The accolades continue to grow for Professor Deborah Britzman. The International Federation for Psychoanalytic Education (IFPE) recently announced that Britzman will be one of the recipients of the 2007 Distinguished Psychoanalytic Educator’s Award at its 18th annual conference being held in Toronto tomorrow.
Right: Deborah Britzman
The award, which is for outstanding contributions to psychoanalytic education, was inaugurated by the IFPE in 1998. Each year the IFPE recognizes deserving recipients who have distinguished themselves in educating candidates and students of psychoanalysis in clinical and academic settings representing the broadest possible array of psychoanalytic knowledge. Britzman is among two others who will be receiving the award. She will be presenting a paper, titled “Without Qualification: Learning the Impossible Professions”, as part of her acceptance speech.
In 2006 Britzman was the first Faculty of Education member to be honoured with the title of York University Distinguished Research Professor (see the April 12, 2006 issue of YFile). She is the recipient of previous awards including the James and Helen Meritt Distinguished Service Award to the Philosophy of Education from Northern Illinois University (2003); the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations Teaching Award (1999); and the Faculty of Graduate Studies Teaching Award, York University (1999).
Her scholarly publications include four books and 60 scholarly articles, on a range of subjects, from teacher education, to the work of Anna Freud and Melanie Klein, to the role of psychoanalysis in education, to the study of "difficult knowledge".
"This is a great tribute to Deborah Britzman for her outstanding scholarship," said Paul Axelrod, dean of York's Faculty of Education. "She is known internationally by researchers and educators in a variety of fields, and this most recent tribute recognizing her contributions to psychoanalytic education extends her reputation."