Association Executive Receives Presidential Medal.

It was an event that Don Cameron, recently retired executive director of the National Education Association, Washington, D.C., and founding co-chair of the CEO Forum on Education and Technology, says he will remember the rest of his life. On January 8, President Clinton awarded Cameron and 27 other distinguished individuals the Presidential Citizens Medal, which recognizes Americans who have performed exemplary deeds of service. The president spent a few moments with each recipient in a reception in the White House prior to the afternoon ceremony, which was held in a tent on the south lawn and attended by family members and friends. The medal has been awarded to 120 individuals, including the 28 people honored by Clinton for their lifetime achievements.

The award actually consists of three medals of differing sizes (including a lapel pin) displayed in a special case, as well as a certificate. "Every recipient was extremely honored and absolutely delighted to be there. It was a festive occasion and very informal, except for the ceremony itself," recalls Cameron, adding that "one of the most rewarding" aspects of the experience was meeting the other award recipients, a group that included baseball great Hank Aaron, boxin champion Muhammad Ali, and Natergate prosecutor Archibald Cox. Especially poignant was the award given posthumously to his friend, the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. Cameron and his wife had dinner with Brown in Paris the night before his plane crashed in Bosnia.

Cameron became assistant executive director of NEA in 1979 and its executive director in 1983. About five years ago, he and Anne Bryant, CAE, executive director of the National School Boards Association, Alexandria, Virginia, brought together about 25 chief executive officers of technology companies to create the CEO Forum to enhance awareness of technology's role in education. Educational institutions, such as school districts and local and state departments of education, rely on an annual report published by the organization that provides a scientific assessment of some aspect of school technology.

Asked to reflect on achievements that might have led to his presidential recognition, Cameron focuses on the wide spectrum of activities made possible by his association career. "I spent a lot of my career very active in all the things I really cared about--all aspects of education, civil rights, women's rights--and my job [as an association executive] gave me the opportunity to pursue--and be an activist in--all of those areas."

Career reflections also prompt Cameron to underscore the tremendous changes experienced in the field of education during the past two decades. "When I came to Washington, D.C., in 1979, education was on nobody's radar screen. The White House didn't talk about it, Congress didn't talk about it much," and the issue rarely surfaced as a priority issue in public opinion polls. "To see what has happened over the last 25 years--you can't get education off the front page--is pretty remarkable," observes Cameron. "It's probably one of the most dynamic periods in all of American education history and I'm fortunate that my career spanned this same period of time."

This sea change has convinced Cameron to write a book about this period in education history that will explore such topics as the changing role of the federal government (e.g., the creation of the Department of Education in the late 1970s), education reform, and the rise of teacher unions.

"I feel very gratified and honored by the award," adds Cameron. "You look back at your career after you've retired and you certainly couldn't ask for a whole lot more than something like this as a capstone."