Kathy Danko-McGhee Receives AEAI President's Award

Award announced at AEAI Convention Banquet at Purdue Fort Wayne
[Fort Wayne, Indiana, November 5, 2022] As part of the Art Education Association of Indiana awards program, the AEAI President may choose to recognize members for extraordinary service. At this year's Awards Dinner on November 5, President Addie Thompson presented early childhood art education consultant and author Kathy Danko-McGhee with a President's Award in appreciation for her service to AEAI as Co-Chair of the brand-new Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.

Dr. Danko-McGhee has extensive experience in ED&I as an internationally influential researcher and publisher of books and articles on the aesthetic experiences of infants through preschoolers and the necessity of accessibility to art by children of all economic situations. She is the owner/director of First Encounters: Art Experiences for Babies. From 2018-19 she formed part of the National Art Education Association’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion initiatives task force. Recently she brought the NAEA ED&I Commission’s work to the state level, acting with Purdue University Clinical Instructor Jasmine Begeske as liaisons to the national commission. Danko-McGhee and Begeske then formed AEAI’s ED&I Committee, recruiting members and holding meetings to establish goals and create an extensive resource database to share with the association membership. During the summer the committee formed a plan for incorporating multiple speakers and workshops on ED&I themes into the state convention programming and then brought it to fruition, creating an exciting, inspiring atmosphere offering actionable information to attendees.

Dr. Danko-McGhee earned her PhD at Ohio State University and has spent much of her career in Ohio as a full professor at Toledo University and later as Director of Education at the Toledo Museum of Art. The board and members of AEAI are delighted that she has brought her passion and expertise for ED&I work to Indiana, and they join President Addie Thompson in thanking Dr. Danko-McGhee for her compelling leadership and service!
 
The Art Education Association of Indiana (AEAI) is the professional education organization dedicated to promotion, advancement, and improvement of art education at all levels in the state of Indiana. The goals of AEAI are to increase public awareness, develop strategies for art education advocacy, inform membership about current issues and developments in art education, recognize outstanding teacher performance and programs statewide, and assist the Indiana State Department of Education in development and implementation of art education curriculum materials and resources.