2009 Ralph Steffek Award Recipient
Bobby Burns
 NAFEPA presents the Ralph Steffek Award to a current or former member of
NAFEPA who has given outstanding service to the organization. Dr. Ralph
Steffek was appointed by Eastern Michigan University to head an Office of
State and Federal Program Relations in 1967. Dr. Steffek set up a meeting
with several local school district federal program specialists. These
individuals became the first six presidents of the Michigan Association of
State and Federal Program Specialists, an organization that was created in
1969. In 1974 Steffek became the Executive Secretary for the organization,
and with several other directors of compensatory education from across the
nation, began to talk about merging their state and regional groups into a
national organization. There was concern about future legislation and
funding of programs for disadvantaged children. A great deal of fervor
existed about keeping Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 and other federal programs intact for the benefit of children.
Virginia Brown (California), Wilbur Gerst (New York), Kurt Lile and George
Perry (California), Ralph Steffek and Jim Linderman (Michigan), and others
decided to take the step. Their intent was to unite for increased visibility
and influence where it mattered most -- in Washington, D. C. NAFEPA owes
much to Dr. Steffek's creative leadership. Previous Ralph Steffek Award
recipients are Rae Levis, 1990; Daniel Foster, 1991; James Linderman, 1992;
Joseph Marinelli, 1992; Thomas Lane, 1992; Robert Servers, 1992; Gerald
Whitehouse, 1992; Carley Ochoa, 1993; Dorothy Cissel, 1994; Clarence Stone,
1995; Tee S. Greer, 1996; Linden K. Johnson, 1996; Elise Ax, 1997; Mary
Scott, 1997; Leo Brown, 1998; Richard Force, 1998; Ambrosio Melendrez, 2000;
John Corcoran, 2001; Marcella Mansfield, 2001; Penelope Soule, 2002;
Elizabeth Pinkerton, 2002; Everett C. Mann, 2003; Zetella Rabb, 2003; Helen
Adams, 2004; Iva McCants, 2004; John Pfaff, 2005; Randy Thudin, 2005; Carol
Brush, 2006; Sheldon Etheridge, 2007; and Paul Zinni, 2007.
The 2009 recipient, Bobby J. Burns, is the immediate Past-President of
NAFEPA. He currently serves as Deputy Superintendent for the Calhoun County
School District in Anniston, Alabama where he has worked in federal education
programs for the past 16 years. During his years in federal education programs,
he has served as vice president and president of the Alabama Association of
Federal Education Program Administrators (AAFEPA), Alabama representative on the
Board of Directors for NAFEPA and was elected to represent the Board of
Directors on the NAFEPA Executive Committee. He continues to serve on the
Alabama Department of Education Federal Programs Committee of Practitioners and
as a mentor to new federal program administrators within the state. Bobby has
had several articles published in national publications concerning federal
education programs and has been a presenter for the Thompson Publishing
Company’s Interactive Audio Conference series. He has received many awards and
recognitions including the NAFEPA Leadership Award. Bobby has served on the
Alabama State Department of Education Federal Programs Team for Program
Improvement, working for three years to develop training modules for schools in
need of improvement, and presenting workshops across the state and to other
states. Bobby has done a great deal of research on Parent Involvement in upper
elementary and middle schools. He is frequently asked by the Alabama Department
of Education to serve as a reader for Title I Distinguished Schools selection
and for grant awards for federal education programs including Even Start. He and
his wife Gail have two children, Candace and Clint.
2009 NAFEPA State Award Recipients:
Alabama: Douglas Campbell, Cindy Chandler, Randy Pettus; California: Debbie
Ernst, Rachel Perry; Louisiana: James Armand; Massachusetts: Janet Lyons, Stuart
Peskin; Michigan: Janice Callis, Willye Pigott, Glen Taylor; Minnesota: Mary
Buhrt, Robert Cumptson, Bounlieng Phommasouvanh; Mississippi: Margaret Bush,
Blanche Moore, Martha Spearman, James Walters; North Carolina: Thomas Evans,
Thelma Greenwell, Cheryl Johnson; Ohio: Carol Padden; Oklahoma: Tom Sipe;
Pennsylvania: Janice Joyce; South Carolina: James Hall, Timothy Hopkins.
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