Cindy Gerstl-Pepin, associate dean of the College of Education and Social Services, will receive the 2016 Jackie M. Gribbons Leadership Award on Oct. 11 at the Vermont Women in Higher Education Fall Dinner for her leadership and contributions to UVM and higher education.

The award, named after one of the architects of UVM’s nationally ranked Higher Education and Student Affairs program (HESA) and the implementer of its Title IX standards, is presented to a woman who has demonstrated leadership abilities and effectiveness, served as a model and mentor for aspiring professionals, developed innovative programs and activities in higher education, and contributed significantly to her institution and profession.

“Dr. Gerstl-Pepin is one of those remarkable women who, over the course of her career, has continually been called upon to lead others," said Penny Bishop, associate professor in CESS and a member of the VWHE nominating committee. "In each of her roles, she has combined astute listening skills with a deeply collaborative style and a strong interpersonal approach. At the same time, she is willing to make the hard decisions, even unpopular ones, driven as she is by a keen sense of equity and social justice."

Gerstl-Pepin has served in multiple leadership positions at UVM including as a program coordinator, department chair, and as both an associate and interim dean. She developed and implemented the Ph.D. program in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies with a focus on social justice. "As a result of her driven, moral leadership, Dr. Gerstl-Pepin continues to be a tremendous mentor to others," said Bishop. "In her leadership roles, she has created formal and informal mentoring opportunities at various levels. Her routine support of junior faculty members is one clear indicator of her mentorship.”

Winner of the 2013 Joseph Anthony Abruscato Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship, Gerstl-Pepin is an internationally recognized scholar for her research on educational policy, ethics, leadership, gender studies, higher education, research methods, multiculturalism and social justice. In particular, she is known as an expert on educational politics and ethical leadership with a focus on the media’s role in shaping the public’s understanding of educational issues; and how poverty and other forms of discrimination are enmeshed with inequitable education outcomes in K-12 and higher education settings.

Gerstl-Pepin, a Fulbright Scholar who spent a year Beijing Normal University in China, has co-edited three books: Reimagining the Public Intellectual in Education: Making Scholarship Matter; Survival of the Fittest: The Shifting Contours of Higher Education in China and the US; and Social Justice Leadership for a Global World. She also co-authored the book, Reframing Educational Politics for Social Justice.

Gribbons, who passed away on Jan. 10, 2014, spent 40 years as a beloved faculty member, student advisor and in a variety of administrative roles traditionally occupied by men from 1966 to 2006.