As a means to honor the work of scholarly practitioners in professional practice programs, the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate seeks to recognize exemplary Dissertations in Practice. While the final product can use any research approach (historical, quantitative, qualitative, etc.) and any individual or group dissertation format, we are particularly interested in products that demonstrate a means to create change in practice and adhere to the CPED definition of Dissertation in Practice:

As the culminating experience that demonstrates the scholarly practitioner’s ability to solve problems of practice, the Dissertation in Practice exhibits the doctoral candidate’s ability “to think, to perform, and to act with integrity” (Shulman, 2005).

A committee (comprised of CPED members) will review nominations and select finalists beginning in the summer. Each finalist will be asked to submit an electronic version of the full dissertation for the committee’s consideration. The 2013 CPED Dissertation in Practice of the Year Award winner and any citations for excellence will be recognized at the CPED Convening at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ on October 23-25, 2013. Compensation for the winner(s) will include a conference registration fee waiver and/or assistance with travel/lodging arrangements. A distinguished roster of winners will be posted on the CPED website. In addition, award recipients will do a feature presentation at the October Convening.

Dissertation in Practice of the Year Award Nominees & Dissertations

Dissertation in Practice of the Year Award Winners & Dissertations

Nomination Guidelines:

• The nominee’s university must be a CPED member.
• The Dissertation in Practice must have been successfully defended and officially deposited to the nominee’s university by May 31, 2013.
• All nominations and corresponding materials must be sent email to Jillaperry@cpedinitiative.org
  no later than 5pm EST on Friday, June 7, 2013.
• The chair of the dissertation in practice committee must complete the nomination form (see below) in which extraordinary features of the dissertation are described.
• A 15 double-spaced page synopsis of the dissertation (inclusive of any tables and/or figures) is required. The synopsis should include the following:
  • Full Dissertation in Practice title;
  • Statement of the study’s identified problem of practice;
  • Dissertation in Practice format/specifications (i.e.: three article design, policy brief, evaluation, etc)
  • Research questions, if applicable;
  • Theoretical or conceptual underpinnings that situate the problem in both the scholarly and in the practice contexts;
  • Methods – research design/approach, sampling, data collection procedures or data sources used, and data analysis;
  • Summary of key findings; and
  • Determined impact on practice
    • What generative impact will this work have on practice, policy, and/or future research?
    • What impact does this work have on the future work and agendas of the scholar practitioner?
    • How does this work demonstrate the scholarly practitioner’s ability to solve or contribute to the solution of problems of practice?
    • How does this work demonstrate the scholar practitioner’s ability “to think, to perform, and to act with integrity” (Shulman, 2005)?
    • What, if any, action pieces have been generated as a result?
  • Up to three single-spaced pages of references in APA format can accompany the abstract and will not be included in the 15-page limit.

• The recipient(s) of the CPED Dissertation in Practice of the Year Award must attend the 2013 October CPED Convening (23-25th).