• Academic Educator
  
• Research Recognition
  
• ADEC Service 
  
• Lifetime Achievement 
  
• Edie Stark-Shirley Scott Early Achievement
  
• Ronald Keith Barrett Diversity & Multicultural Presentation
• Richard Kalish Graduate Student Paper 
• Dr. Hannelore Wass Cross Cultural Student Paper 
  

View a list of Past ADEC Award Winners

Academic Educator

The Academic Educator Award honors an individual with expertise in the field of dying, death and bereavement as demonstrated by: advanced academic degrees, professional honors, awards and other contributions.

Janet McCord, PhD, FT, is Professor of Thanatology at Edgewood College where she directs/teaches the ADEC BoK aligned MS in Thanatology. She has developed thanatology curricula across three universities since 2009 and educated hundreds of students in 11 countries. Publications include “Death Education,” (with Morse and Hirsch) in Servaty-Seib & Chapple, (2021). The Handbook of Thanatology 3rd Edition; “Thanatology” (with Morse) in Gu & Dupre (2021) International Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging and The Thing That Happened: Hope and Healing at Hope North Uganda in Cox, Thompson & Stevenson, 2017, Handbook of Traumatic Grief. She is second author for an alum’s publication in OMEGA: Domogalla, McCord, & Morse (2020) Rural Perinatal Loss: A Needs Assessment. She is a section editor for the forthcoming Routledge Online Resources on Death, Dying, and Bereavement. In 2018 McCord led students to Uganda to study deathways of the BaGanda and Acholi. She has presented on death education, suicidology, deathways/grief in Uganda, ambiguous loss, trauma, and dignity therapy at thanatology conferences including ADEC, NACG, the International Conference on Grief and Bereavement in Contemporary Society, and the IASP. She is a member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement, NACG, ADEC, and IASP.

Candidate Criteria

The individual demonstrates excellence in academic teaching in thanatology as demonstrated by: judgment of peers; department chair; dean and /or department; development of teaching materials; new courses; and student evaluations.

• The individual’s scholarly ability is demonstrated by: publication record and/or membership on editorial boards of scholarly journals in the field of dying, death and bereavement.
• The individual demonstrates continued growth by: keeping abreast of changes in the field of dying, death, and bereavement and/or being at the cutting edge of developing ideas in the field.
  
  

Research Recognition

The Research Recognition award honors an individual with expertise in the field of dying, death, and bereavement who is actively conducting or who has conducted research in the last 25 years that adds/contributes significantly to the ADEC Body of Knowledge in studies concerning death and loss.

Maarten C. Eisma obtained his PhD in Clinical Psychology at Utrecht University in 2015 under the supervision of prof. Margaret Stroebe, dr. Henk Schut, prof. Paul Boelen, prof. Jan van den Bout and prof. Wolfgang Stroebe. An accessible summary of main studies in his PhD thesis, entitled "Rumination following bereavement: Assessment, working mechanisms and intervention." can be found here:  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02682621.2017.1349291.

In 2015, he became postdoctoral fellow at the Health Psychology Group of the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, under mentorship of prof. Marijn de Bruin and prof. Marie Johnston. Whilst continuing work on grief and bereavement, he learned new research skills by conducting a large systematic review meta-analysis on behavior change in smoking cessation interventions.

In 2017, he became an Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychology at the Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands (75th in World Times University Ranking; tenure track: 2019, tenured:  2021). He received a prestigious Dutch Research Council Veni Grant in 2019. He has published close to 80 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. He is a member of the Dutch-Flemish research school Experimental Psychopathology, a committee member of the Dutch grief in palliative care guideline, and an editorial board member of Death Studies.

Candidate Criteria

The individual demonstrates ongoing consistent record of research and publication in the area of death education and/or grief counseling.

• The individual’s research has been subject to peer review (accepted for publication in a refereed journal, reviewed by a grant funding agency, or accepted for presentation at a conference sponsored by a professional association in which proposals for presentation have been reviewed prior to acceptance).
  
• The individual’s findings have been cited by other researchers or authors.
  
• The individual’s findings have served as a foundation upon which prominent theories or practices have been constructed.
  
  

ADEC Service Award

The ADEC Service Award honors an individual with excellence in service to ADEC in consistent committee participation and other high-quality efforts to benefit the growth and development of the Association of Death Education and Counseling.

Jill A. Harrington, DSW, LCSW is an Adjunct Professor for the Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP-DC), Washington DC Campus, where she also maintains an active clinical practice in the Northern Virginia area. Dr. Harrington is the former Senior Director of Field Research for Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), which was the first congressionally mandated study of bereavement in military families. Dr. Harrington has been active on many bereavement committees and working groups, some of her most recent involvement includes the Hospice Foundation of America Autism & Grief Advisory Board; FBI Mass Violence and Children Working Group ; National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, New York Life Foundation, Bereavement Workgroup and Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors Advisory Board. Since completing her doctoral training at The University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice, she has published numerous book and journal articles and is one of the first published authors on the subject of bereavement in military surviving families. Dr. Harrington has also been a peer reviewer for Death Studies and Omega. In 2021, she was recognized by the students and faculty of TCSPP-DC with the Adjunct Professor of the Year Award for her outstanding development and instruction of Grief Counseling Classes offered in the Clinical Mental Health Program. In 2021, she also published her first textbook in conjunction with co-editor, Robert Neimeyer, taking a creative and novel approach to thanatology education - Superhero Grief: The Transformative Power of Loss (2021), was published by Routledge. Dr. Harrington has been a proud and active member of ADEC since 2009 and has served on the Abstract Peer Review Committee (2009-2022); Board (2011-2014); and Chair, Abstract Peer Review and Program, Conference Committee.

Candidate Criteria

• The individual demonstrates excellence in service to ADEC as demonstrated by: consistent committee participation and other high-quality efforts to benefit the growth and development of the association.
  
• The individual provides contributions to the activities of the association as demonstrated by: innovating association programs, conducting workshops, assisting with conferences, serving the association.
  

ADEC Lifetime Achievement

The Lifetime Achievement Award honors an outstanding individual in the area of death, dying, grief and loss who has had a national or international impact on the field and has dedicated his/her professional life to the development and improvement of death education, caring for the dying person, and grief counseling.

Stephen Connor, PhD is Executive Director of the London, UK based charity, Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA), with over 400 national and regional hospice and palliative care organizations in over 100 countries. Dr Connor has worked continuously in the hospice/palliative care movement since 1975 as CEO of four US hospice programs, vice-president of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (1998-2009) and one of the founders of the WHPCA in 2008, helping develop palliative care globally in 27 countries. Dr Connor is a researcher, educator, advocate, and licensed clinical psychologist. He has given over 500 keynote and breakout sessions at major conferences worldwide. Connor serves on the following Boards: National Palliative Care Research Center, International Work Group on Death-Dying & Bereavement, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Foundation, International Children’s Palliative Care Network, editorial board of Journal of Pain & Symptom Management and was ADEC Board Treasurer (2005-11). He is author of 175 peer reviewed publications including six books: Hospice: Practice, Pitfalls, Promise (1998), Hospice and Palliative Care: The Essential

Guide (2009 & 2018), and editor of Building Integrated Palliative Care Programs and Services (2017) and the Global Atlas of Palliative Care (2014 & 2020), a WHPCA publication in partnership with the WHO.

Candidate Criteria

• The individual has made a significant contribution to the development and/or understanding of thanatology that historically has and will continue to distinguish their work.
• The individual has a minimum of 25 years of service in the field of thanatology.
• The individual has provided a significant contribution with a definable body of work through one or more of the following: theory development, presentations at professional conferences, reaching/training, research, publications, professional practice.
  
  

Edie Stark-Shirley Scott Early Career 

Edie Stark and Shirley Scott were both nurses from Florida who were formative in the beginning and early growth of ADEC. As friends and colleagues, these two pioneering thanatologists were passionate about good care for the dying and the bereaved. They were also dedicated to encouraging and supporting young professionals entering the field to work with individuals in bereavement and at the end-of-life.
 
When Shirley died, ADEC was gifted with a bequest from her estate channeled through ADEC’s planned giving program, the Living Legacy Circle. After Edie’s death, her family requested that gifts in her memory be given to ADEC. Along with additional gifts from some special ADEC friends, the Edie Stark-Shirley Scott Early Career Award became an endowed fund whose earnings each year can be used to help keep alive the vision of these two thanatology pioneers.

The Edie Stark-Shirley Scott Early Career Award will be presented annually to a woman in the initial years of a career in thanatology who has distinguished herself through activity in scholarship, service, research, clinical practice, or social action. The award is intended to sponsor the winner’s registration fee for ADEC’s annual conference and provide a limited reimbursement for some travel expenses.

Emily Mroz, PhD, has been engaged in the field of thanatology since conducting her undergraduate honors thesis with Hospice Buffalo (2014). She earned her doctorate in Psychology in 2021 from the University of Florida. Her research is published in major death, dying, and end-of-life journals (e.g., Mroz et al., 2017, Journal of Palliative Medicine; Mroz et al., 2020, Death Studies). Emily’s work has been recognized as contributing to advancements in the field of thanatology at the departmental (e.g., Goldman Fellowship), local (e.g., Cluff Research Award) and national (e.g., ADEC Kalish Student Paper Award) levels. During graduate school, Emily also completed clinical EOL care project development and outcomes research as Quality Improvement manager at UF Health, a position that included leading and training junior researchers in EOL QI. Currently, Emily is a T32 Postdoctoral Fellow in the Yale School of Medicine in addition to serving as a consultant for 4 qualitative research projects conducted with colleagues across the US, including NCI-funded research on Dignity Therapy for seriously ill cancer patients (R01CA253330-01). Along with ADEC (since 2019), Emily is a member of the EOL GSA interest group (since 2016) and the newly-formed American Psychological Association EOL interest group (2021).

Candidate Criteria:

• Be an ADEC member in good standing in both the current year of the application and the previous year.
  
• Qualify as a woman who meets the criteria for New Professional status on the ADEC membership guidelines (less than three years since graduation).
  
• Be currently employed in a professional capacity in the field of thanatology.
  
• Has distinguished herself through professional activity in scholarship, service, research, clinical practice, or social action.
  

Ronald Keith Barrett Diversity & Multicultural Presentation

Ronald Keith Barrett, PhD, FT, Psychologist, Professor, Scholar, Author, Lecturer, Chair of the Department of Psychology, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California was an active and dedicated member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling and founder of the People of Color Forum.  Dr. Barrett passed away on May 31, 2015, in Santa Monica, California. Through The Estate of Ronald Keith Barrett, PhD., a gift of $25,000.00 is given to the Association for Death Education and Counseling.  The purpose of the gift is to establish, at the ADEC Annual Conference, The Ronald Keith Barrett, PhD Scholarship for Diversity and Multicultural Presentations. The mission is to support and increase opportunities for presenters of color and persons whose work and presentations on diversity and multicultural rituals, traditions and concerns brings awareness and sensitivity to end-of-life caregiving.

Doneila McIntosh is a second-year doctoral student at the University of Minnesota in Family Social Science, with an emphasis in Couple and Family Therapy. Doneila is a former hospital and hospice chaplain, with nearly a decade of experience working primarily with BIPOC individuals, couples, and family. Now a family- therapist, Doneila continues to work with BIPOC families navigating grief, loss, and trauma.

Candidate Criteria:

• Submit an abstract during the annual ADEC Conference Abstract Submission process that demonstrates diversity and/or multicultural sensitivity to rituals, traditions, and concerns in the field of death, dying, education and counseling.
  
• Select to have an abstract submission for an ADEC concurrent session presentation considered for the Ronald Keith Barrett, PhD Scholarship for Diversity and Multicultural Presentations.
  

Richard Kalish Graduate Student Paper Award

Award presented to an outstanding graduate paper dealing with a topic related to dying, death, loss and bereavement. Paper must be a requirement for a course, a formalized independent study, or a required component of the student's program of study at a recognized institution of higher learning.

Candidate Criteria:

• Individual must be currently enrolled as a graduate student or have graduated within the past year
  

Dr. Hannelore Wass Cross Cultural Student Paper Award

Award presented to an outstanding undergraduate or graduate paper dealing with a topic related to dying, death, loss and bereavement where there is an emphasis or concentration on cross-cultural aspects of the phenomena studied. Paper must be a requirement for a course, a formalized independent study, or a required component of the student's program of study at a recognized institution of higher learning.

Candidate Criteria:

• Individual must be currently enrolled as a graduate or undergraduate student or have graduated within the past year