The National Art Education Association chose Karen Rosenburg of New Hope-Solebury School District to receive the 2019 NAEA, The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), VSA Peter J. Geisser Special Needs Art Educator Award.
This award recognizes an NAEA member who has made distinguished professional contributions to art education for students with special needs through scholarly writing, research, professional leadership, teaching, and/or community service. The award was presented to Rosenburg at the NAEA National Convention in Boston March 14 to 16.
Rosenburg has been teaching art for over 22 years. She currently teaches visual arts and ceramics at New Hope-Solebury High School in New Hope, where she is also the district special area curriculum liaison.
As an arts educator she has been awarded more than $15,000 in grant money through various programs.
She is The Art Club advisor and was also instrumental in establishing the Hope and Sole Café, a coffee shop that provides work experience for students with special needs.
While in graduate school, she conducted her work and research around the use of therapeutic animals in the art room and the impacts it had on inclusive practices for children with special needs.
Since graduating, she has become known as a specialist in the area and has gone on to do consultation work for The Philadelphia Museum of Art where she provided training to the Division of Education to develop inclusive strategies for visitors with autism spectrum disorder, and for the National Gallery of Art to help them create an online curriculum resource that provides inclusive strategies for students with special needs.
She lives in Newtown with her husband, Mike, 11-year-old triplets Marcus, Owen, and Nora, and their two beloved chocolate Labradors, Pax and Felix.
