Past Officers

Juliann Dorff, Past President 

A senior lecturer teaching Art Education in the School of Art at Kent State University, Juliann B. Dorff is the 2015 Ohio Higher Education Division Award winner presented by the Ohio Art Education Association (OAEA) and a 2014 Outstanding Art Educator for the Northeast region of the OAEA. She has presented extensively at  the Ohio Art Education Association, National Art Education Association and the Council for Exceptional Children conferences. A contributing author in the book Understanding Students with Autism through Art (2010) published by the National Art Education Association, Ms. Dorff was an invited participant at Examining the Intersection of Arts Education and Special Education: A National Forum sponsored by the Kennedy Center in the summer of 2012 and has a white paper published in the resulting work, The Intersection of Arts Education and Special Education: Exemplary Programs and Approaches.

Lynne Horoschak, Past President  

Lynne Horoschak was instrumental in creating the MA in Art Education with an Emphasis in Special Populations at Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia. This one-of-a-kind program was launched in 2008 and continues as a hybrid Online + On-Campus since the summer 2014. The Graduate Program sponsors an annual Art and Special Education Symposium, which features nationally known speakers on relevant topics and provides valuable time for discussion on topics that impact the education of students with disabilities.

Lynne taught art in the School District of Philadelphia for 36 years and loved almost every minute of it. In 2002, she was appointed Chair of Art Education at Moore and subsequently the Director of the Graduate Program. Recently, Lynne received the Beverly Levett Gerber Special Needs Art Educator Lifetime Achievement Award, the Outstanding Pennsylvania Higher Education Art Educator Award, the Picasso Award from the Public Citizens for Children and Youth, the Bob and Penny Fox

Distinguished Professor Award from Moore College of Art Year& Design, The Pennsylvania Outstanding Art Educator of the Year, and The ArtWell Visionary Leader Award. She is the Past-President of the Special Needs Art Education (SNAE) issues group of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) and has presented nationally and regionally. Currently, she is Past President of the newly formed Division of the Visual and Performing Arts (DARTS) for the Council of Exceptional Children (CEC). In 2012, Lynne co-authored a White Paper with Beverly Levett Gerber entitled An Attack on the Tower of Babel: Creating a National Arts/Special Education Resource Center for The Intersection of Arts Education and Special Education and in 2013 co-authored a paper with two Moore graduate alumni entitled Reflections on Moore College of Art and Design’s Master’s Degree Program in Art Education with an Emphasis in Special Populations, both published by the Kennedy Center. She has authored two chapters book entitled “Art for Children Experiencing Psychological Trauma: A Guide for Art Educators and School-Based Professionals. 

Beverly Levett Gerber, Past President 

Beverly Levett Gerber, Professor Emerita of Special Education at Southern Connecticut State University,  combines both special education and art education. An advocate of the arts for students with exceptionalities  or almost 50 years, she initiated CEC’s Special Interest Group for Teachers of the Arts and served as CEC’s  “Arts and Special Education” representative. 

Gerber is a founding member and Past-President of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Special Needs Issues Group and a recipient of NAEA’s Lowenfeld Award for Lifetime Achievement in Art Education. Her acceptance speech, “Art Education and Special Education: A Promising Partnership,” can be found on NAEA’s website www.arteducators.org. Gerber is co-editor of Reaching and Teaching Students with Special Needs through Art (NAEA, 2006) and Understanding Students with Autism through Art (NAEA, 2010).

Marilyn Friend, Past Treasurer

Marilyn Friend, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Education in the Department of Specialized Education Services a  at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and she is Past President of the Council for Exceptional    Children (CEC).  Across her career she has been a general education teacher, special education teacher,  researcher, professor, administrator, teacher educator, and staff developer. Her areas of expertise are  collaboration, co-teaching, and inclusive practices, and is the author of several books, many articles, and other  materials related to these topics.  She now works across the country and internationally assisting professionals in their efforts to effectively educate students with disabilities.