{"id":21427,"date":"2014-09-19T15:24:03","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T19:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=21427"},"modified":"2014-10-02T13:52:16","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T17:52:16","slug":"alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumnus of the Year: Donald Oswald, pioneer in helping children with autism"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Donald Oswald \u201975 accepted his first teaching job after graduating from college, he also discovered a field of study that defines his academic and professional career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunity to work with children with autism was not the result of a deliberate plan or any previous experience with autism,\u201d says Oswald. \u201cGrafton School in Berryville, Virginia, was just beginning the program for students with autism and I was fascinated by the children and intrigued by the opportunity to work with them individually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oswald\u2019s fascination with the emerging field of autism diagnosis, combined with the strong foundation he received as a psychology<\/a> major at EMU, helped launch his productive career.<\/p>\n

Raised on a Nebraska farm, Oswald chose Hesston College (Kansas)<\/a> for his first two years of college. EMU\u2019s innovative psychology department, led by John Hess, attracted him for his junior and senior years. A young Galen Lehman<\/a> had just started his long teaching tenure. And in one psychology class, Oswald met Jean Miller, the woman who became his wife.<\/p>\n

Of his non-psychology professors, Oswald names Willard Swartley as \u201cperhaps the most memorable. His Old Testament course made a lasting impression because of his commitment to scholarly integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within the newly built\u00a0Hartzler Library<\/a>, Oswald was introduced to scholarly research first-hand. \u201cI recall the pleasure I got from spending whole days in the library tracking down sources, and reading and integrating the material I found. I no longer remember the topic, but the process made a real impression and the experience whetted my appetite for independent research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whetted may be an understatement. Oswald\u2019s 19-page curriculum vitae lists more than 12 pages of academic articles, book reviews\/editorials\/abstracts, books\/chapters, grant-related products, and workshop presentations which he authored, co-authored or produced.<\/p>\n

After graduating magna cum laude in 1975, Oswald received a master\u2019s in education in school psychology from James Madison University in 1981. Two degrees from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University followed: master of science in psychology in 1987 and doctor of philosophy in psychology in 1989.<\/p>\n

Among his peers, Oswald is known for his willingness to share knowledge and research. He is director of diagnostics and research at Commonwealth Autism Service<\/a> in Richmond, Virginia.<\/p>\n

Of his work there, Oswald says, \u201cAbout 15 years ago, I had the opportunity to develop an interdisciplinary diagnostic assessment clinic for young children for whom there was a question of a diagnosis of autism. The clinic was established on the principles of using the best evidence-based diagnostic tools available, working together collaboratively across disciplines, and actively seeking to integrate parents as essential and equal partners in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has served as director of the clinic ever since, guiding it to its mid-Atlantic status as a model training site for interdisciplinary teams that wish to provide similar diagnostic services.<\/p>\n

Oswald is also clinical professor at Virginia Commonwealth University\u2019s department of psychiatry, mentoring psychologists-in-training.<\/p>\n

His wife, Jean \u201974<\/strong>, has just retired from her position as director of a preschool where she spent 20 years. Oswald is active at First Mennonite Church of Richmond<\/a>, leading music and worship. His hobbies are reading, bicycling, and singing.<\/p>\n

Music unites Oswald\u2019s EMU years with his present life, recalling that he sang in the touring choir under Lowell Byler. \u201cI still sing with a community chorus, One Voice Chorus. Our mission is to foster harmony between people of African-American and European-American descent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oswald\u00a0will be honored with the Alumnus of the Year\u00a0award during\u00a0Homecoming and Family Weekend 2014<\/a>\u00a0at EMU, Oct. 10-12. Celebrations include: class reunions for years ending in \u201c4\u2033 and \u201c9\u2033; community picnic on Saturday, Oct. 11, for all members of the EMU community; sporting events;\u00a0and more<\/a>!<\/em><\/h5>\n
Distinguished Service award:\u00a0From Vietnam, to NYC, to Lancaster to home, Sensenig serves<\/a><\/h5>\n
Young Alumnus of the Year award:\u00a0Elizabeth Good leads in hospital, community, church<\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Donald Oswald \u201975 accepted his first teaching job after graduating from college, he also discovered a field of study that defines his academic and professional career. \u201cThe opportunity to ... read more about Alumnus of the Year: Donald Oswald, pioneer in helping children with autism<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":21481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,60,5603],"tags":[15994,15778,13790,6987,17361,9628],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-21427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-homecoming","category-psychology","tag-commonwealth-autism-service","tag-donald-oswald","tag-galen-lehman","tag-hesston-college","tag-mennonite-churches-and-schools","tag-willard-swartley"],"yoast_head":"\nAlumnus of the Year: Donald Oswald, pioneer in helping children with autism - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alumnus of the Year: Donald Oswald, pioneer in helping children with autism - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Donald Oswald \u201975 accepted his first teaching job after graduating from college, he also discovered a field of study that defines his academic and professional career. \u201cThe opportunity to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-19T19:24:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-02T17:52:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/09\/Oswald_Donald_web.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"610\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/\",\"name\":\"Alumnus of the Year: Donald Oswald, pioneer in helping children with autism - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/09\/Oswald_Donald_web.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-19T19:24:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-02T17:52:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/09\/Oswald_Donald_web.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/09\/Oswald_Donald_web.jpg\",\"width\":610,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Alumnus of the Year: Donald Oswald, pioneer in helping children with autism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alumnus of the Year: Donald Oswald, pioneer in helping children with autism - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Alumnus of the Year: Donald Oswald, pioneer in helping children with autism - EMU News","og_description":"When Donald Oswald \u201975 accepted his first teaching job after graduating from college, he also discovered a field of study that defines his academic and professional career. \u201cThe opportunity to","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2014-09-19T19:24:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-02T17:52:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":610,"height":370,"url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/09\/Oswald_Donald_web.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/","name":"Alumnus of the Year: Donald Oswald, pioneer in helping children with autism - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/09\/Oswald_Donald_web.jpg","datePublished":"2014-09-19T19:24:03+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-02T17:52:16+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/09\/Oswald_Donald_web.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/09\/Oswald_Donald_web.jpg","width":610,"height":370},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/alumnus-of-the-year-oswald-pioneer-in-helping-children-with-autism\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Alumnus of the Year: Donald Oswald, pioneer in helping children with autism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21427"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21810,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21427\/revisions\/21810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21427"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=21427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}