In February, 2012, the NASJE board established the Karen Thorson Award to honor a NASJE member who has made a significant contribution to both NASJE and judicial branch education nationally.
The first recipient of the Karen Thorson Award is former NASJE President Karen Thorson. During Karen’s career, she advanced the profession of judicial branch education to higher levels of excellence. She formerly served as the director of judicial branch education in Arizona and then California. She enlarged NASJE by encouraging inclusion of all judicial educators and was instrumental in the adoption of the NASJE Core Competencies. Karen continues to impact and improve judicial branch education through her service on the Curriculum Committee.
The award was presented to Karen during our annual business meeting on August 3 in Boston.