The UNC School of Education honored four faculty members at a Celebration of Scholarly Excellence, with one named to an endowed professorship and three named as faculty scholars, during a Sept. 8 event at the George Watts Hill Alumni Center on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. Among the honorees were FPG Faculty Fellow, Kara Hume, PhD, and FPG Executive Leadership Board Chair Elect, Brian Boyd, PhD.

With faculty, staff, alumni, and donors in attendance, Brian Boyd was invested as William C. Friday Distinguished Professor in Education and Kara Hume as the Richard “Dick” Coop Faculty Scholar in Education. Their colleague Nianbo Dong was invested as the Kinnard White Faculty Scholar in Education and colleague Ethan Hutt as the Gary Stuck Faculty Scholar in Education.

“We at the UNC School of Education are fortunate to have so many colleagues who pioneer new understandings in their respective fields,” Dean Fouad Abd-El-Khalick said. “We are especially fortunate to have Brian, Nianbo, Kara, and Ethan on our faculty, collaborating and advancing education on behalf of learners and educators.”

Boyd is quite engaged in research that involves the most vulnerable, and often marginalized, populations. As a special educator by training, much of his research has involved the development and evaluation of evidence-based practices that could be implemented within school and home contexts. His more recent work has focused on how issues of implicit bias and race affect the outcomes of children with and without disabilities.  

Boyd’s research has been continuously funded by federal agencies such as the Institute of Education Sciences and National Institutes of Health. Currently, he serves as vice president of the International Society for Autism Research and co-editor of the Journal of Early Intervention. He also serves on multiple national boards that are dedicated to improving the outcomes of autistic persons and those from historically underserved communities.

Hume has worked with children and young adults on the autism spectrum for 30+ years in a variety of capacities, including home program therapist, teacher, trainer, consultant, CrossFit coach, and researcher. She is director of the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice.  

Her research aims to increase access for individuals with developmental disabilities to high-quality community-based services and interventions. Much of her work focuses on the design and implementation of interventions for autistic youth, their families, and service providers in school and community settings. With IES funding, Hume co-led the Center on Secondary Education for Students with ASD from 2012-2018. A follow-up grant enabled her to study these adolescents beyond high school to examine employment, education, and community integration outcomes. She recently began an IES-funded study to enhance self-determination and social connectedness in high schools.  

At Carolina, Hume’s collaborations have garnered more than $15 million in funding, resulted in 70+ manuscripts and book chapters, and led to two of the largest studies to date examining the efficacy of school-based interventions for students with developmental disabilities.

To read the full story, visit the UNC School of Education's website.