Each year, CIES recognizes an outstanding doctoral dissertation with the Gail P. Kelly Award. Created to honor the distinguished comparative educator Gail P. Kelly, and her many contributions to CIES, the Gail P. Kelly Award honors a doctoral dissertation that addresses social justice and equity issues in an international context.

The Gail P. Kelly Award is conferred on an outstanding Ph.D. or Ed.D. dissertation that manifests academic excellence; originality; methodological, theoretical, and empirical rigor; and that deals with issues of social justice and equity in international settings. These issues may include (but are not limited to) gender, race, class, ethnicity, and nationality.

The dissertation should reflect the scholarly purpose of the Society: comparative, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary and international studies contributing to the interpretation of developments in education in their broad and interrelated political, economic, and social contexts. Any Ph.D. or Ed.D. dissertation written in English and completed at an accredited institution of higher education is eligible for consideration—as long as its final submission to the department, graduate school, or other university body responsible for receiving the final, committee-approved copy of the dissertation occurred between July of last year through August of this year.

Any CIES member in good standing, including its author, may nominate a dissertation. Nominations should include a summary of 20-25 double-spaced pages describing the dissertation project and findings, verification of the date the final dissertation was submitted to the university/graduate school/department, and a cover letter requesting that the dissertation be considered (including a supporting statement on the merits or unique qualities of the dissertation) for the Gail P. Kelly Award. The finalists will be asked to submit full dissertations.

The recipient of the Gail P. Kelly Award will be honored at the upcoming Annual Meeting of CIES and will receive a $1000 USD monetary award. The award recipient will make a brief presentation on the outstanding dissertation.

The deadline for nominations is December 1, 2021. Nominations, applications, and queries should be sent via e-mail to the Office of the Executive Director at oed@cies.us

Please note that self-nominations are welcome.