Article by: Julie Acres
Dr. Norman Amundson has won many awards from professional associations for his work (including an honorary doctorate from the University of Umea, Sweden). In June 2014 he was able to add yet another to his name: the Eminent Career Award from the National Career Development Association (NCDA). This award is given for outstanding service to career development over a lifetime and is considered NCDA’s highest honor.
In speaking with Dr. Amundson, I learned that this is only the second time that the award has been given to someone outside of the United States. This award captures a lifetime of career involvement and Dr. Amundson graciously accepted this honour at the NCDA’s Global Conference in June, where there were over 1,300 people in attendance, from over 20 different countries.
Dr. Norman Amundson is a seasoned Counselling Psychology Professor in the Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, and Special Education. He has given numerous workshops and seminars and also has been a keynote speaker at many international conferences. Dr. Amundson emphasizes the importance of creativity, imagination, cultural awareness, positive affirmation and action as career development strategies.
Check out Dr. Amundson’s Action-Oriented, Hope-Centred Career Development website to learn more about his research and publications.
More on NCDAs Eminent Career Award:
The Eminent Career Award is based on a nominee’s overall contributions to the field of career development. When evaluating a nominee’s contributions, her or his accomplishments are considered across a range of career development activities, including contributions in the areas of theory, practice, leadership, and scholarship.
To qualify for the NCDA Eminent Career Award, a nominee may have excelled in any one (or more) of these four areas. For instance, an individual whose contributions to the theory of career development are particularly noteworthy and markedly substantial to the field may possess adequate qualifications for the award. Similarly, someone whose contributions in the area of leadership within the field of career development are profound and far exceed the leadership contributions of most career development professionals also may qualify for the award. However, it is important to note that nominees whose contributions are noteworthy across two, three, or all four of these domains are particularly well suited for the NCDA Eminent Career Award. For all nominees, all contributions in these domains should be frequent, noteworthy, and sustained over a substantial period of time. A nominee’s involvement in and contribution to the National Career Development Association also will be considered when evaluating nominations for the award.
Learn more about this award from NCDAs website.
(Photo credit: NCDA Slide Show 2014 via YouTube)