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The sky’s the limit: Art installation inspires curiosity and creativity in education

Olivia Peterkin — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 16:21:10 +0000

The sky’s the limit: Art installation inspires curiosity and creativity in education

Olivia Peterkin Tue, 09/30/2025 - 09:21

The Gravity of the Sun by Jacob Hahsimoto is the centerpiece to the GSE's new campus. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

With The Gravity of the Sun, artist Jacob Hashimoto brings a playful centerpiece representing the possibilities that come from teaching and learning to the newly remodeled �� Graduate School of Education.

October 14, 2025

By Olivia Peterkin

Walking into the first-floor Forum of the remodeled and newly named Angela Nomellini and Ken Olivier (ANKO) Building at �� Graduate School of Education (GSE), you find a few things you would expect: modern furniture, a stairway that leads to light-filled classrooms and offices, and a medley of staff, students and faculty as they acclimate to the recently opened space.

Look up, though, and you might be surprised to find a constellation of kites that seem to float in a soft, cloud-like formation of white and blue. Both suspended in space and somehow hinting at movement, the GSE’s new art installation, The Gravity of the Sun, invites onlookers to stop, stare, and ask questions — a characteristic that artist Jacob Hashimoto says is by design.

“Once you start asking questions, you put yourself in a position where you’re activating the art,” Hashimoto said in a recent interview from his studio in Ossining, New York. “But if you’re just assuming knowledge about something, then you’re not engaging with it.”

Beautiful building blocks

Starting the art installation, like many projects at the GSE, was a learning process for Hashimoto and his team at Superabundant Atmospheres, the art production company he co-founded with Wade Cotton and Jamisen Ogg.

“When creating this piece for the GSE, we wanted to create an artwork that spoke about teaching, the transfer of knowledge from people to each other, and from people to themselves,” said Cotton, an architect and art installer.

Made from handmade washi paper and supported by thin bamboo frames, the installation includes circular blue and white kites, as well as square graphic kites, each with colorful designs that connect to teaching and learning. Overall, the kites represent play and possibility, and a mix of culture, history, and knowledge.

Hashimoto drew inspiration from symbols and shapes found throughout history, like the Dharma wheel and old maps, to show how people understand the world.The kites are layered in resin, making them look almost weightless, and they let light shine through like stained glass, adding to the dreamlike quality of the piece.

The entire installation — which is made up of 6,500 kites strung up on 17 miles of spectra thread — spans 20 feet vertically, weighs just over 2,600 pounds, and hangs 12 feet from the floor at its lowest point.

“Once you get to know the piece, it’s clear that it’s a very complex result of simple repetitive actions,” Cotton said. “These are very simple objects, hung simply from the ceiling, with thread, placed very carefully, over and over again. And I think the handmade feeling of that is palpable. I think people will react to that.”

Creative collaboration

The GSE art committee, which included students, faculty, and staff, first awarded Hashimoto and his team the contract to create The Gravity of the Sun in May 2020. While the pandemic slowed production, it did nothing to dim zeal for the project, which is part of ��’s ongoing efforts to foster dynamism, aesthetic investment, and creative vitality across the campus.

"I really appreciated the GSE’s commitment to using commissioned art,” said David Lenox, university architect and director of campus planning at ��, who co-chairs the university's Public Art Committee with Vice President for the Arts Deborah Cullinan. “This started five years ago, so this was before we had spheres in the engineering quad or artwork in the Computing and Data Science building, so the GSE was out in front with a commitment to do something important with art.”

The first iteration of the design consisted of mainly white and clear kites, but after input from the committee, which sought a colorful centerpiece for the school, Hashimoto and his team transformed it into a celestial transition from white to blue, creating an effect reminiscent of the marine layer rolling into the San Francisco Bay area.

“The Gravity of the Sun is a dynamic piece in a dynamic school. It adds a sense of wonder and possibility, sparks conversations, and invites people in,” said Dean Dan Schwartz. “That’s what we wanted for the space – and it really shines.”

Meaningful meandering

Hashimoto says a big influence for how he approached the piece from an education standpoint was his father Irvin Hashimoto, a retired English professor.

“I grew up in a household that was very concerned about how we teach and learn,” said Hashimoto, whose father and grandfather both graduated from ��. “My father is in his 80s now and currently learning how to play the violin, and he’s still obsessed with how he’s learning and what it means.”

He says his father instilled in him a firm belief in the importance of the liberal arts, nuance, and meaningful meandering in education.

“My father used to do geometry homework with me, and we would do these super long and inefficient proofs to get to the answers, rather than the way we were supposed to according to the textbooks,” Hashimoto said. “I learned a lot more through that process because I was challenged to meander my way there.

“Similarly in education, I hope there’s room for meandering because I think it makes a difference,” he said. “If you can get people to start asking questions of themselves, then you’ve achieved what I think is the foundation of education – curiosity.”

The Gravity of the Sun invites onlookers to stop, stare, and ask questions — a trait that artist Jacob Hashimoto says is by design. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

It took three installers an entire week to complete the installation of The Gravity of the Sun. (Photo: Andrew Brodhead)

Each of the 6,300 kites is crafted from handmade washi paper supported by thin bamboo frames, and needed to be individually uncoiled from the spectra thread that suspends it. (Photo: Andrew Brodhead)

The entire installation weighs just over 2,600 pounds and is strung on 17 miles of spectra thread. Here, Wade Cotton ensures the kites are properly placed. (Photo: Andrew Brodhead)

Hashimoto drew inspiration from symbols and shapes found throughout history, like the Dharma wheel and old maps, to show how people understand the world. (Photo: Joleen Richards)

Overall, the kites represent play and possibility, and a mix of culture, history, and knowledge. (Photo: Taylor Jones)

The artwork can be viewed from several different vantage points on three floors of the ANKO Building. It hangs 12 feet from the floor at its lowest point. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

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Faculty mentioned in this article: Dan Schwartz

�� Graduate School of Education kicks off new academic year in remodeled space

Brooke Donald — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 19:14:42 +0000

�� Graduate School of Education kicks off new academic year in remodeled space

Brooke Donald Mon, 09/29/2025 - 12:14

The Academic Affairs team welcomes new students to �� Graduate School of Education. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

Campus Life | Events

Students, faculty, and staff celebrated the opening of newly renovated school that creates a vibrant hub for teaching and learning at ��.

September 29, 2025

By Brooke Donald

Fences are down, and spirits are high. After three years of construction, the newly remodeled �� Graduate School of Education (GSE) opened its doors at the start of fall quarter, welcoming the community to new spaces filled with natural light.

The comprehensive project marked a significant consolidation of the school and included renovations of the historic Education Building, now named the Angela Nomellini & Ken Olivier Building (ANKO), and the Barnum Center, as well as the addition of a new four-story facility named the Patricia & Jeffrey Raikes (Raikes) Building.

"We are at the heart of ��, and for the first time in one place," said Dan Schwartz, the I.James Quillen Dean of the GSE, in an email to the community. "The spaces are designed to support the three C’s of collaboration, connection, and convening. I look forward to seeing how we use the spaces; how our community culture evolves; how the rest of the university is drawn to the heart of educational scholarship; and what possibilities start here."

During the first two weeks of the quarter, students, staff, and faculty familiarized themselves with the new classrooms and study spaces while moving into offices and laboratories. The school also hosted a festive all-community picnic. A formal dedication will occur later this quarter. Throughout the year, the GSE will open its doors to the off-campus community, offering professional development opportunities for teachers, discussions on critical topics in education, and research workshops.

The remodeled Angela Nomellini and Ken Olivier (ANKO) Building at �� Graduate School of Education opens onto a central courtyard. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

The Forum of the ANKO Building includes a seating area and art installation, The Gravity of the Sun, by Jacob Hashimoto. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

Faculty and staff moved into new offices as the GSE reopened for the fall quarter. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

The Mary Bell Floyd Garden creates a relaxing space to sit outside the remodeled ANKO Building. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

High-back chairs invite students and other to a quiet place to study in the Forum of the ANKO Building at the GSE. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

The GSE hosted a welcome home event on the first day the new buildings opened. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

Students, faculty, and staff got their hands dirty in an event titled "Planting Your Roots at the GSE," in which the community potted succulents to decorate their desks. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

The remodeled library is two stories and filled with natural light. Books arriving soon. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

The GSE community picnic was held in the new Penner Education Courtyard with the new Raikes Building in the background. (Photo: Joleen Richards)

At the GSE community picnic, staff, faculty, and students received t-shirts celebrating the opening. (Photo: Joleen Richard)

Students snapped a selfie at the GSE community picnic, days after the launch of the fall quarter. (Photo: Joleen Richards)

The Penner Education Courtyard, which includes the Kissick Family Outdoor Classroom, hosted the GSE community picnic welcoming students, staff, and faculty to the new academic year. (Photo: Joleen Richards)

Two GSE students at the community picnic, with the �� clocktower behind them. (Photo: Joleen Richards)

Faculty, students, and staff mingled at the GSE community picnic that welcomed them to the new quarter and celebrated the opening of the school buildings. (Photo: Joleen Richards)

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�� education graduates urged to be flexible in the face of disruption

Carrie Spector — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 17:44:02 +0000

�� education graduates urged to be flexible in the face of disruption

Carrie Spector Wed, 06/18/2025 - 10:44

The GSE conferred 162 master's and doctoral degrees to education scholars at this year’s ceremony, in addition to honoring 50 undergraduate students who completed a minor or honor’s thesis in education. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

Campus Life | Students

The Graduate School of Education conferred degrees across a spectrum of education programs including policy, technology, and research, as well as undergraduate honors.

June 18, 2025

By Olivia Peterkin

�� GSE students received their diplomas in a joyous ceremony that honored their perseverance and purpose — and urged them to stay flexible in a rapidly evolving learning landscape.

“There are many winds of change, and they’re very strong,” said Professor Emeritus Decker Walker, PhD ’71, who delivered the commencement address. “You need to be adaptable.”

Walker, an expert in curriculum and instruction who also started the technology in education program at the GSE, shared highlights of his “checkered career” as a high school teacher, professor, and researcher. He emphasized the need to stay open to change as funding for certain projects may evaporate, new education priorities emerge, or technology transforms.

“You have dreams, you have visions, and you have work that you would like to do,” he said. “Just be flexible.”

GSE Dean Dan Schwartz opened the June 15 ceremony by asking the graduates to stand, turn to the audience, and say thank you to their families and friends who supported their education. In return, the families cheered and hollered for their students – clad in their regalia, waving and smiling.

“An advanced degree is about the tolerance of ambiguity over a long timeline, and the only way you can make your way through is because you love and believe in what you’re learning,” Schwartz said.

The GSE conferred 22 doctoral degrees and 140 master's degrees in programs ranging from education data science and learning design technology, to teacher preparation, as well as joint degrees with law, business and public policy.

“I’ve learned so many things about education in the widest sense just by virtue of being part of this super diverse group of people that care about very similar things, but go about addressing them in many different ways,” said Julian Siebert, PhD ’25, who was the GSE’s flag bearer, and the first to receive his diploma, this year.

After graduating, Siebert will be a postdoc scholar with the Multitudes Project, a reading screening tool, at the University of California, San Francisco.

Record number of undergraduates recognized

The GSE also honored undergraduates who completed a minor or honor’s thesis. Nearly 50 �� undergraduates attended a ceremony recognizing their achievements on June 13, about double the number of participants of any year prior.

“One of the things that undergraduate students who study with us at the GSE are doing is they’re helping to spread the word to the rest of the undergraduate community that education is an important, status-worthy thing to study and pursue,” said Jennifer Wolf, a senior lecturer at the GSE and director of the education minor.

One such student is Christopher Badillo, who earned a bachelor’s degree in comparative studies in race and ethnicity and received a 2025 Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research for his education honors thesis on school board politics.

“Finding out I won the award for my thesis was such a great moment of perspective on the work I had done and the importance of my own contribution to education politics discourse in this moment,” said Badillo, who intends to pursue a career at the intersection of education policy and politics.

Eleven students plan on becoming classroom teachers, including four students who will enter the �� Teacher Education Program (STEP).

“The students who come to us have a strong justice and public service mindset,” Wolf said. “They are interested in using what they learn with us to serve the communities they’re from, solve problems, make the world a better place and I think they come to the GSE because they see us as a place where they can try on that identity as undergraduates and I’m glad about it.”

Foster deep thinking

Walker said cultivating creativity and curiosity are among the goals of education, even as the means by which students learn change.

“I think the need for teachers who can foster deep thinking on the part of the students is absolutely essential,” Walker said. “And researchers, I hope you’ll work on problems that help to support this kind of teaching and learning.”

He added: Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Find – or create – resources that you aren’t readily given. Collaborate. Don’t give up.

Then he ended with a charge: “Go forth and do wonderful things.”

�� GSE students received their diplomas in a ceremony that honored their perseverance and purpose. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

Professor Emeritus Decker Walker delivered the commencement address, sharing highlights of his “checkered career” as a high school teacher, professor, and researcher. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

Photo: Ryan Zhang

Photo: Ryan Zhang

Photo: Ryan Zhang

Nearly 50 �� undergraduates completed a minor or honor’s thesis in education this year. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

Undergraduate students who study at the GSE "have a strong justice and public service mindset,” said GSE Senior Lecturer Jennifer Wolf, who directs the program with Associate Professor Ari Kelman. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

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�� GSE course tackles gap between edtech research and real-world practice

Olivia Peterkin — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 17:48:22 +0000

�� GSE course tackles gap between edtech research and real-world practice

Olivia Peterkin Wed, 04/09/2025 - 10:48

For the course students work together to create tools that will support teachers. (Photo: Joleen Richards)

Campus Life | Technology

Taught by Assistant Professor Dora Demszky, Empowering Educators via Language Technology aims to connect edtech creators and teachers to create better learning tools.

April 9, 2025

By Olivia Peterkin

One of the most pernicious and pervasive pitfalls of edtech research and design is its low rate of successful adoption in schools.

Whether it’s due to improper implementation or deficiencies in the tools themselves, the gap between research and practice can be large, leading to districts spending critical funds on edtech tools and systems with low learning outcomes.

Dora Demszky, assistant professor at �� Graduate School of Education (GSE), aims to help address this issue through her course, Empowering Educators via Language Technology, which connects edtech creators with the teachers for whom they’re designing.

“Large language models and AI tools are becoming more common in an educational context, but no one is really talking about all the considerations necessary to make these technologies really useful for teachers,” Demszky said.

“There’s a lot of discussion around AI in education, and this class is importantly distinct from those topics because we are not focused on technologies that get around the teacher, or helping teachers navigate around students’ use of AI, but rather on how we can develop tools that can support educators in improving their instruction, and thereby their students’ learning,” she said.

A teacher-centered approach to edtech

The class, now in its second year, has a combination of 30 GSE and computer science students who address questions of design, implementation, and efficacy in edtech. Through class discussions, collaborating with practicing educators and edtech creators, and creating AI tools of their own, students’ ultimate goal is to improve education.

“Any incremental improvement takes a lot of thoughtful work, and we’re on that journey right now,” said Mei Tan, MA ‘23, and current PhD student at the GSE studying education data science. She is also a teaching assistant for the course. “This is such a unique methodology class for it to be connected to the impact these methods will have out in the world, what happens when they get applied to real-world constraints.”

As part of the class, students are frequently asked to create tools through the lens of the teachers who will use them. They seek input and present their designs to educators.

“One of our first assignments was to interview a teacher and I was very forward with all the ideas I had about introducing technology into bilingual education. But after hearing her feedback, it was the first time I really considered that the issues I thought educators have probably aren’t the most prominent ones they’re dealing with,” said Joshua Delgadillo, a junior in the class studying computer science, with a minor in education.

“One of my biggest takeaways was that some of the things that AI is really good at, like creating a personalized worksheet, aren’t really things an experienced educator would think to use technology for,” Delgadillo said. “Before this class, my thesis around edtech was very tech first and education second, but I’ve been exposed to the importance of putting education first, if we want to make things work.”

“Before this class, my thesis around edtech was very tech first and education second, but I’ve been exposed to the importance of putting education first, if we want to make things work.”

Joshua Delgadillo

Junior, computer science major

GSE student Rebecca Li Hao presents her project to the class. (Photo: Joleen Richards)

Designing the future of education, collaboratively

A key facet of the course is working with teachers to create technological tools that will augment rather than automate them.

“This type of collaboration is something the field has talked about before but it’s not always clear how to approach creating this dialogue with teachers,” said Rebecca Li Hao, a Learning Design and Technology master’s student at the GSE. “This class gives us a concrete opportunity to have that back and forth so we can learn how to best augment them because replacing teachers with technology doesn’t work, they’re too important.”

For the largest chunk of students’ coursework, they had to design an educational tool that would then be presented to a panel of six teachers.

“It seems critical to have teachers and edtech creators in the same room – for both people building tools for teacher use and teachers who may need to use them later down the line,” said Eric Wilson, a Brooklyn-based high school computer science teacher who sat on the panel. “It’s cool to see that we have some of the most brilliant people in the world making things to help make teaching easier.”

Projects included tools that simulated teacher-student interactions, created graphs from data, and automated feedback, among other uses.

“I feel like I gained an insight into what is out there and that this class is giving me a look forward into what tools my future classes might use,” said Viridiana Word, a panelist from San Diego who’s been teaching for 17 years. “It’s wonderful to see so much energy and see how they’re going to contribute to the field.”

She added, “I can offer my wisdom and experience, and from students I can gain new ideas and a hint at the future to come.”

The class culminated in a blog post co-written by Demszky, Tan and the students that reflected on what they learned about designing for teachers, and the intersections of technology, pedagogy and practice.

“This class is really an environment where, rather than imparting knowledge to the students, we are really figuring things out together,” Demszky said. “After every class, I leave feeling energized and like we all learned something collectively.”

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The evolution of Barnum Center

Olivia Peterkin — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 22:32:19 +0000

The evolution of Barnum Center

Olivia Peterkin Fri, 03/07/2025 - 14:32

A February image of the Barnum Center, which will be used as a classroom when it opens with the rest of the GSE later this year. (Photo: Joleen Richards)

Campus Life | Students | Teaching

The 119-year-old building was once the campus bookstore, a library, a career development center, and an office space for staff at the GSE.

March 7, 2025

By Olivia Peterkin

What piece of �� University architecture is 119 years old, survived both the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and an electrical fire in 2001, and was once the campus bookstore, a career development center, and a library?

The answer is Barnum Center, a one-story structure at the intersection of Lasuen and Escondido malls — and it’s the most historic piece of the Graduate School of Education’s (GSE) new campus.

“What’s special about Barnum is that it’s been with us from the beginning, and if these walls could talk, they would have a lot to tell about how the neighborhood has completely changed,” said Sapna Marfatia, director of architecture at ��.

“In the time it’s been around, the streets have changed, the people have changed, the buildings have changed, and an earthquake has happened, but it has been there with the main quad just quietly sitting and watching the whole evolution of �� take place.”

A look into the past

Before it was known as the Barnum Family Center, the building at 505 Lasuen Mall was home to the old campus bookstore from 1906 to 1960, the Western Civilization Library until 1967, and the Career Development Center until 2001, when an electrical fire burned through most of the building’s interior, leaving it vacant for six years.

Along the way, three adjoining buildings were constructed on the east side of the building: the first in 1910, which was used as a candy store, a YMCA, and later as an extension to Barnum; the second, a two-story structure built in 1930 and used as a shoe repair shop; and the third, a one-story addition built in 1984 that was attached to the 1910 building’s east façade.

In 2007 former GSE Dean Deborah Stipek was able to restore the space, which included demolishing the 1930 and 1984 additions and adding a one-story connector, with the help of a donation from the Barnum Family. It was then used to house existing GSE programs like the �� Center on Adolescence and the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities.

“Barnum was a center for centers,” Stipek said. “It was a place that housed mostly multidisciplinary centers of activity, and it became a much needed space for the GSE.”

A step into the future

When its doors open again with the rest of the renovated GSE campus later this year, it will be as a classroom and gathering space.

“It’s going to be a really fantastic classroom that accommodates 100 students, and doubles as an event space for smaller gatherings,” said Olivia Crawford, associate dean for finance and operations at the GSE. “Our students deserve to have a really inspiring, light-filled space with the newest technology, and I think it’s going to be really special once we’re able to move in.”

While architects and construction teams have worked to retain much of Barnum’s original appeal, including keeping 50 historic windows, alterations to the space include removing subdivisions added in the early 2000s within the building to make it one large room, adding new acoustic paneling to the walls, installing projectors and drop-down screens, and demolishing the 1910 exterior addition to make room for the GSE’s south building and restore Barnum’s status as a standalone structure.

“Barnum in its newest iteration is designed as a flexible classroom, with tables and chairs that can move and be more theater-style seating,” said Mousam Adcock, a principal at CAW Architects who has been involved in the GSE’s construction project since 2017.

“From the inside it’s a very special experience because you’re surrounded by windows high and low, giving you natural light from all parts of the room,” she said. “It’s a really beautiful, multifunctional space, and this renovation is giving it new life.”

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‘Where the magic happens’: A look into the specialty spaces coming to the Graduate School of Education

Olivia Peterkin — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 19:43:08 +0000

‘Where the magic happens’: A look into the specialty spaces coming to the Graduate School of Education

Olivia Peterkin Fri, 10/25/2024 - 12:43

Olivia Crawford (center), associate dean of finance and operations at the GSE, leads faculty on a May tour of the GSE campus construction project. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

Campus Life | Innovation

GSE Associate Dean Olivia Crawford pulls back the curtain on some of the unique spaces being introduced in the new campus project.

November 6, 2024

By Olivia Peterkin

�� Graduate School of Education’s (GSE) new campus construction project is well underway— and while there will be many spaces some might expect at the GSE, there are a few surprises in store.

From several multi-use event rooms to a new testing suite and upgraded versions of old favorites, members of the GSE and the greater �� community will be able to teach, study, and explore education in new and expansive ways.

“What we’ve learned at ��, and from architects and designers from around the world, is that the right kind of space can be transformative,” said Olivia Crawford, associate dean of finance and operations at the GSE. “When you provide people with functional and inspiring surroundings, it expands what they can do.”

Here, Crawford pulls back the curtain on some of the unique spaces built into the GSE’s new campus construction project.

What are some of the specialty spaces in the new campus?

One of the spaces that is special in our new campus is the research testing suite, which is a place for faculty to bring in individuals to participate in education-focused research projects. It includes a secure data room, which provides a space for storing and analyzing highly sensitive data. There’s also the classroom of the future – a space outfitted with video, sound, haptic and other technology to allow research to analyze classroom-based teaching practices and student engagement in vivo. We also have a makerspace and the related AI Tinkery.

We will also have event spaces like the Great Hall, Barnum Hub, Community Forum, and a top floor meeting room with expansive view. These will be game changers for the GSE. So many of our events, even when we were in our original buildings, had to be held outside of the school and across campus. Now they’re finally going to be able to be held in-house in spaces that bring in natural light, afford inspiring views, and can support a range of gatherings.

What role did members of the GSE community have in the creation of these spaces?

We started working on the project in 2017 and have had various phases that included gathering input from community members.

In the design phase we held a number of focus groups with the architects. Faculty, research staff, and students shared what their dream space would include. And we’ve continued meeting with these groups and getting feedback throughout the process.

Their suggestions wholly informed the design.

Who are these specialty spaces designed for?

We really customized these spaces for the �� education community, particularly our research spaces and the kind of work education scholars do. The research spaces are for our faculty, doctoral students, and research staff so they can pursue the kind of interesting and groundbreaking research that you would expect from ��. That includes the research testing suite, the secure data room, and the classroom of the future.

The GSE Makery and AI Tinkery are spaces that speak particularly well to our Learning Design and Technology program, but they’re for anyone who’s thinking creatively or entrepreneurially about learning. Both spaces will be open to the greater �� community, and there will be opportunities for those outside �� to take advantage of the spaces, as well. We have many collaborations with local schools, for example.

The event space is really for everyone — the GSE community, �� broadly, and beyond. We host events and programs for people from across the country and across the globe to share expertise and co-create solutions for education, and it’s really exciting to have a flagship space dedicated to learning for the world.

What do you hope these specialty spaces will accomplish for the GSE?

On day one of moving into the new spaces, I foresee a new energy for the school inspired by the remodeled space but mostly because the community will be together. Before this project, the GSE was spread across several buildings. Everything will be nicer — prettier, more polished, and logistically smoother. Over time, the space will change how we think about engagement, teaching, and research.

It will enable new possibilities and allow people to move forward in new directions. It sounds fantastical, but I think it’s a human experience we’ve all had. When you enter a space that is inclusive, inspiring, resourced and welcoming, you can be your best self and most successful.

When we do that for a community, especially one committed to advancing learning, it can be transformative. I’m excited for our �� community to have this space, but more so for the impact it will have on expanding knowledge, creating solutions, and advancing our vision to improve learning for all. What happens in the space is really where the magic happens.

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In first novel, �� scholar explores challenges faced by college presidents

Brooke Donald Gorlick — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 04:37:22 +0000

In first novel, �� scholar explores challenges faced by college presidents

Brooke Donald … Wed, 10/30/2024 - 21:37

�� GSE's Tom Ehrlich explores the relationship between university athletics and academics in his new novel set at a fictional college campus. (Photo: carterdayne/iStock)

Campus Life | Faculty and Programs | Higher Education

Tom Ehrlich, of the Graduate School of Education, tells a tale of academics vs. athletics in his first novel, and prepares for his upcoming memoir.

October 30, 2024

By Brooke Donald

Tom Ehrlich, adjunct professor at �� Graduate School of Education, has served in six U.S. presidential administrations and been university president, provost, and dean at three public and private campuses across the country. As a legal and education scholar, he has written 14 non-fiction books and scores of articles.

Now at age 90, he’s taking on a decidedly different genre: fiction. “It’s a lot of fun,” Ehrlich said. “It’s liberating to be able to say, ‘What if?’”

The first of his two novels, so far, is The Search: An Insider’s Novel About a University President. While the book, which was published last summer, draws on his own experiences at Indiana University, where he was the 15th president, the story explores the timeless friction between athletics and academics and the ongoing debate around the value of higher education and who colleges serve.

His second novel, due to be published next fall, is a murder tale - not at a university, but at an independent living community like the one in Palo Alto, where he and his wife, Ellen, now live. “I’m a big believer in telling stories,” Ehrlich said, “and telling them in ways that reveal something about how we live and learn and engage with each other.”

In between those novels, Ehrlich’s memoir will be published in January 2025. Learn, Lead, Serve: A Civic Life provided Ehrlich with the opportunity to dive deeply into his own stories, from childhood to now, spotlighting his close-knit relationship with his father, and the work he and Ellen did in higher education, government, and nonprofit organizations.

The following interview was edited for length and clarity.

The Search follows the president of fictional Nebraska State University looking for a new football coach/athletic director after the beloved coach suddenly dies on the field at a big game. Why did you take this angle?

You write what you know. And the issue of academics over athletics was starting to roil again. I thought it would be interesting to weave this issue into a novel.

When I was at Indiana University, I was in very public disagreement with the combative basketball coach Bob Knight. I received 10,000 letters about how I was handling or mishandling the situation. One I kept in my office and looked at whenever my head was getting a little swelled. “Mr. President, I’m 84 years old. I’m in a wheelchair. I live for Indiana University basketball. You can take your goddamn bow ties and go back where you belong.”

I was hired at Indiana to strengthen academics while also understanding the role and power of the athletics program. In my novel, the protagonist, Charlie Rosen, was hired at Nebraska State - a fictional school - to do the same.

I tried to give a sense of what it felt like to be president when you were trying to grapple with so many constituencies in a public university. A public university is the “main street” of American higher education, and I wanted to be on that street.

�� GSE Adjust Professor Tom Ehrlich (Photo courtesy of Tom Ehrlich)

College presidents are facing many tough issues these days. Given what you know and experienced, would you encourage someone to go into that role?

Yes! Presidents are facing tough issues, but they’ve always faced tough issues. When I was provost at the University of Pennsylvania, for example, there were frequent sit-ins in my office.

The job is challenging but I enjoyed the chance to strengthen the university. What a wonderful opportunity it was! I like academic planning. To work on what I call “institutional architecture” – making a great university even better – was a privilege. I tried to help strengthen the ways in which students learned, and faculty taught and did research. It’s a challenge to be a university president, but one that comes with a lot of joys as well.

This was your first novel. How did that compare to writing academic papers or nonfiction?

Novels must be interesting and entertaining. I took a creative writing course at ��. I liked it so much that I took two more! There were challenges. I’m used to writing in paragraphs, and people don’t talk in paragraphs so creating dialogue was a challenge. The other big challenge was including many details. You want to know that someone is wearing a pale green shirt and white pants. All those things that make your character a human being in a novel, you don’t worry about in academic pieces. In fact, you might lose points in an academic paper if you put those in! There were many other lessons I learned in my creative writing courses. I had great teachers, and their courses helped.

Your memoir is called Learn, Lead, Serve: A Civic Life. Is that how you’d describe your life?

My editor chose the title, but yes, I really have enjoyed learning, leading institutions, and serving the public interest. And I enjoy teaching. Every year I was a dean, provost, and president, I taught at least one course. I had never taught when I walked into my first course teaching contracts at �� Law School. Initially I could not understand why students found some concepts so difficult, while I found them so simple. Finally, I asked a friend to video several classes, and by studying the videos I began to see where my students weren’t getting the concepts. I learned how to identify and unpack roadblocks and meet students where they were having problems. When I joined the �� Graduate School of Education faculty, that experience led me to teach the course, “Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.” I still believe that doctoral students who are planning to become faculty members should take at least one course that will help them be better teachers.

The memoir focuses on my time in the federal government, as well as my years at ��, the University of Pennsylvania, and Indiana University. In meeting the leadership challenges on those campuses, I tried hard to connect what I learned in one position to do a better job in the next position. I also had great satisfaction working in the federal government – in the State Department when JFK and then LBJ were presidents, as the first president of the Legal Services Corporation, which funds legal aid for poor people, and working directly for President Carter in charge of bilateral and multilateral foreign aid policies. These experiences have made my primary other roles in higher education ones that help prepare college students with the knowledge, skills and attributes to be actively engaged in civic work. It concerns me that so few young people today are interested in public service. Our country suffers as a result.

What is next for you?

I’ve entered a new chapter, so to speak. I’m still a GSE adjunct professor, helping whenever I am asked and advising students, and I hope to remain in that role as long as I am vertical. I am grateful to the school, its faculty and administrators for giving me the chance to be their colleague. Now I also volunteer at a number of community organizations. One, for example, helps immigrants improve their English.

Will there be another novel? I doubt it—but one never knows.

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Finding education on the ballot

Olivia Peterkin — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 22:40:36 +0000

Finding education on the ballot

Olivia Peterkin Fri, 10/25/2024 - 15:40

Two students hold up "Vote for Education" stickers at an Oct. 8 teach-in hosted by Undergraduate Programs at the GSE (UP@GSE). (Photo: Joleen Richards)

Campus Life | Civics and History | Education Policy

�� GSE senior lecturer Jennifer Wolf discusses ways to help empower students to use their vote to advocate for their beliefs.

October 28, 2024

By Olivia Peterkin

For many college undergraduates, this presidential election marks the first time they’re eligible to vote. But there are many barriers to entry, said Jennifer Wolf, a senior lecturer at �� Graduate School of Education (GSE) and director of undergraduate programs at the GSE (UP@GSE).

“Oftentimes students are away from home and from all the different resources that they might typically draw on,” she said. “On top of that, they’re encapsulated inside of a fast-moving, high-demand university setting where they have to think about studying for finals,” let alone dealing with a thick ballot and deciding how to vote.

On Oct. 8 Wolf hosted a teach-in at �� to help prepare students for the upcoming election, with nonpartisan information on voting and a particular focus on finding ways to advocate for education through the ballot.

“Voting is not easy,” said Wolf, who hosts a teach-in for education every presidential election year. “I tell my students that voting is like studying for finals, only more important. You don’t just go in there and decide willy nilly — you have to study,” Wolf said.

Here, Wolf discusses the importance of civic education, offers tips for teachers, and suggests how voters can look for education on the ballot.

Jennifer Wolf is a senior lecturer at the GSE and director of undergraduate programs at the GSE. (Photo: Sofiia Kukhar)

What is a teach-in, and why do you host one on voting for education?

A teach-in is a brief, designed, exchange of information on a critically important current issue in the education democracy. UP@GSE hosts a variety of teach-ins — we’ve also conducted them on book banning, curricular freedom, and rampage school shootings, to name a few.

We exchange information freely on these topics, not related to a grade or credit, because we veer into political territory where people are welcome to bring different opinions.

My hope is that people come to the teach-in already solid in their own beliefs about education and what’s important to them. How they feel about school choice, teacher salaries and unionization, freedom of speech across the school sphere — those are their beliefs to form themselves.

Our job with the teach-in is to identify how to vote for those beliefs on a ballot, because it’s not super clear. And especially with education, you raise your voting power as you go lower down on the ballot.

What are some misconceptions people might have when it comes to “voting for education?”

There’s a long distance between who we vote for president and how that’s going to affect our local school district. If I want to have power over the local school district, I need to vote for my school board members and my state legislators.

Sometimes an issue of education makes it onto the votable state ballot, but more often a bill is put forward in the state legislature that you as the citizenry writ large aren’t going to vote on. The state assemblyperson and senator that you vote for are going to vote on that.

On a ballot you will see bonds for schools, but that’s almost always a funding thing. Bonds, because they’re collected through tax dollars, have to be brought forward by voters.

Almost everything else with regard to education goes through the state legislature, because in the United States, each state, protectorate, and tribal nation is responsible for its own education governance. For example, Massachusetts set up public education in 1852, but it wasn’t until 1917 that Mississippi did the same. We need to pay attention to our state legislatures with regard to education because each state has its own take.

How can we help students make informed voting decisions?

One of the things we do at the teach-in is to give people questions to ask their local legislators when it comes to their stances on issues. We also connect them with nonpartisan voting resources like Ballotpedia, where voters can enter the zip code where they’re registered to vote and see their ballot, as well as a summary of every candidate, initiative, and bond in three sentences.

There’s also �� Votes, Secretaries of State Voter Guides, State Policy Network, and the National Center for Education Statistics, among many others. We’re not doing this work alone. I also encourage students to look into recommendations from news outlets and organizations they trust to see why they support a particular candidate.

At the teach-in I share a matrix I use that lists all of the candidates and initiatives I’m interested in, what the recommendations are, and the stances of candidates on both sides.

We also cover education bills in play, by state, public K-12 spending per student, and some people, places, and races they may want to watch.

Some might find that level of research daunting. How can we make it less overwhelming?

I tell people to do it communally, to find other people you care about and do it together. Every year I sit with my mom and my daughter and we do it together. We have some issues where we have different beliefs, but we say this is the night when we’re going to do this, and we get out the drinks and the hors d’oeuvres.

Voting is a tool for your citizenship at the federal, state, and local realms, and each of these contributes to democracy.

What tips do you have for teachers who want to teach students about voting in a nonpartisan way?

For me, the primary thing I’ve done is lead teach-ins and take the civics education outside of the classroom. I never want a student to feel they need to meet, mimic, reflect, or agree with my political ideas in order to earn a grade.

Students need to feel free to come into a classroom and learn with their own belief system in place. I mean, we’re going to challenge it, and we’re going to talk about it, but I don’t ever want students to think they need to agree with me.

By putting this in a teach-in setting, we remove that. It’s completely voluntary and it’s not transactional in any way. You come to the teach-in and you get knowledge, a sticker, cookies, and an apple. There’s nothing else to be gained.

For me that’s one thing that’s really important in teaching civics education. We just want to empower students to vote, not in a specific way or for a specific person.

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Building a sustainable home for �� Graduate School of Education

Olivia Peterkin — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 16:19:51 +0000

Building a sustainable home for �� Graduate School of Education

Olivia Peterkin Mon, 08/19/2024 - 09:19

An October 2023 photo of the site of the future sunken garden on the north side of the new GSE campus, adjacent to Green Library. The sunken garden is part of the plan to create shady, comfortable outdoor green spaces to the campus community. (Photo courtesy McCarthy Construction)

Campus Life

From preserving roofing tiles to creating energy-efficient spaces, teams have been working to ensure that the new campus is a greener one.

August 19, 2024

By Olivia Peterkin

The ambitious campus construction project at �� Graduate School of Education (GSE) is more than just a series of upgrades designed to benefit future generations of educators. It’s a comprehensive approach to sustainability that considers history and people, as well as the planet.

From preserving roofing tiles, windows and entire buildings to establishing more energy-efficient infrastructure, architects, engineers, and construction teams have been working behind the scenes to ensure that the new GSE is a greener one.

“The first step for this project was figuring out the smaller parts we wanted, and how they fit into a larger whole,” said Mousam Adcock, a principal at CAW Architects who has been involved with the project since 2017. “Sustainability was obviously a very important part of this process, and we think of it as something that can be achieved environmentally, socially, and historically.”

Reducing waste while recycling and reusing materials

One of the biggest ways that the project has minimized its ecological impact is by preserving the exterior of the historic north building (also known as the education building), which was originally designed in the 1930s. The building was effectively gutted and kept intact to make room for interior renovations.

Many other aspects of the building's original makeup also were retained, including columns, windows, and floor and roofing tiles.

“The best thing about it from a sustainability standpoint is that we’re reusing the whole structure, rather than tearing it down and pouring tons of concrete to build anew,” said Susan Vargas, senior energy management specialist at ��. “Doing that adaptive reuse of the massive structure of the building is the best, because all of that embodied energy in the concrete and other building materials is being retained.”

For other parts of the GSE project, which include the Barnum Center renovation and construction of a new south building adjacent to it, all nonhazardous materials were either recycled or repurposed.

“Every material that was demolished was removed and sorted in a sustainable way,” Adcock said. “Every piece of rebar in the old [north] building that was removed from the interior core was recycled, and every chunk of concrete was crushed to be reused elsewhere.”

Energy efficiency as a priority

In addition to avoiding physical waste, teams involved in the GSE construction project are building to ensure that it is as energy efficient as possible. This means updating the heating and cooling systems, and minimizing energy use while still meeting building needs.

“There’s a central energy facility on the west side of campus that generates hot water, puts it into pipes and sends it all the way around the university, and this will be the first time that the north building and Barnum will be connected to this system,” Vargas said. “When the campus was getting switched over from steam to hot water, we couldn’t do the education building because it had old steam radiators and there wasn’t a way for those to work properly with hot water.”

These hydronic radiant cooling systems, which use hot and cold water to heat and cool buildings, are more energy efficient, and will be used in the north building’s forum space from the ground up to focus conditioned air at the people level, expending less energy in higher areas of the building.

“For high-volume spaces, the most effective way to heat and cool is to have it where people are,” Adcock said. “So if it’s radiated off of the floor and about six feet up, then you don’t have to condition the whole room. This way you’re actually using less energy to condition large-volume spaces.”

Right off the bat, the new and remodeled buildings will use a third less energy than they would have if they were served by a conventional chiller and boiler, Vargas said.

Creating socially and historically sustainable spaces

Another aspect of the project’s sustainability efforts centers around the idea of social sustainability, which prioritizes the needs of people in a building. The facets of design created with people in mind have more to do with ensuring the areas are conducive to learning, working, and convening.

“We think a workspace should be pleasant, a place where people want to go,” Adcock said. “Giving almost every desk in the building access to natural light and a view outside is really important in how we design. It’s taking care of everyone’s well-being by having that access to nature.”

The outdoor areas around the buildings were also designed to be comfortable, with access to shade, which also speaks to the idea of social sustainability, she said.

When it comes to historic sustainability, she said retaining elements of the north building like the exterior, roof tiles, columns, and windows honors the original construction while modernizing the building as a whole.

“When you enter the north building lobby once it’s all renovated, it will have a lot of the old pieces from the original, but as you move toward the new forum, you transition from the historic space to the new space, and it’s quite clear where that happens,” Adcock said. “It’s a gradual transition from the old to the new, so we’re being respectful to what came before.”

Her favorite aspect of the project’s design and construction is the fact that no matter where someone is on the GSE campus, they won’t be far from the outdoors.

“Whether you’re on the first floor in the north building or the fourth floor terrace of the south building, you can instantly be connected to the fact that you’re learning and working on a beautiful campus in California.”

At the start of construction, the iconic red roof tiles of the north building were removed and stored. They’ll be reinstalled later in the project. (Photo courtesy McCarthy Construction)

Demolition debris was sorted for recycling. (Photo courtesy McCarthy Construction)

The east side of the third floor of the north building will overlook Meyer green, which is part of the university’s town center plan for green spaces at the heart of campus. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

The large, ornate windows of the north building are being preserved in the upgrades to the GSE campus. (Photo: Ryan Zhang)

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�� GSE welcomes two new faculty members

Olivia Peterkin — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 18:35:39 +0000

�� GSE welcomes two new faculty members

Olivia Peterkin Wed, 07/10/2024 - 11:35

(Photo: Andrew Brodhead)

Announcements | Campus Life | Faculty and Programs

Maisha T. Winn studies equity and restorative justice, and Christina Krist researches teaching and science education.

July 10, 2024

By Olivia Peterkin

As the �� Graduate School of education (GSE) continues to innovate and expand with the goal of improving lives through learning, so too does its faculty.

In the coming months, two new professors — Maisha T. Winn and Christina Krist — will be bringing their expertise to the GSE and the �� Accelerator for Learning in efforts to further the school’s mission.

“Maisha and Christina bring unique perspectives and experience to the GSE. Both are exceptional scholars who share a deep commitment to teachers and students,” said Dan Schwartz, the I. James Quillen Dean of the GSE. “I’m thrilled to welcome them to our community.”

Maisha Winn started at the GSE on July 1. (Photo: Christie Gimpel)

Maisha T. Winn

For Winn, MA ‘98, her new roles as professor of education and faculty director of the Accelerator’s initiative for equity in learning mark a return to the GSE, where she earned a master’s degree in Language, Literacy and Culture. She followed that up with a PhD in Language, Literacy & Culture from the University of California, Berkeley.

“After completing my master’s program, I was confident that I would continue my journey in the academy and that I wanted to be a researcher,” said Winn, whose scholarship focuses on restorative justice and contemporary and historical perspectives in Black education. “It was such a sacred and special time in terms of being introduced to a body of research, literature and thinking that really inspired me.”

Winn’s upcoming book, “Futuring Black Lives: Independent Black Institutions and the Literary Imagination,” will be published next year. It examines the ideas and writings of leaders in Black institution building during the Black Arts Movement (1965-1975) and puts them in contemporary perspective. Winn says these “historical signals” provide context for equity work.

Winn comes to �� from the University of California, Davis, School of Education, where she was the Chancellor’s Leadership Professor and co-founder and faculty director of the school’s Transformative Justice in Education Center.

In her new role with the Accelerator, she will build on existing equity-focused work across the accelerator, spearhead projects that address disparities in educational outcomes, and foster collaborations with community organizations and educational institutions.

“I think this is such an exciting time right now for �� and the GSE,” Winn said. “The Accelerator is a source of such innovative thinking for how we can solve really important issues that are impacting young people in the country, all over the world, and across silos and disciplines.”

Winn started on July 1.

Christina Krist will join the GSE on September 1. (Photo: Michelle Hassel)

Christina Krist

Krist will join the GSE as an associate professor of education, with a focus on science education. Her first day is September 1.

Her research focuses on teacher education, and how to make science education more humanizing and equitable for students. She comes to �� after seven years as an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

“I was drawn to the fact that the GSE seems like a place where there’s this strong commitment to teacher education and teacher learning,” Krist said. “There’s also this culture of theoretical development and innovation that makes me really excited to join the GSE, where I can continue to lean into that line of scholarship.”

Much of her work involves teachers in the classroom, including her recent research about creating a professional development model for high school teachers to adapt curricula to student knowledge.

Krist earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Grinnell College in Iowa, and her PhD in learning sciences from Northwestern University. She’s won several awards and fellowships, including the 2023 early career research award from NARST: A global organization for improving science education through research, and the 2020 reviewer of the year award from Journal of the Learning Sciences.

While at the GSE she expects to work with students and faculty to study, explore and build on what excellence in science education looks like.

“I look forward to building this community at the GSE where we think about science education, what we want it to look like, and how we go about making it so,” she said.

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Faculty mentioned in this article: Dan Schwartz , Maisha Winn

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Maisha T. Winn

Christina Krist

�� Graduate School of Education kicks off new academic year in remodeled space

�� education graduates urged to be flexible in the face of disruption

�� GSE course tackles gap between edtech research and real-world practice

In first novel, �� scholar explores challenges faced by college presidents

Building a sustainable home for �� Graduate School of Education

�� GSE welcomes two new faculty members