In Memoriam

Jean Lythcott, beloved former �� GSE educator, dies at 86

Olivia Peterkin — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 21:22:46 +0000

Jean Lythcott, beloved former �� GSE educator, dies at 86

Olivia Peterkin Thu, 03/27/2025 - 14:22

Photo courtesy: Julie Lythcott-Haims

In Memoriam | Teaching

Lythcott was best known for her exemplary teaching, advocacy for students, and infectious love of science.

March 27, 2025

By Olivia Peterkin

Jean “Jeannie” Lythcott, a former clinical professor of science education at �� Graduate School of Education (GSE), died of cancer on March 1 at her home in Palo Alto. She was 86.

Lythcott, who came to �� in 2000, had a significant and enduring influence in the field of teacher education through both the students she taught and the colleagues she worked alongside.

She was best known for her love of science, her persistence and energy when advocating for students, and her commitment to excellent instruction.

“Jeannie Lythcott was a master pedagogue who taught everyone she touched, not only how to become an ever more thoughtful teacher, but how to become an ever more caring human being,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus at the GSE, who first worked with Lythcott at Teachers College, Columbia University, and later brought Lythcott to the �� Teacher Education Program (STEP).

“She not only taught future science teachers, but also taught her colleagues through discussions and modeling how to deeply understand teaching and the process of learning to teach,” Darling-Hammond said.

A catalyst for scientific discovery

For the entirety of her decades-long career as a science educator, Lythcott was known for evangelizing her love of science.

“Whether it was her teaching a small science lesson or doing this one demonstration where she’d karate chop a meter stick with a newspaper, she knew how to be both a showman and a sage on stage,” said Bryan Brown, the Kamalachari Professor of Science Education at the GSE, who co-taught a curriculum instruction course for science teachers with Lythcott for seven years.

“I’m always an admirer of anybody who is a teacher at heart, and she really exemplified the ethos of a person who is here to teach and educate,” he said.

As a clinical professor of science education at the GSE, she taught and mentored teacher candidates, connected STEP with schools and teachers in the community, and helped create programs that lean on those relationships. She was also the first to receive the Geballe Family Clinical Associate for Science Education in 2009.

“Jeannie’s contributions to the STEP program were vast,” said Rachel Lotan, MA '81, PhD ‘85, a professor emerita of education and former director of STEP. “She set standards about the quality of both her teaching in the classroom and how she prepared for it outside of it.”

In her work with both students and faculty, she was well-regarded for pushing the boundaries on excellence and commitment to her craft.

“In every meeting, activity, conversation and event with Jeannie, you left feeling inspired and lifted,” said Professor Ira Lit, faculty director of STEP. “You really couldn’t ask for a better colleague. She was brilliant and she asked hard questions in a way that was inviting, inclusive, and stimulated deep thought.”

A force of nature

Lythcott was born on Jan. 30, 1939, in Ryhill, a coal-mining village in Yorkshire, England.

She received her undergraduate degree in botany and chemistry from Manchester University in 1960, her PhD in science education at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1987, and then taught on the faculty at Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York until 1994.

Over the course of her life as an educator, she worked with students and teachers in the United States — including co-founding Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School in Massachusetts, where she taught math and science — the United Kingdom and Ghana, in addition to spending many summers teaching for The Peace Corps around the world.

“Jeannie was so well known as an effective teacher and amazing mentor,” said Ruthann Costanza, director of clinical work at STEP. “Teachers would be more than glad to go to a meeting if Jeannie was there. It was like she held court with her background experience, and I was in awe of the work that she did.”

In notes from former STEP alums honoring her life, she’s described as a passionate and enthusiastic mentor, a stellar model of intellectual curiosity, and a “force of nature.”

“My mother knew that the capacity to excel lives within us all, and that the right teacher helps bring the student to a greater familiarity with their own talents,” said Julie Lythcott-Haims, Lythcott’s daughter, and former dean of freshman and undergraduate advising at ��.

“She was devoted to education as a tool of liberation, and science as the deepest source of understanding,” Lythcott-Haims said. “Being a science educator, she felt that her work would be life changing for every student she encountered, and she had a love affair with science that she shared with the world.”

Lythcott is survived by her children Ian Forrester and Julie Lythcott-Haims; her stepchildren, Ngina Lythcott, George Lythcott and Michael Lythcott; her sisters, Carol Snookes and Patricia Williams; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her first love, Ian Forrester (who died in 1958), and her husband, George Lythcott (who died in 1995).

Those who wish to donate in her memory can send contributions to the STEP Fellowship Fund, the League of Women Voters of Palo Alto, and the University AME Zion Church in Palo Alto.

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Faculty mentioned in this article: Ira Lit , Linda Darling-Hammond , Rachel Lotan , Bryan Brown

Lee Shulman, influential education scholar and beloved former �� GSE professor, dies at 86

Olivia Peterkin — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 21:38:01 +0000

Lee Shulman, influential education scholar and beloved former �� GSE professor, dies at 86

Olivia Peterkin Tue, 01/21/2025 - 13:38

Lee Shulman, whose research had a transformative influence on the field of education, was also celebrated for his humble approach to collaboration and a compassionate heart. (Photo: Chris Wesselman)

In Memoriam

Shulman was best known academically for introducing the concept of pedagogical content knowledge, and in personal circles for creating community wherever he went.

January 21, 2025

By Olivia Peterkin

Lee Shulman, an educational psychologist and professor emeritus at �� Graduate School of Education (GSE), died on Dec. 30, 2024, at Moldaw Residences, a senior living community in Palo Alto. He was 86.

Shulman, who came to �� in 1982 and was named the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, had a transformative influence on the field of education through his research emphasizing the importance of teachers’ understanding of both pedagogy and content.

Among colleagues and friends, he was celebrated as someone with a brilliant mind for research, a humble approach to collaboration, and a compassionate heart.

“His whole career was committed to understanding and improving the teaching force and supporting teachers around the world,” said Richard Shavelson, former dean of the GSE and Margaret Jacks Professor of Education, emeritus.

“He had great respect for teachers’ capacity to take both scientific and conceptual knowledge of teaching to be able to work with each and every kid, to teach them and let them thrive,” Shavelson said.

A “giant” in the field of education

In academic circles, Shulman was best known for developing the concept of pedagogical content knowledge, the idea that in addition to knowing the subject matter and how to teach it, teachers need to know how to adapt the content to students’ understanding.

“It’s hard to overemphasize his impact on education,” said Pam Grossman, PhD '88, Nomellini and Olivier professor of education, emerita, at the GSE and a former student of Shulman’s. “Lee was brilliant at understanding and naming these ideas that transformed the field, and he was really part of the cognitive turn in educational research — looking not just at teacher actions or behaviors, but at teacher thinking and knowledge.”

Shulman was also highly regarded for his research related to teaching and learning in professions such as law, medicine, nursing, and engineering, including how practitioners are trained in various fields and how this preparation later shapes how they practice.

“He’s a giant of the field of education, known around the world because he introduced some very basic concepts in educational literature,” said Rachel Lotan, MA '81, PhD ‘85, a professor emerita of education and former director of the �� Teacher Education Program (STEP).

“What I so admired in him was his incredible, vast knowledge in so many fields, and how he came to learn so much about the knowledge base of so many professions,” she said.

After retiring from �� in 1997, Shulman served as the eighth president for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, where he continued much of his work around teaching and the professions.

“When Lee became president at Carnegie, it had been very focused on student achievement, and he changed the agenda of the foundation and its personnel,” said Gary Fenstermacher, an educational philosopher and professor emeritus at the University of Michigan, who worked with Shulman at Carnegie.

“Because of all his concern about teaching, he launched a serious study of the professions, and he used a lot of his connections at �� to nurture that work,” he said. Lee relocated the foundation’s headquarters from Princeton, N.J., to Palo Alto when he took office. “Carnegie wasn’t on the �� campus when he took over, but the fact he got it there was pretty extraordinary.”

A colleague, coach and companion to many

Shulman was born on Sept. 28, 1938, to Jewish immigrants who owned a small delicatessen on the northwest side of Chicago.

He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Chicago, then taught as a professor of educational psychology at Michigan State University, from 1963 to 1982, before coming to ��.

Although he was an only child, he became family to many, including an academic brotherhood that included Shulman, Fenstermacher, Shavelson and David Berliner, PhD '68, a fellow educational psychologist and professor emeritus at Arizona State University.

The four, along with their wives, would go on trips and celebrate birthdays together for three decades of close-knit friendship.

“When you’re a teenager, you have bosom buddies and close friends, and when you’re a professional, you have colleagues,” Berliner said. “What was so perfect about the intellectual friendships of the men was that we managed to break out of being just colleagues and become close friends.”

To students he was known for asking tough questions, championing their work, and encouraging them to collaborate with others.

“He was constantly trying to get me connected to the larger academic community, so that I would be part of it and nurtured in it,” said one of his former students, Karen Hammerness, PhD ‘99, now senior education research director at the American Museum of Natural History. “This was because he sees scholarship as a community and believes that ideas are collective.”

He received many rewards for his academic contributions, including the American Psychological Association’s E.L. Thorndike Award for Career Achievement in Educational Psychology in 1995, the Grawemeyer Award in Education in 2006, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for College of Teacher Education in 2008.

To everyone who knew him, especially friends and family, he was a foodie, an entertainer, and an excellent storyteller.

“The biggest thing he taught me, and that I’m going to take forward, is his big heart,” said Dina Shulman, his daughter. “He had so much success, but he really was always kind and respectful to everyone. Amid all of his professional accolades and everything he accomplished, he was still just the best dad.”

Shulman is survived by his three children, Allen, Dan, and Dina Shulman; five grandchildren, Joey, Jordy, Becky, Sarah, and Sam; and one great-grandchild, Norah Shulman.

He was preceded in death by his wife and fellow scholar Judy Horwitz Shulman, who founded the Institute for Case Development in Education, a global resource for educators.

Those who wish to donate in his memory can send contributions to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, �� Hospital Jewish Chaplaincy, or the Camp Ramah Tikvah program in Ojai, Calif.

Lee Shulman (center right) was part of an academic brotherhood that included Richard Shavelson (far left), Gary Fenstermacher (middle left) and David Berliner (far right). Here the group is pictured on a trip to Mexico in 2001. (Photo courtesy: Gary Fenstermacher)

Lee Shulman (right) with former student Karen Hammerness at her PhD graduation in 1999. (Photo courtesy: Karen Hammerness)

Lee Shulman (left) and David Berliner eat pastrami sandwiches together at a delicatessen, one of many favorite pastimes they shared. (Photo courtesy: David Berliner)

Lee Shulman (left) pictured with his late wife, Judy Horwitz Shulman. (Photo courtesy: Dina Shulman)

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Faculty mentioned in this article: Rachel Lotan , Rich Shavelson , Pam Grossman

Marshall S. Smith, former dean at �� GSE, dies at 85

Carrie Spector — Sat, 20 May 2023 01:14:28 +0000

Marshall S. Smith, former dean at �� GSE, dies at 85

Carrie Spector Fri, 05/19/2023 - 18:14

Marshall "Mike" S. Smith

In Memoriam

An influential figure in education who served in four administrations, Smith was a strong advocate for educational equity and standards-based reform.

May 12, 2023

By Carrie Spector

Marshall “Mike” S. Smith, a former dean at �� Graduate School of Education (GSE) who held influential roles in education policy during four presidential administrations, died on May 1 of cancer at his home in Palo Alto. He was 85.

Smith, who moved back and forth between high-level posts in government and academia throughout his six-decade career, is credited with developing the concept of standards-based education reform, which ties K-12 curriculum, assessment, and teacher preparation to standards set at the state level.

As dean of the GSE from 1986 to 1993, he championed efforts to increase faculty diversity and to connect research more closely with practice and policy.

“Mike was such a renaissance man,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, the Charles E. Ducommun Professor, Emerita, at ��, president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute, and president of the California State Board of Education. “He was a policy scholar and a policy maker, and he moved between the worlds of research and government and practice in ways that were highly impactful in all of those domains.”

Smith’s scholarship and leadership launched a fundamental change in federal education policy to address the deep disparities in U.S. students’ school experiences and outcomes.

He was “a key architect in envisioning education reform as a system shift, rather than piecemeal change,” said Kenji Hakuta, the Lee J. Jacks Professor of Education, Emeritus, at ��, who joined the faculty during Smith’s tenure as dean. “He fervently believed in the view that working toward high standards for all students was the path to equity in education.”

From academia to government

Smith was born Sept. 16, 1937, in East Orange, New Jersey, He earned three degrees from Harvard University, including his bachelor’s in 1960 and a doctorate in measurement and statistics from Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1970.

He met his wife, Nicki (Claiborn) Smith, in graduate school while both were pursuing their master’s degrees; the couple wed in 1964 and had four children. Nicki, a longtime educator and GSE alum who earned her second master’s in educational administration in 1993, went on to serve as principal at several Bay Area schools until her retirement in 2017.

In the mid-1970s, Smith, who had been an associate professor at Harvard, joined the Ford administration as director of policy and budget for the National Institute of Education. Under the Carter administration, he served as assistant commissioner for policy studies at the U.S. Department of Education (then known as the Office of Education), then worked as chief of staff for the first secretary of education.

In 1980, he left Washington and returned to academia, joining the faculty of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he also directed the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. He came to �� in 1986 as a professor and dean at the GSE, a post he held until 1993.

As dean, he was “a visionary leader who ushered in a wave of faculty appointments representing diversity,” Hakuta said. Smith also kept the GSE going at a time when its future was in question: In the early 1990s, the University of Chicago moved to close its Department of Education, stirring other prominent universities nationwide – including �� – to consider doing the same.

Martin Carnoy, the Lemann Foundation Professor at the GSE and a member of the faculty since 1969, attributes the GSE’s survival during that period to Smith’s strong and skillful leadership. “We would not have a school of education today if there had been a weaker person in the job.”

A new agenda for K-12 education

While at ��, Smith developed his work on standards-based reform, collaborating closely with scholar Jennifer O’Day, PhD ’95, on pivotal convenings and research. He and O’Day, who later founded the California Collaborative on District Reform and is now a fellow at the American Institutes for Research, published extensively on standards-based reform. “It was probably the most influential view of how to change the educational system in a comprehensive way,” said Carnoy.

Smith left the GSE in 1993 to join the Clinton Administration, where he led the transition team for education policy and served as under secretary and, later, acting deputy secretary of the Department of Education. There he helped usher in a new agenda for K-12 education with the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, which provided states with funding to develop math and reading standards, and the Improving American’s Schools Act, which incorporated provisions to hold schools accountable for those standards.

In 2001, he left Washington again and took on a new role in philanthropy as director of education programs at the Hewlett Foundation, where he continued to focus on public school reform and improving the effectiveness of community colleges. In 2009, he returned to the federal government, serving in the Obama Administration as a senior advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and as director of international affairs at the Department of Education.

“I think he saw each role as a chance to make a difference,” said Milbrey McLaughlin, the David Jacks Professor of Education and Public Policy, Emeritus, at �� and founding director of the GSE’s John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities. “That was always what motivated him, whether it was through government or academia or philanthropy.”

In 2019, Smith and O’Day published the book Opportunity for All: A Framework for Quality and Equality in Education, drawing on more than 30 years of research, policy, and practice to advance both equity and outcomes.

“Mike understood that if you can bring evidence and research and disciplined thinking into government work, you can leverage the tools of policy to see greater impact from that research,” said Darling-Hammond. “And if you can bring an understanding of policy and government and how it operates back to the academy, you can produce research that is more helpful for this bigger project.”

A ‘deeply personal’ leadership style

For all of his high-level appointments and accomplishments, Smith was known for his warm and informal presence. Colleagues recall him walking around the halls of the Department of Education in sneakers, sandals, or often just his stocking feet.

His leadership style was “deeply personal,” said Hakuta, and he was widely known as a generous mentor and listener. “He was always interested in what you were doing and thinking, and he always made time to talk,” McLaughlin said. “He always made people feel like there was nobody else he would rather be talking to.”

Former students and colleagues also remember him as a “connector” who frequently identified and introduced potential collaborators.

Jorge Ruiz de Velasco, deputy director and senior research associate at the Gardner Center, worked under Smith at the Hewlett Foundation and described him as “a constant source of inspiration.” On a walk about a year ago, he and Smith talked about current challenges in public education, including the growing distrust in government institutions and the intrusion of the culture wars in schools. “But he remained optimistic,” Ruiz de Velasco said. “Not so much because he had faith that public education would ‘perfect our democracy’ – but because he believed in the evidence that public education is the principal means by which we constantly reinvent our democracy and rediscover shared purpose.”

Smith is survived by his wife of 59 years, Nicki; their children, Adam, Jennifer, Matthew, and Megan; six grandchildren, Emma, Mira, Zoey, Isadora, Elena, and Lucas; one great-grandchild, River; and his sister, Connie Moskowitz.

In lieu of flowers, his family requests that donations in his memory be made to education or environmental groups of the donor’s choice. A memorial service will be held Sept. 16 at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in Palo Alto (further details forthcoming).

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Nel Noddings, feminist philosopher and �� education scholar, dies at 93

Carrie Spector — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 15:35:38 +0000

Nel Noddings, feminist philosopher and �� education scholar, dies at 93

Carrie Spector Mon, 09/26/2022 - 08:35

Nel Noddings (1929-2022)

In Memoriam

Noddings, best known for her groundbreaking theory on the ethics of care, was the first woman to serve as dean at a professional school at ��.

September 26, 2022

By Carrie Spector

Nel Noddings, the Lee L. Jacks Professor, Emerita, at �� Graduate School of Education (GSE), a feminist educator and philosopher best known for her theory on the ethics of care, died Aug. 25 at her home in Key Largo, Florida. She was 93.

Noddings, who began her career as a mathematics teacher in the 1950s, went on to become one of the world’s most influential scholars in the field of educational philosophy. In developing a comprehensive theory of care, she argued that caring is at the basis of morality and called for reorienting education to put the student-teacher relationship at the center.

At ��, in addition to her teaching and research, Noddings directed the �� Teacher Education Program (STEP) during a critical stage of its growth. She later held the roles of associate and acting dean of the GSE – and with the latter, in 1993, she became the first woman to serve as dean of any of the professional schools at ��.

“Nel was beloved,” said Myra Strober, a professor emerita at the GSE who served as associate dean during Noddings’ term as acting dean. “She was a wonderful human being with an understated, caring style of leadership. And in her quiet way, she made great strides with a feminist view of philosophy and had a huge impact on feminism as a field.”

Rachel Lotan, a professor emerita at the GSE who directed STEP from 1999 to 2014, earned two master’s degrees and a PhD from �� and recalled a class Noddings taught as one of the most memorable among the many courses she took. “Nel embodied the ethic of care she introduced, theorized, and wrote about,” she said. “The world will miss her and her teachings.”

School as the center of her life

Noddings, born Nellie Laura Rieth on Jan. 29, 1929, was raised in a working-class family in Irvington, N.J. Neither of her parents advanced beyond ninth grade; her father worked in a manufacturing plant while her mother worked as an office manager throughout Noddings’ upbringing during the Great Depression.

While her family provided a stable and caring environment at home, Noddings became deeply attached to her teachers from a young age, and school became the center of her life. “For me, school was a home,” she recalled in a 2017 interview for the �� Historical Society Oral History Program. “Other kids were looking forward to vacation. I was looking forward to going back to school.”

Her close connection to school influenced her to pursue a career in teaching, and she went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physical science from Montclair State Teachers College in 1949. That year she also wed James Noddings, her high school boyfriend; they were married for 63 years, until he died in 2012.

Working as a middle- and high-school math teacher and administrator into the early days of the civil rights movement, Noddings was adamant about bringing social issues into the classroom.

“My closest colleague in the math department said that the best thing to do was to ignore all that and stick right with the curriculum, to show the kids that there was a place of continuity and peace and quiet. … I felt very strongly on the opposite side, that we should talk about the things that were so important, and that the kids were so concerned with,” she said. “I always had a strong reputation as a successful math teacher. The kids did well. But I would drop the quadratic equation in a minute if I felt the kids needed to talk about a social or political problem.”

While she taught, she and her husband started their own family: Noddings gave birth to five children, and the couple adopted three more. Altogether, they brought up 10 children (including two they raised but never formally adopted) – largely while Noddings attended graduate school, first earning a master’s degree in mathematics from Rutgers and then her PhD from �� GSE.

When she came to �� as a doctoral student, her goal was to go into school administration, ideally to become a superintendent. Then she enrolled in two required courses on the philosophy of education. “As that quarter went along, the house started filling up with philosophy books,” she said. “I was converted.” She switched from curriculum to philosophy.

After earning her PhD in 1973, she briefly joined the faculty at Penn State University and then the University of Chicago before returning to �� to teach in 1977.

The student-teacher relationship

As a professor and director of STEP, Noddings continued to practice her conviction that schools should be a place where students can explore issues beyond the standard curriculum, and where students and teachers build meaningful, caring relationships.

Denis Phillips, an emeritus professor at the GSE, recalled a seminar the two held in the evenings at their own homes, with students reclining in easy chairs or on pillows next to the fireplace. In another course during the late 1980s or early 90s, Noddings asked Phillips to show up to guest lecture one afternoon wearing a dress, without comment, prompting a class discussion after his departure about gender roles and the social acceptability of his attire.

Noddings served as associate dean of the GSE during Marshall “Mike” Smith’s tenure, and when he left the faculty to join the U.S. Department of Education in 1993, Noddings was appointed acting dean, becoming the first woman to serve as dean of any of the professional schools at ��.

When she was named the Lee L. Jacks Professor in 1994, she also became the first woman to hold an endowed chair at the GSE.

The ethics of care

Noddings authored more than 20 books and hundreds of articles on topics including school reform, mathematics teaching and learning, and the ethics of care. In her landmark book, Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education, published in 1984, she explored what it means to care and be cared for, arguing that caring is at the basis of moral action and should be central to the educational system. (In a subsequent edition of the book, having fielded criticism for the use of the word feminine in the subtitle, she replaced it with relational.)

After leaving ��, Noddings taught at Columbia University and Colgate University. She also served as president of the Philosophy of Education Society, the Dewey Society (named for philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey), and the National Academy of Education. In addition, she chaired the ethics committee for the American Educational Research Association, where she spearheaded the writing of ethical guidelines for the field.

She is survived by nine children, more than 30 grandchildren, and dozens of great-grandchildren.

A celebration of Nel Noddings’ life will be held on Friday, Nov. 18, at 1:30 p.m. at the Center for Education Research at �� (CERAS), 520 Galvez Mall, Room 101. Please RSVP to laurie.brooks52@gmail.com.

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J. Myron Atkin, former professor and dean at �� GSE, dies at 95

Carrie Spector — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 19:00:13 +0000

J. Myron Atkin, former professor and dean at �� GSE, dies at 95

Carrie Spector Wed, 09/14/2022 - 12:00

J. Myron Atkin, 1927-2022 (Photo: �� News Service)

In Memoriam

Atkin’s tenure as dean marked a shift at the GSE toward deeper involvement with the practice of K-12 teaching.

September 14, 2022

By Carrie Spector

J. Myron (Mike) Atkin, a former dean and professor emeritus at �� Graduate School of Education (GSE), died on August 18 at Channing House, his retirement residence in Palo Alto. He was 95.

Atkin, who began his working life as a high school science teacher, devoted his research career to improving the quality of science education in K-12 schools. As dean of the GSE, he was known for his commitment to bridging education research with the day-to-day realities of classroom practice.

With former �� President Donald Kennedy, he launched a landmark initiative in 1982 that connected GSE faculty with local high school teachers and administrators for education research, a project that drew national attention for involving school practitioners at every level of the process. He is also remembered for his pivotal investment in the �� Teacher Education Program (STEP), a program whose future was in limbo when he took office as dean and now serves as a national model in the field of teacher preparation.

Widely regarded as a warm, welcoming leader who frequently hosted students and faculty for meals at his home with his wife, Ann, he served as dean from 1979 to 1986, then stayed on the faculty until he retired in 2004.

“Mike was a very special human being – so accomplished, such a good leader, and a mensch,” said GSE Professor Emeritus Richard Shavelson, who served as dean from 1995 to 2000.

Beginning a career in science

Atkin was born on April 6, 1927, in Brooklyn, NY. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School and trained to be an electronics technician in the U.S. Navy, but the war came to an end shortly after his training finished and he was never deployed. He went on to the City College of New York and received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.

In 1947, he married Ann Spiegel and began his career as a science teacher, working in New York elementary and high schools for seven years while earning his master’s and doctorate in science education from NYU.

He and Ann then moved with their first child to Champaign-Urbana, Ill., where Atkin became an assistant professor of science education at the University of Illinois. He went on to serve as dean of the College of Education until 1979, when he was recruited by �� to join the GSE faculty as dean.

A focus on classroom teaching

Shortly before Atkin came to ��, he was faced with a decision that would lead to one of his defining actions as dean. A faculty committee chaired by Edwin Bridges had been assessing the future of the STEP, a one-year program established in 1959 to prepare elementary and secondary school teachers for the classroom. Two months before Atkin arrived at ��, Bridges called to let him know the program was on the chopping block.

Interviewed at a GSE colloquium in 2011, Atkin recalled that faculty were evenly split over whether to drop the program, which was small at the time, or to recommend putting the necessary resources into bolstering it. “I said, ‘Ed, what’s a school of education without a teacher education program?’ ”

Instead of discontinuing the program, as the newly installed dean, Atkin invested in strengthening and expanding it. “I think it’s one of the most important aspects of the school today,” he said. “But it could’ve gone another way.”

Another initiative that came to mark his legacy as dean was the �� and the Schools study, a partnership that connected GSE researchers with teachers and administrators at high schools in six nearby school districts. The project was another reflection of Atkin’s commitment to reignite the GSE’s involvement in classroom practice: While previous deans had established a strong faculty with extensive scholarship in the applied behavioral and social sciences, Atkin was concerned about what he perceived in education research as a growing distance from the realities of the classroom. He sought to involve school practitioners as partners in the research process, collaborators taking an equal role in defining the issues and designing data-collection procedures.

In 1982 Atkin and Donald Kennedy, then the president of ��, together launched the study to explore and identify recommendations for school policies and programs, and to ensure that GSE research and academic programs corresponded closely to the daily challenges of the K-12 classroom.

“It was a big deal, the right thing for a professional school of education to do,” said Shavelson. The three-year study, published in 1987, led the way for other major research-practice partnerships now ongoing at the GSE.

Scientist and humanist

As a scholar, Atkin was devoted to improving science education, particularly by way of curriculum and assessment reform. He also studied gender equity in science education, and science education for elementary students learning English.

“He was one of the first who saw the importance and significance of research in science teaching and learning, acquiring his doctorate in 1955 when research in science education was still in its infancy,” said Jonathan Osborne, a professor emeritus of science education at the GSE. “He worked tirelessly on a range of national and local committees to argue how the science that was commonly taught might be improved.”

Atkin chaired, among numerous boards and committees, the education section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as the National Academies’ National Research Council Committee on Science Education K-12 and the National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment, which produced the first set of U.S. standards in 1996. He also worked with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to produce case studies about innovations in science, math, and technology education in 13 countries around the world, a project he particularly enjoyed.

“He was a scientist by training,” said Shavelson. “But when it came to applying science to the human condition, he was a humanist and a qualitative researcher.”

Atkin tapped three faculty to join forces and develop a new course at the GSE to prepare students in qualitative research, a new step for the school that turned into a year-long sequence with a full year of statistical work as a prerequisite. “It very rapidly became just about the most popular class in the school. We had to set enrollment limits,” said Professor Emeritus Lee Shulman, part of the team who created and taught the course. “And that was Mike’s baby.”

A ‘perfect mentor’

During his tenure as dean, Atkin worked with university administrators to approve guaranteed funding for GSE doctoral students – a major change that resulted in stricter limits on the number of students offered admission, making the program significantly more selective and competitive, said Professor Emeritus Hans Weiler, who served as associate dean for academic affairs under Atkin. “That was an important threshold in the history of the school, and it happened on Mike’s watch.”

As a doctoral advisor, Atkin was known for his warmth and supportive guidance, and for maintaining relationships with his students long after they graduated. “To be his student was to be his friend,” said Shulman.

“He was a perfect mentor,” said Allan Feldman, PhD ’92, a former student of Atkin’s who is now a professor of science education at the University of South Florida. One example: Atkin’s generosity in helping to engage students in major research projects – including, for Feldman, one with the National Science Foundation. “It was an incredible opportunity for me as a doctoral student,” he said. “I make sure as much as possible that my students have the kind of opportunities that he provided for me.”

Julia Bianchini, PhD ’95, another former student of Atkin’s who is now a professor of science education at the University of California at Santa Barbara, includes a paper he published in 1962 in one of her courses.

“The article stresses the importance of using students’ own ideas and experiences, engaging students in investigations before introducing science concepts and terms, encouraging students’ reasoning and sensemaking, and tying constructs learned to larger crosscutting concepts in science, like energy and systems,” she said. “It’s striking to me how the recommendations in this piece from more than 50 years ago still remain relevant.”

Atkin is survived by his wife, Ann; his children, Jon, Ruth, and David; his grandchildren, Alexander (Alex), Elizabeth (Liz), and Michael; his niece, Nina Lindhoff; and his nephew, Marc Atkin.

A celebration of Atkin’s life will be held at Channing House (850 Webster St., Palo Alto, on the 11th floor) on Sunday, November 20, from 2:00-4:00 p.m.

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Carl Thoresen, �� education professor and alumnus, remembered as a lifelong learner and devoted teacher

Brooke Donald Gorlick — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 23:18:03 +0000

Carl Thoresen, �� education professor and alumnus, remembered as a lifelong learner and devoted teacher

Brooke Donald … Fri, 12/11/2020 - 15:18

Carl Thoresen (Image from Amy Goforth/Legacy.com)

Alumni | In Memoriam

Thoresen, an education psychologist, pursued a variety of interests through his scholarship including fitness, health, and forgiveness.

December 11, 2020

By Kevin Cool

There was a time early in Carl Thoresen’s academic career when he thought he might be a historian. He majored in history as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, but despite stellar grades and an invitation from his adviser to pursue a doctorate in the field, the extroverted Thoresen decided historical research was too isolating for him. Instead, he wound up becoming an influential and esteemed psychologist, credited with a groundbreaking study on how behavioral changes can improve the health of some cardiac patients.

A member of the �� Graduate School of Education faculty for 31 years, Thoresen died on October 20. He was 87.

Thoresen was born in San Francisco but lived in several parts of the United States as his father, an Army cook, moved from one assignment to another. The death of his father from a heart attack when Thoresen was 19 inspired a lifelong interest in fitness and health.

He was a member of the crew team at Cal, and by his own admission “a jock” without much direction during his undergraduate years. After deciding against history as a graduate school option, he earned his teaching credential and spent five years as a physical education instructor at San Jose middle schools.

A chance encounter with a pioneering scholar in educational counseling motivated Thoresen to switch careers. Encouraged by a colleague to check out ��, Thoresen showed up on campus unannounced and with no guide. As he told an interviewer in 2017, Thoresen was wandering the halls of the Education Building on a Saturday morning when he stumbled upon Prof. H.B. McDaniel working in his office. The ensuing conversation persuaded Thoresen to apply to GSE (then �� University School of Education), where he earned a master's and then a PhD in 1964.

After two years on the faculty at Michigan State, Thoresen returned to �� as an associate professor and remained at the university until his retirement in 2000.

A Guggenheim fellow and the co-author of nine books, Thoresen is best known for a five-year study that demonstrated how the recurrence rate of heart attack patients with type A personalities could be substantially reduced by a program of behavioral changes, compared with more traditional treatments such as medication, diet and exercise. Participants in the experimental group that received type A counseling had a recurrence rate of 12.9 percent, while those in the control group had a rate of more than 21 percent.

The study was an example of the empirical research Thoresen preferred. He was a devotee of B.F. Skinner. ”I really respected Skinner’s ideas,” he once said. “Why don’t we really get down and talk about what you do and say? We don’t need all these theories—they can be logical, but where’s the empirical evidence?”

Carl Thoresen with local school children in 1991. (Image by Renee Burgard)

Thoresen’s interests were broad and diverse. In the early 1970s, along with �� law professor Michael Wald, Thoresen founded the Learning House, a home in a downtown Palo Alto neighborhood for so-called “incorrigible” youth. In 1999, Thoresen led a study in collaboration with the �� Forgiveness Project to gauge the effects of forgiveness training on a range of psychological and physiological variables. After his retirement, Thoresen served as a senior fellow at the Spirituality and Health Institute at Santa Clara University.

In a 2009 profile in Counseling Psychologist, author Alex Harris said the Thoresen inspired others in his field. “His scholarly work, professional service, teaching, and mentorship have motivated many counseling psychologists to radically expand their areas of inquiry. He was among the first to focus counseling on observable behaviors and to apply psychological science and interventions to physical problems in medical settings.”

On an online memorial page dedicated to Thoresen, one of his former students and advisees, James Hannum, said the professor “invigorated me with the breadth and energy of his intellect.”

“Carl was the model of a lifelong learner who boldly reinvented his professional focus several times over a long, productive career. I fondly remember the sparkle in his eye and deep, appreciative laugh as he talked about a topic of interest.”

Thoresen is survived by his wife of 62 years, Kay; his son, Trygve; two daughters, Kristen Bridgeman and Amy Goforth; and seven grandchildren.

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Alumna Bonnie Tenenbaum, educator and philanthropist, remembered for her generosity to students

Brooke Donald Gorlick — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 01:18:30 +0000

Alumna Bonnie Tenenbaum, educator and philanthropist, remembered for her generosity to students

Brooke Donald … Tue, 12/08/2020 - 17:18

Bonnie Tenenbaum (Image courtesy of Mira Bernstein)

Alumni | In Memoriam

Tenenbaum endowed a faculty chair at the GSE.

November 24, 2020

By Kevin Cool

When Bonnie Tenenbaum heard that a student from East Palo Alto Academy (EPAA) was heading off to college – the first in her family to do so – but lacked the means to purchase blankets and other basic items for her dorm room, she didn’t wait for permission or for a program to be established. Instead, recalls former EPAA teacher and �� alumna Rebecca Altamirano, “She said to me, ‘please go get her everything she needs.’” With Tenenbaum’s encouragement and funds, Altamirano says, “I went to Target and outfitted this student’s dorm room.”

There are lots of stories like that about Tenenbaum, PhD, a career-long educator and philanthropist who died on October 15 at age 76.

A fierce advocate for students and teachers, Tenenbaum – who taught at several Bay Area high schools and colleges – endowed a faculty chair at �� Graduate School of Education. Deborah Stipek, who was dean at the time, recalls that Tenenbaum was the first prospective donor she met with. “I was really nervous, but she immediately put me at ease. I was struck by how down-to-earth she was. I didn’t need to convince her to support the GSE, only help her figure out the best way to do that. “

Professor Guadalupe Valdes, who has occupied the Tenenbaum chair since its establishment, was similarly impressed by Tenenbaum’s devotion. Unlike donors whose involvement ends with their financial contribution, Tenenbaum stayed engaged, often proposing ideas and identifying problems. “Bonnie understood that educational activities need nourishing. It is not enough to touch people with money; it’s the human interaction that makes a difference. What was really unusual about Bonnie is that she cared about education as central to people’s lives. That you could invest in people-making.”

“I saw her as a colleague,” Valdes adds.

Tenenbaum was a sought-after consultant on curricular design and evaluation. In 1995, when the internet was in its infancy, she created the K-12 Internet Resource Center, a free service that today catalogs more than 2,500 web and video resources.

Well known for her candor, Tenenbaum was fearless in pursuing solutions to whatever needed fixing, say those who worked closely with her. Stipek concedes she was “a bit taken aback” by Tenenbaum’s honesty in the beginning but was ultimately grateful for it. “On our first meeting she told me that GSE had a terrible website and typographical errors on an education website were an embarrassment.”

“She said what needed to be said,” says Altamirano, STEP ’01. “I really appreciated that about Bonnie.”

Tenenbaum’s generosity was deep and broad. She was an ardent supporter of Jewish education and community services-- she helped found South Peninsula Hebrew Day School and Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School. After her son, Josh, became a faculty member at MIT, Tenenbaum began supporting a Jewish school in Cambridge, Mass., that her granddaughter, Abi, attended.

And her involvement with EPAA was truly transformative, says Altamirano. “It is no exaggeration to say that the work of EPAA would not have been possible without Bonnie’s gifts of time and money.”

In addition to being a principal supporter of the school, Tenenbaum also helped underwrite enrichment programs such as Sojourn to the Past, in which students traveled to the Deep South to learn about the civil rights movement. “We often referred to Bonnie as our fairy godmother,” Altamirano says. Tenenbaum covered tuition costs (not to mention dorm supplies) for a number of EPAA students who went on to college.

As large as Tenenbaum’s impact was, Altamirano notes that she will also be remembered for the smaller acts of kindness that distinguished her as a friend. When Altamirano’s twin boys were born prematurely, requiring constant care, bags of fresh fruit and challah began appearing on the family’s doorstep every Friday evening. There was no card to indicate who was responsible for the gift, “but I knew who it was from,” Altamirano says.

In addition to Josh and Abi, Tenenbaum is survived by her husband, Marty; her sisters, Joanne and Ann; and her brothers, Malcolm and Steve.

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Faculty mentioned in this article: Guadalupe Valdes

�� professor emeritus and prominent learning sciences scholar, James G. Greeno, dies at 85

Brooke Donald Gorlick — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 06:15:14 +0000

�� professor emeritus and prominent learning sciences scholar, James G. Greeno, dies at 85

Brooke Donald … Tue, 09/15/2020 - 23:15

�� Professor Emeritus James G. Greeno was an expert in learning sciences. (Photo credit: Adam Tow)

Brain and Learning Sciences | In Memoriam

Greeno helped develop the theory of situated learning, which emphasizes the influence of social interactions and environment on learning.

September 15, 2020

By Rebecca Beyer

�� Graduate School of Education Professor Emeritus James G. Greeno, a renowned scholar who made important contributions in the learning sciences and was known for his soft touch in guiding graduate students in their own research pursuits, died on Sept. 8 at home in Pittsburgh after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 85.

After studying with associates of B.F. Skinner’s at the University of Minnesota, Greeno became a well-known experimental psychologist before transforming himself into a scholar of cognitive science. He later helped develop the theory known as situated learning, which emphasizes the influence of social interactions and a person’s environment on the learning process. The evolution of his career occurred simultaneously with the evolution of the field of educational psychology, generally, but Greeno’s ability—and willingness—to adapt his thinking and approach were unusual, colleagues say.

“One of the things I loved about Jim was that he came of age when psychology was all about behaviorism; it ruled out the possibility of knowing what was going on in a person’s head or gut or emotions,” says Professor Emeritus Raymond McDermott. “And he was at the top of that field when he started to get interested in what the behaviorists couldn’t say. The alternative was to find out how people did their thinking, and Jim got to be famous and on top of that field” too.

Generous mentor

Greeno was also generous in his commitment to developing the next generation of learning science scholars, inviting the graduate students who studied under him to conferences and other events where he was a featured speaker and into the home he shared with his wife and two children. He was not quick to offer verbal praise or encouragement; instead he expressed his approval and support more subtly.

“He was not good at saying, ‘Good job,’” recalls Melissa S. Gresalfi, MA ’01, PhD ’04, Greeno’s last PhD student at �� and now a professor at Vanderbilt University. But, “if you said something he thought was interesting or profound or right on, he would give you a little wink. I became an avid consumer of the wink.”

Jim was a leader in moving the field of education to a more situated and contextualized exploration of learning.” – GSE Dean Daniel Schwartz

Greeno was born on May 1, 1935, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and later lived in Le Sueur, Minnesota. His parents died when he was young, and he was raised by a stepmother and her husband, working during high school and college at a Green Giant Company cannery. As an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota, he met his future wife, Noreen, who vetted him for a role on the student government. Greeno earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in psychology on the Twin Cities campus before embarking on his own career in educational psychology, which included stints at Indiana University, the University of Michigan, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of California at Berkeley. In 1987, he landed at ��.

“Jim was a leader in moving the field of education to a more situated and contextualized exploration of learning,” says �� GSE Dean Daniel Schwartz, who adds that Greeno was the reason he (also an expert in learning sciences) joined ��’s faculty in 2000. “He was a fully engaged mentor, scholar, and family man. He will be missed.”

Greeno co-founded the Institute for Research on Learning, a non-profit initially funded by Xerox that was dedicated to demonstrating how artificial intelligence and cognitive science could be applied to learning. One of Greeno’s major projects there was to develop an entire curriculum for grade 6-8 math students in collaboration with �� Professor Emerita Shelley Goldman and dozens of local teachers.

At ��, Greeno served as director of the Symbolic Systems Program from 1989 to 1992. He was the Margaret Jacks Professor of Education and professor, by courtesy, of psychology. He focused his research on learning and problem solving, especially in math and science.

Acclaimed scholar

Greeno was a prolific writer whose work spanned decades and realms of inquiry and continues to be relied on today. He held leadership roles at the National Academy of Education, the American Educational Research Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among other organizations. He was a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, and served on the editorial teams of several publications, including as executive editor of Cognitive Science.

Despite all that, Greeno always understated his own prominence.

“There was a part of Jim that was very low key from his Birkenstocks to his brain,” says Goldman, laughing at the memory of his favorite footwear. “He always introduced himself the same: ‘My main job is that I teach at ��.’ We worked a lot with teachers, so he was saying, ‘I’m like you,’ but he also never wanted to go first with his status.”

Greeno’s oldest child, John, says his father definitely brought what he was learning about learning home although he and his sister didn’t realize that at the time.

“I had to learn to tie some knots for Boy Scouts, and there was one knot I just couldn’t get, and he just kept at it and gave me some different ways of thinking about it,” he says. “Eventually, it worked, and I use that knot to this day tying kayaks to the car.”

Gresalfi says Greeno used the same approach with his graduate students.

“I said all kinds of ridiculous things” early in the advisor-advisee relationship, she remembers. “And he could have just said, ‘That’s wrong.’ But he never did. When he gave me the space to talk things through, that is an act of faith and kindness. He always reframed my doubts as indications that I just hadn’t learned all the things I had to learn yet.”

Greeno remained active in his chosen fields as long as he could. In 2003, he took emeritus status at �� to return to the University of Pittsburgh to be closer to his grown children and their families.

Greeno is survived by Noreen Herreid Greeno, his wife of 63 years; his son John Greeno and his wife Patricia; his daughter Catherine Greeno and her husband Paul Fischbeck; and four grandchildren.

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�� Professor John D. Krumboltz, who developed the theory of planned happenstance, dies

Brooke Donald Gorlick — Thu, 09 May 2019 19:58:01 +0000

�� Professor John D. Krumboltz, who developed the theory of planned happenstance, dies

Brooke Donald … Thu, 05/09/2019 - 12:58

Announcements | In Memoriam

Krumboltz, professor emeritus of education and of psychology, revolutionized career counseling by applying learning theories to decision making.

May 9, 2019

By Barbara Wilcox

John D. Krumboltz, retired professor of education and of psychology at ��, died May 4, 2019, at his home on the university’s campus. He was 90.

Krumboltz, who came to �� in 1961, revolutionized the fields of behavioral and career counseling by applying social theories of learning to the making of life decisions.

In his six decades as one of America’s most influential psychologists, he was co-director of the �� Graduate School of Education’s program in counseling psychology and the widely read author of many scholarly and popular books, most recently Fail Fast, Fail Often: How Losing Can Help You Win (with Ryan Babineaux, PhD ’04, 2014).

By demonstrating the value of counseling in a social context, Krumboltz inspired advances ranging from multicultural counseling to behavioral health care treatment.

“He was one of the first researchers in the field to place outcomes before process and to use scientific methods to determine whether certain psychological interventions worked,” said Teresa LaFromboise, �� professor of education.

“Especially among psychologists, he was the rare instance of someone who seamlessly stitched theory with practice,” said Kenji Hakuta, Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education, Emeritus. “He was a great teacher with an incredible diversity of students who admired and emulated his modeling. He also was a sympathetic and empathetic listener.”

Throughout Krumboltz’s sphere of influence, LaFromboise observed what she called “an air of veneration for his ability to treat people with enduring kindness.”

His honors include the American Psychological Association’s 2002 Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Knowledge and its 1990 Leona Tyler Award for advances in counseling psychology.

Other books he authored or co-authored include Behavioral Counseling: Cases and Techniques (with Carl E. Thoresen, 1969); Changing Children’s Behavior (with Helen B. Krumboltz, 1972) and Luck is No Accident: Making the Most of Happenstance in Your Life and Career (with Al Levin, 2004).

Retiring in 2015, Krumboltz remained active on campus, mailing copies of his books from his GSE office and writing a personal dedication in each.

John Krumboltz, right, with a simulation game for choosing careers. (Image credit: Jose Mercado)

Planned happenstance

Krumboltz was born Oct. 21, 1928 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He completed his undergraduate work at nearby Coe College, where he played varsity tennis and where he was prompted to study psychology by his coach, who also taught the subject. Krumboltz learned tennis, he said, only because he once rode a bicycle down an unfamiliar street where he saw kids playing a game that looked like fun.

He often cited this experience when talking about planned happenstance, the theory he developed with Levin and Kathleen Mitchell that says arbitrary events have important influence on people’s lives.

“You can’t say, ‘I’m going to teach you to ride a bicycle so you will major in psychology,’” Krumboltz said in 2013. “All these events that happen in life are unpredictable – and let’s be grateful that they’re unpredictable.”

In addition to planned happenstance, Krumboltz’s key scholarly work at �� included pioneering research that verified the effects of behavioral counseling interventions on client behavior. He developed the social learning theory of career decision making and the construction and validation of the Career Beliefs Inventory.

“What I most admired was that John didn’t always follow customary theory and proposed unconventional counseling strategies,” said one of his first students, H.B. Gelatt, EdD ’64.

In co-leading the Counseling Psychology program with Professors Carl Thoresen and LaFromboise, Krumboltz said the first goal in its mission statement was for students to “develop a personally satisfying and balanced life.”

Krumboltz earned his master’s degree in counseling at Teachers College, Columbia University, and his PhD at the University of Minnesota. He was senior research scientist at the U.S. Air Force’s Personnel and Training Research Center at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, then taught educational psychology at Michigan State University.

He was recruited to �� by education Professor H.B. McDaniel, himself a guidance-counseling pioneer.

In tribute, Krumboltz would later help to found the H.B. McDaniel Foundation, which supports educational counseling through awards, student grants and annual conferences at ��.

Among his many activities, including a regular tennis game with colleagues on campus, Krumboltz supervised the student-led �� Institute for Behavioral Counseling on Alvarado Row, which served the surrounding community.

In the early 1970s, Krumboltz successfully argued against reinstating “F” grades at ��, which had been abolished in 1969.

“Making a permanent public record of failed attempts at mastery discourages academic exploration, instills a fear of learning, and impairs attainment of the purposes for which �� was founded,” he wrote in Campus Report in 1992.

He abhorred reliance on testing to decide individuals’ fates, writing in 1981 that counselors cannot “prescribe a single occupational pill that will produce future euphoria.”

Rather, he said, they should teach people to ask, “What would be fun to try next?”

Krumboltz also believed that school counselors should not be limited to emotional problems or career guidance, which put them “on the fringe of the educational endeavor,” he wrote in 1987. Counselors should encourage students to love learning by integrating the insights of teachers, parents and others.

Krumboltz is survived by his wife, Betty; a brother, David; a sister, Margaret Ann Phillips. His blended family includes daughters Ann Krumboltz, Jennifer Krumboltz Somerville and Shauna Foster Nance and her two sons, Nicholas and Joshua; a son, Scott D. Foster; and four nieces and two nephews.

Memorial services are pending. The family asks that any memorial donations be directed to the H.B. McDaniel Foundation in Kingsburg, Calif.

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Remembering Professor Edwin Bridges

Brooke Donald Gorlick — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 19:42:28 +0000

Remembering Professor Edwin Bridges

Brooke Donald … Mon, 03/18/2019 - 12:42

Edwin Bridges

In Memoriam

Bridges, who was 85 when he died, was a pioneer in the use of problem-based learning in the field of educational administration.

March 18, 2019

By Barbara Wilcox

Edwin M. Bridges, retired professor of education best known for applying problem-based learning to the training of educational leaders, has died. He was 85.

Bridges died March 7 at his home on the �� campus.

Bridges came to �� Graduate School of Education in 1974. He founded the school’s Prospective Principals’ Program, which for roughly a decade used realistic simulations to help future leaders build management and organizational skills.

Himself a former principal, Bridges worked to strengthen what he saw as a weak link in K-12 education: supervisors resourceful and resilient enough to help teachers grow.

The program attracted a broad range of education faculty to provide an integrated approach of academic studies and work experience, said Michael Kirst, emeritus professor of education.

“It applied his extensive scholarship on project-based learning to the real world of education administration. The Prospective Principals Program has inspired revisions in administrator preparation around the world,” Kirst said.

Today, the GSE builds on Bridges’ legacy with the Principal Fellows Program and a soon-to-launch professional development program for superintendents.

“Ed was a man of seminal ideas and of an unassailably independent mind,” said his colleague Hans Weiler, professor emeritus of education and of political science at ��.

“He showed me how to relate research to practice, something I have been striving to do ever since,” added Associate Professor David Brazer, PhD ’88. “Putting aside academic pursuits, it is Ed’s humanity that leaves me feeling diminished with his passing.”

Bridges’ research included teacher performance and teacher tenure. In the 1980s, he raised eyebrows by suggesting that the tenure hurdle be raised for K-12 teachers and by positing a correlation between discipline of so-called incompetent teachers and student performance.

Edwin Bridges at the 2012 GSE Commencement ceremony.

Deeply interested in students’ welfare, Bridges and his wife, Marjorie, in 1989 held a garage sale at their campus home to benefit a visiting Chinese high-school student who wanted to attend a U.S. community college but was being asked for a financial guarantee.

“If he saw a student who needed help, he’d think of a way to help, and also a way to publicize the situation,” Marjorie said.

Bridges said in 1991: “At the heart of teaching are views about the conditions under which students learn best. My own views lead me to emphasize the importance of creating a supportive classroom environment in which mistakes are regarded as learning opportunities and the instructor models the practices and philosophy that he espouses.

“I continually strive to infuse my teaching with these ideals.”

Before coming to ��, Bridges taught at Washington University, the University of Chicago and the University of California, Santa Barbara. His books include The Incompetent Teacher (1986) and Problem Based Learning for Administrators (1992). He retired in 1999.

In 2010, the University Council for Educational Administration honored Bridges’ lifetime accomplishments by instituting its Edwin M. Bridges Award to recognize contributions to pre-service preparation as well as continuing professional development aimed at school leaders.

Bridges was born Jan. 1, 1934 in Hannibal, Missouri. He completed his undergraduate work at the University of Missouri, and earned a PhD in educational administration from the University of Chicago.

“To offset my expenses, I worked one summer in a shoe factory and another summer as a gandy dancer [railroad laborer], an occupation immortalized in a song titled ‘The Gandy Dancers Ball,’” Bridges said in his 2012 address at GSE Commencement.

“Believe me, it was no ball. During the day we laid railroad tracks in the hot Missouri sun, drove spikes, shoveled gravel, and set railroad ties. At night we slept in box cars on a railroad siding.”

After graduation, Bridges taught high school English, then moved into educational administration. His early jobs taught him that “everyone, regardless of their station in life, has wisdom to share if you bother to listen.”

At the 2012 commencement, he shared the story of a cab driver who urged him to prioritize what was important in life. This was, to Bridges: “1. My family. 2. My students, including teaching and advising. 3. My research and writing on practical problems, no matter how controversial they were or whether they were valued by members of the academy.”

Thanks to the cabbie’s advice, Bridges said then, “I am not estranged from my four children. My wife and I like, as well as love, each other. I have students who continue to care about me as I continue to care about them. ...

“I can enter the checkout line when my time comes with few regrets.”

Bridges is survived by his wife, Marjorie; his sons Bruce and Brian; his daughter Rebecca Altman; and four grandchildren. His oldest son, Richard, predeceased him.

A memorial will be held Friday, May 10 at 2 p.m. at Menlo Church, 950 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park.

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In Memoriam

Jean Lythcott, beloved former ������������ GSE educator, dies at 86

A catalyst for scientific discovery

A force of nature

Lee Shulman, influential education scholar and beloved former ������������ GSE professor, dies at 86

A “giant” in the field of education

A colleague, coach and companion to many

Marshall S. Smith, former dean at ������������ GSE, dies at 85

Nel Noddings, feminist philosopher and ������������ education scholar, dies at 93

J. Myron Atkin, former professor and dean at ������������ GSE, dies at 95

Carl Thoresen, ������������ education professor and alumnus, remembered as a lifelong learner and devoted teacher

Alumna Bonnie Tenenbaum, educator and philanthropist, remembered for her generosity to students

������������ professor emeritus and prominent learning sciences scholar, James G. Greeno, dies at 85

������������ Professor John D. Krumboltz, who developed the theory of planned happenstance, dies

Planned happenstance

Remembering Professor Edwin Bridges

Jean Lythcott, beloved former �� GSE educator, dies at 86

Lee Shulman, influential education scholar and beloved former �� GSE professor, dies at 86

Marshall S. Smith, former dean at �� GSE, dies at 85

Nel Noddings, feminist philosopher and �� education scholar, dies at 93

J. Myron Atkin, former professor and dean at �� GSE, dies at 95

Carl Thoresen, �� education professor and alumnus, remembered as a lifelong learner and devoted teacher

�� professor emeritus and prominent learning sciences scholar, James G. Greeno, dies at 85

�� Professor John D. Krumboltz, who developed the theory of planned happenstance, dies