The College of Education, Health and Human Services regretfully reports that on September 25, James M. Kauffman (1940-2024),. He was 83.
In 2016, Jim Kauffman and his wife Jeanmarie Badar made a donation to the special education program at Kent State to start an annual speaker series. The initial donation was a little over $10,000. Jim was a titan in the world of special education and special education research. A former faculty member at the University of Virginia, Jim was incredibly influential in the field of special education. He also served as mentor to Provost Melody Tankersley, and a mentor to current Kent State faculty member Andrew Wiley. Jeanmarie completed her master鈥檚 degree in special education at Kent State.
Rather than fund a single speaker with their donation, the special education program created a research conference appropriately titled the Badar-Kauffman Conference on Special Education Research (BKC). First held in 2017, the Badar-Kauffman Conference is an annual event that brings in researchers from all over the country and around the world. In summer 2024, the Special Education program partnered with another national special education organization to run a version of the conference at the Kent State Florence campus in Italy. The 2025 event is scheduled for April 2-4, 2025, at the Kent State University Hotel and Conference Center.
Friends and colleagues have inquired about donations to support the Early Career Scholar Award presented annually at the conference. The ECSA goes to the most outstanding research presented by a doctoral student in the poster session. It comes with an invited feature session at the next BKC, waived registration, and a three-night hotel stay during the conference. Any donations made in honor of Jim will be held to support the ECSA (and possibly expand the award package), and registration costs for doctoral students.
and to the program.