDA as an Awards Committee Member, and on the Global Connections Committee. She can be reached at kauffmanncareers@aol.com