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The Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award

Letter of Recommendation Form
Thank you for your support of the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards program.
Please complete the form below to submit your letter of recommendation in support of the award nominee. Recommendations cannot exceed 800 words. You will not be able to submit your recommendation if the maximum word count exceeds 800 words.
Please note that recommendations should come from someone other than the person who nominated the candidate. Please note that required fields on this form are indicated by an asterisk (*).

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Please enter your letter of recommendation in the text area provided below: April 15, 2024 Dear Jacob Bolotin Award Committee: It is my honor to recommend Dr. Penny Rosenblum and Dr. Tina Herzberg for the prestigious Jacob Bolotin Award. Over the past several years. Dr. Rosenblum and Dr. Herzberg have worked diligently, crafting the incredible textbook, Learning and Teaching the Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts: A Step-by-Step Guide. This guide has served as a foundational program I began using in my STEM braille course as this incredible team authored and piloted the curriculum with university personnel preparation programs. As the textbook was finalized, Dr. Rosenblum and Dr. Herzberg made it widely available, free of charge, which has been of tremendous value to our teacher candidates in blindness educator programs. Dr. Rosenblum and Dr. Herzberg’s leadership and skill has always been admirable. From creating studies, curricula, resources, and publishing research, this power duo has served as our go-to experts for many years. Teaching Nemeth Code requires skillful attention to the code and dedicated teaching strategies for university professors training the next generations of teachers of blind and visually impaired students. Dr. Rosenblum and Dr. Herzberg’s textbook Learning and Teaching the Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts: A Step-by-Step Guide is an efficient approach to equipping our teacher candidates with transcription methods they will encounter with their students in early, intermediate, and advanced mathematics. In addition to the neatly organized chapters, Dr. Rosenblum and Dr. Herzberg designed an immersive curriculum inclusive of slides for instruction, answer keys, teaching strategies, and other supports that can be embedded in a Nemeth course design. This level of authorship required countless hours from this team, attentive proofreading, revisions, feedback, and implementation. However, Dr. Rosenblum and Dr. Herzberg developed this textbook without commission and are not charging our teacher candidates and universities to use this amazing resource. Dr. Herzberg and Dr. Rosenblum’s investment in our field is tremendous. Their altruistic efforts to ensure teacher candidates have a reliable Nemeth curriculum is beyond expected. This time-intensive curriculum development deserves recognition and support. The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has always been a recognized advocate for STEM braille access with Nemeth. Honoring these scholars who specialize in Nemeth transcription and usage with this award would serve as the much-deserved recognition for this incredible team. Please contact me for any further information. Sincerely. Kimberly Avila, PhD, COMS Associate Professor kavila@gmu.edu 703.993.5625 George Mason University College of Education and Human Development Division of Special Education and disAbility Research 4400 University Drive, MS 1F2, Fairfax, Virginia 22030
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The Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award

Letter of Recommendation Form