INDIANA, Pa. – Indiana University of Pennsylvania has honored Dr. Thomas Buggey, a Brockway native, with its 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award.
Over the past 35 years, the IUP Alumni Association has honored less than 370 out of its more than 145,000 alumni with the Distinguished Alumni Award.
This award is the highest award given by the IUP Alumni Association to university alumni. It is presented to alumni who have achieved distinction in their chosen fields or who have demonstrated loyal and active service to their alma mater.
Buggey is a 1973 IUP special education graduate. After a career in education at the primary to college level, Buggey works as a private consultant, trainer and speaker in video self-modeling for children with autism and chief science officer at Invirtua.com.
For nearly two decades, he taught at the college level, first at the University of Memphis and then at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, where he earned the position of Siskin Chair of Excellence in Early Intervention.
He is the recipient of a number of awards from the University of Tennessee, including researcher of the year. He also taught in the Brockway Area School District and in Newfoundland, Canada.
In addition to his IUP degree, he earned a Master’s degree in special education from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in early intervention from Penn State University.
He has a number of awards for his work with persons with disabilities and for his teaching. He was an invited presenter for the World Health Organization International Congress on Development Disabilities. He has presented and published widely throughout his career.
