UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The American Educational Research Association (AERA) honored Gregory J. Kelly with the Dr. John J. Gumperz Memorial Award for Distinguished Lifetime Scholarship at its annual meeting in New York City.
"This is a great honor for me because of the value I place on the work done in this group and the association with John Gumperz, who I have admired throughout my career," said Kelly, distinguished professor of education (science education) and senior associate dean for research, outreach and technology in the College of Education.
The award, which was established in memory of John J. Gumperz, recognizes and honors the lifelong distinguished scholarship of a senior scholar whose research in language and social processes and professional service have made significant contributions.
Gumperz was a linguist, anthropologist and developer of interactional sociolinguistics. He spent the majority of his lifetime as a professor at University of California Berkeley. Through his lifelong commitment to learning and developing ideas, Gumperz was a role model who laid a foundation for deconstructing models of education based on linguistic performance.
Kelly, who joined the College of Education as a tenured professor in 2004, served for four years as a Peace Corps Volunteer and currently teaches courses on teaching and learning science in secondary schools.
He works in the area of science education and has focused his attention on the analysis of classroom discourse. He is particularly interested in studying ways to make science and engineering accessible to students through their active engagement in investigations. He publishes routinely in the major journals in his field and is frequently invited to contribute to the handbooks that define the field of science education.