A current and former director of the Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) in the College of Education are being honored in February by the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS), an organization that equips professionals with the knowledge and skills to advocate for transfer students through education, research, and advocacy.   

Dr. Debra Bragg, who was the founding director of OCCRL in 1989 and served in the position through 2015, will receive NISTS’s signature honor, the Bonita C. Jacobs Transfer Champion Award, which recognizes those who have greatly enhanced student-transfer access, persistence, and success in areas such as research, policy, or advocacy throughout their careers. The award was named for the organization's founder, who played a significant role in advancing the national transfer conversation.

Dr. Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, OCCRL’s current director, will be honored as a co-recipient of the Transfer Catalyst Award, which celebrates midcareer professionals who display game-changing influences in the transfer field at the institutional, regional, or state level.

According to NISTS’s 2019 conference program, Catalyst awardees “demonstrate evidence of leadership, appropriate risk-taking and disrupting the status quo, along with using relevant research and theoretical frameworks to develop programs and services for transfer students.”

Zamani-Gallaher will be recognized for the Catalyst Award alongside scholar-practitioners Russell Baker (Ivy Tech Community College), John Fink (Columbia University), and Paulina Palomino (East Los Angeles College).

In addition to her OCCRL duties, Zamani-Gallaher is a professor in the Department of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership and serves as the department’s associate head. She is also the associate dean of the Graduate College.

Bragg and Zamani-Gallaher will be honored during NISTS’s annual conference, which takes place this year Feb. 13-15 in Atlanta.

View the conference program.