Alumni Stories

Share Your Story

Penn GSE welcomes news of how our alumni are educating, leading, and innovating to shape the future of education. We hope you will draw inspiration from the stories we’ve shared on Penn GSE social media and take a moment to share your work with us.


Learn More About Our Share Your Story Campaign

An illustration of street signs at an intersection that read "Education" and "Policy"
April 15, 2025
The People Behind the Policies

Penn GSE alumni from across the academic spectrum have advised politicians, worked in the White House and the statehouse, and spurred change in our nation’s schools and universities thanks to their evidence-backed expertise in education policy.

  • Philadelphia Impact
  • Education Policy & Analysis
  • Higher Education
  • Alumni
A grid of headshots of the seven alumni award winners
March 27, 2025
2025 Education Alumni Award Winners Announced

These seven graduates have made outstanding contributions to the field of education and Penn GSE, and represent the breadth and depth of the School’s impact.

  • Together for Good
  • Alumni
  • News from Penn GSE
Sarah sits in her classroom holding a packet of letters and drawings from students and surrounded by puppets, books, pillows, and costumes that she uses in her class.
March 25, 2025
Homeroom: Sarah Budlow's kindergarten classroom is ready for a year of "firsts"

The recent graduate of Penn GSE’s Urban Teaching Residency shares her classroom at Muñoz-Marin Elementary in North Philadelphia.

  • Philadelphia Impact
  • Teaching & Learning
  • Alumni
Karen Weaver smiles, wearing a red blazer and seated at a desk in front a full bookshelf
March 4, 2025
Karen Weaver's Playbook for College Athletics

The adjunct assistant professor has been an Olympic-level athlete, a national championship coach, and a university athletics administrator. Now, she teaches higher education leaders what they need to know to successfully navigate their institutions through the serious challenges facing college athletics today.

  • Education Policy & Analysis
  • Higher Education
  • Alumni
Jeanne Smith points to words on a white board during her reading lessons
February 27, 2025
Teaching Literacy in Prison

Jeanne Smith puts into practice what she learned in her Penn GSE master's program teaching reading to incarcerated people for the Vermont Department of Corrections.

  • Teaching & Learning
  • Alumni
An alumni founder shakes the hand of another alum in front of the table for his venture, KIO: Kids in Orbit, which features iPads and small spaceman figurines
February 20, 2025
A Decade of Smart Starts

A look at Penn GSE’s first-of-its-kind master’s program in education entrepreneurship in honor of its recent milestone birthday.

  • Education Innovation & Entrepreneurship
  • Alumni
A GSE student points to her lesson on the board and she instructs a small classroom of adult learners who are seated around a table.
February 4, 2025
From English learners to English teachers

The Practical English for Daily Living (PEDAL) program at Penn GSE provides an opportunity for TESOL students to practice their teaching with language learners across the University and around the world.

  • Language, Literacy & Culture
  • Teaching & Learning
  • Alumni
Michael Farrell
January 17, 2025
How the Mid-Career Program gave Philly schools CLO Michael Farrell the tools to support others

He says the program helped refine his leadership practices, and his cohorts were supportive and collaborative.

  • Philadelphia Impact
  • Leadership
  • Alumni
Dr. Lilian Ajayi Ore
January 7, 2025
Penn CLO graduate unites passions for teaching and advocacy

Dr. Lilian Ajayi Ore has worked with the UN, established a foundation advocating for youth and women’s rights, and now works as a research scholar. She says Penn CLO’s practitioner–scholar approach has had a profound impact on her work.

  • Education Innovation & Entrepreneurship
  • Higher Education
  • Leadership
  • Teaching & Learning
  • Alumni
Lauren in a suit sitting on a desk surrounded by awards, framed diplomas, a model rocket, plants, space images, and sports memorabilia.
December 23, 2024
Homeroom: Lauren Goodwin's journey from NASA to neuroscience

The researcher and entrepreneur, who was formerly the CIO for for NASA's Johnson Space Center, gives a tour of her office including her launch photos and neurotech device. 

  • Education Innovation & Entrepreneurship
  • Higher Education
  • Alumni

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