The 2021-2022 National Association of State Judicial Educators’ Board of Directors is pleased to announce the 2021 recipient of the Karen Thorson Award.
By unanimous vote, Judith M. Anderson is our 2022 Karen Thorson Awardee.
As you know, NASJE’s Karen Thorson Award recognizes a career judicial educator who has made significant contributions to NASJE and judicial branch education overall. Judith has been an integral part of NASJE since 1984, serving on the NASJE Board as Western Regional Director, Secretary, Vice- President and was our President in 2010-2011. She was instrumental in working on the NASJE curricula and helped secure the State Justice Institute grant that funded that project. Judith served on various NASJE committees, special projects and chaired the membership committee for many years. Currently she serves on the fundraising committee and the Education and Curriculum committee.
Judith has been a judicial branch educator since 1984. She supervises the Administrative Office of the Courts Court Education Services team as they develop education and training programming and curricula for judicial officers, administrators, county clerks and line-staff. Washington is also currently developing a Learning Management System and growing their online education and training. She works with the Board for Judicial Administration’s Court Education Committee, the Annual Conference Committee, and the Juvenile Court Administrators. Judith also works with the Judicial Assistance Services Program (JASP), a group of peer counselors who are trained to prevent or alleviate problems before they jeopardize a judicial officer’s career.
In 2014, Judith published an article introducing the then-new NASJE curriculum:
As a seasoned judicial branch educator (since 1984), I feel like the career I have lived and currently pursue was taken and put down on paper. This curriculum, though lengthy, gets at the heart and soul of what we do every day in our role as judicial branch educators, no matter if one is new to the role or has been around as long as I have. […] If someone asks me today what a judicial branch educator does, I have an enormous number of resources from which to pull my answer. I am waiting for the chance to hand the soon-to-be three extensive publications to someone and say “This is what I do!” The rest of the iceberg has been revealed.
Congratulations Judith!
A formal presentation of this award will be given at the 2022 Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA.