Annual conference receives new name

At this summer’s 46th Education Leadership Summer Conference, the IU School of Education and IU School Administrators Association announced the annual event is being renamed for Professor Emeritus Martha McCarthy, according to a press release.

Starting next summer, the conference will be the Martha McCarthy Education Law and Policy Institute.

“Professor McCarthy has been a force behind the IUSAA Annual Education Leadership Summer Conference almost since its inception,” IU School of Education Dean Gerardo Gonzalez said in the release. “No scholar has had a greater influence on the field of education law and policy studies than she has. It is only fitting that this time-honored event should carry Martha’s name into the future.”

McCarthy has served at the IU School of Education since 1975. She retired as a faculty member in 2011.

She has authored or co-edited nine books and more than 200 articles, according to the release, and is nationally recognized as an expert in education law.

She has served as an active participant in several professional organizations during the years.

From 1984 to 1985 McCarthy was president of the Education Law Association, from 1985 to 1986 she was the president of the University Council for Educational Administration and from 1992 to 1994 she was Division A vice president of the American Educational Research Association.

In 1991, IU honored McCarthy with the Sonneborn Award for distinguished teaching and research, and in 2004 she was honored with the Bowman Award for exemplary teaching pertaining to American civilization across the IU system, according to the release.

McCarthy was named a “Living Legend” in 2002 by the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration and was presented with the McGhehey Award from the Education Law Association in 1992 for her contributions to the field of education law, according to the release. 

McCarthy is currently serving as the first Presidential Professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, according to the release.

– Makenzie Holland