Cast Your Vote for Yash Bhagwanji!
by Teresa Crane | Thursday, Sep 05, 2019
Congratulations CCEI Professor Yash Bhagwanji, Ph.D., for being selected as a finalist for Palm Beach Illustrated’s 2019 Educator of the Year Award! YOU CAN VOTE FOR THE WINNER.
Cast your vote for Professor Bhagwanji daily at https://www.palmbeachillustrated.com/education-awards-voting/. Voting ends September 17 at 5 p.m.
You may also vote for Florida Atlantic University to win the Institutional Excellence Award at the same link.
Palm Beach Illustrated called for nominations for their inaugural Education Awards, looking for distinguished candidates in the categories of educator, academic program, and institutional excellence.
From Yash Bhagwanji, Ph.D. Two experiences stand out as having changed the course of my life. The first one, when I was in my early 20s, my experiences as a volunteer at an orphanage affected my decision to become a special education teacher. Following my baccalaureate studies, my fortune led me to a pioneering school serving children with and without special needs. There I developed close relationships with children with profound disabilities and strong kinships with families and therapists. I had not realized this, but I was part of a national transformation occurring called “inclusion,” a movement to include children with disabilities in normal, everyday experiences and settings at that time. Years later, after I obtained my Ph.D. in Early Childhood Special Education, I was involved in developing interdisciplinary early childhood education degree programs, both at undergraduate and graduate levels, at the University of Louisville and Florida Atlantic University. The second of my life-altering experience occurred shortly after my arrival in Palm Beach County. I was deeply affected by the biological diversity that I found everywhere. That led to a commitment to make environmental literacy education a part of early childhood education. My efforts in environmental literacy education have led to the development of state-of-the-art university courses in early childhood environmental education, a handbook to assist child development centers in including environmental literacy education, and an international journal focused on advocacy, research, and policies in early childhood environmental education.
To preview the Palm Beach Illustrated article electronically, turn to page 50 of the following link: https://issuu.com/pbmg/docs/pbi_september_2019?fr=sMDcxMjIwMDg2OQ.